Northern Arizona: The Tourist Life

After about 7 hours of driving we arrived at the National Forest just south of the Grand Canyon. Word on the web was that you could camp anywhere in the forest as long as you’re ¼ mile away from the main road, so we scouted out a little dirt road and found a good spot to camp tucked away in the trees. It was cold!! Low temperature overnight…..19 degrees. We slept out under the stars, bundled up in lots of clothes. The next morning it was on to take a gander at the big ditch. Spent the day driving to different lookout points throughout the park, took lots of pictures and also took a little hike along the rim. We realized it’s been quite a while since we’ve spent time in regular, mainstream America…it was a little bit of culture shock! After getting our fill of the sights, and being frozen by the wind, we got back on the road and headed east towards the Navaho National Monument and the cliff dwellings at Betatakin.

We arrived just after dark to find the campground deserted but, fortunately, open. And still free! I had visited there one summer during high school to see the cliff dwellings with my mom and sister. It was a beautiful, isolated spot and I remembered the hike in to see the village being one of the highlights of our trip. I was hoping that they still had guided hikes, but, alas, they don’t during the winter. We could see the trail down from the top of the canyon, all covered in deep snow. Actually, the whole park was covered in snow, and we had another cold night. But, there was one bright spot: a heated bathroom with running water! I’m learning to appreciate the little luxuries, especially after weeks of pit toilets and desert campgrounds where you have to bring your own water. Turning on a faucet seemed like a little bit of magic! We spent some time the next morning at the visitor center and took a short walk to the edge of the canyon, then headed back out on the road. We took a little detour up to Monument Valley just over the border in Utah. The rock formations are just incredible, we were drooling over the climbing possibilities but it’s on the Navaho reservation and they don’t permit climbing on them. Oh well. Onward to Canyon de Chelly to see more ancient cliff dwellings.

We spent the next day touring around Canyon de Chelly. It’s also on the Navaho Nation reservation. It was interesting to see the cliff dwellings, but even more interesting to see the modern farms still being tended at the bottom of the canyon. It must be an amazing place to live! You’re not allowed to hike into the canyon unless you have a certified Navaho guide with you; I can see why since you’d essentially be walking around in people’s ranches and farmland. There is one area where they’ve established a hiking trail down into the canyon so you can get a closer look at one of the ruins. Mike and I took a walk in (followed part of the way by a very endearing stray dog); it was a beautiful place to hike. However, not an especially warm day, so we didn’t linger too much! By mid-afternoon we’d seen our fill and were ready to move on to the next adventure. There were a couple more places I was interested in seeing on our way towards El Paso. We were trying to figure out which route to take and where we might want to camp when we noticed some grim, gray clouds moving in. Turned on the radio to find a weather report; forecast for the night was a low of 17 degrees and snow showers!!! Aaaarrrgggh! I was less than thrilled about that prospect to say the least. The point of being in the Southwest was to avoid winter weather, not be plagued by it! Studied the map some more, did some calculating and decided to try to drive to El Paso, our next climbing destination. Mike figured we could make it before midnight, and sure enough we did. Found the Hueco Rock Ranch, set up our tent and collapsed into bed, very grateful that the temperature would be staying above freezing!

Northern Arizona