The temperature for our first night without hook-ups since Quartzsite got down to 22 degrees. Brrrr.
But we stayed warm with layers of bedding and the furnace thermostat set at 58 degrees. In fact, I slept so well I was awake and ready to go pretty early. I got up and checked the clock - 3:38 a.m. :)
So I entertained myself until the battery ran down on my laptop. By then, it was time to turn on the inverter.
Our winter boondocking is taking on a pretty familiar pattern as far as battery usage. From early evening the prior night to the time we finish our usual computer routines in the morning, we end up with a deficit of 150 - 200 amp hours depending on where we started. Then we turn on the generator for an hour to quickly get 80 amp hours back. Then we turn everything off and let the solar panels charge the batteries as much as they can the rest of the day.
Since I had been up for hours and Linda was still finishing her two-hour coffee time, I drove to the visitors center to get information about our options here at Canyon de Chelly (d'Shay).
According to the website, this place is unique among National Park Service units in that it lies entirely within Navajo Tribal Trust Land. The National Park Service works in partnership with the Navajo Nation to manage park resources and sustain the living Navajo community within the canyons.
Visitor Center
The visitor center is open every day except Christmas. There is no entrance fee for the park and no charge for the campground, so it's not necessary to stop at the visitor center to pay fees. But they do have a helpful staff that provides useful information.
There are two driving tours around the canyon rims and there is one 2.5-mile roundtrip hike into the canyon and back. Any other exploration of the canyon requires a Navajo guide for a fee. The base fee is $15 per hour for your guide. Additional fees vary based on the type and length of tour you choose. Approved guides are available all the time - reservations are not taken.
For guided tours, you have the option of private hiking, backcountry camping, horseback riding, and 4WD tours into the canyon. Most of the time you can take a guide in your own 4WD, high clearance vehicle. The guide fee is $15 per hour with a three hour minimum if you use your vehicle.
I say "most of the time" you can take your own 4WD because it depends on the depth of the creeks running through the canyons and the amount of snow and ice that might be present in the winter. Though we can take our Jeep now, I'm not sure we want to with the amount of mud from the melting snow. And the 4WD tour areas are limited right now due to the snow and ice that exists deeper into the canyons.
Canyon de Chelly is actually made up of several canyons, but primarily Canyon del Muerto to the north and Canyon de Chelly to the south. The North Rim Drive is 34 miles roundtrip on the north rim of Canyon del Muerto and the South Rim Drive is 37 miles roundtrip on the south rim of Canyon de Chelly.
The North Rim Drive is better for photos in the morning and the South Rim is better in the afternoon. I was told we could do both drives and the one hike in a day's time. Then we could decide about a guided tour after that.
Armed with all that information, I returned to the rig to pick up Linda. We got going around 10:30 a.m.
North Rim Drive
The name "north rim drive" is a little misleading. You are not exactly driving along the rim. You are driving most of the time on a public road and then taking occasional side roads to various overlooks on the rim.
There are four overlooks on the north rim, but the first one - Ledge Ruin Overlook - was closed.
We continued to the Antelope House Overlook. There are actually three overlooks at this stop. This was our first look into the canyon.
We eventually moved around the rim to the view of Antelope House. Wow!
The ruins are up against the wall on the lower right in the above photo. The white and blue dots next to the creek are pick-up trucks.
Here are some better views of the Antelope House.
One last look of this gorgeous view before moving on.
On the way back to the parking area, we did a little unexpected birding and I took the first "dead tree" photo of the day. :)
We drove on to the Mummy Cave Overlook.
This first photo doesn't even include the cave, but it warranted a spot in the entry. :)
Here is the distant view of Mummy Cave.
And a little closer.
There are ruins in both the right and left alcoves and also on the ledge in between. They believe the ruins on the ledge were built later (in the late 1200s) by people that migrated from Mesa Verde.
Here are closer shots of all three.
From there we drove to the Massacre Cave Overlook. Once again, there are actually three overlooks at this stop.
We started at the one fartherest from the parking area - the Yucca Cave Ruins.
The Anasazi (Navajo for "ancient ones") built structures all over these canyons. Some were built near the top of the canyon like the ones in the alcoves above. Others were built at the bottom of the canyon like Antelope House. And others were built in crevices and on ledges that seem to have no access at all. Amazing.
This view is from the same overlook in the opposite direction of the Yucca Cave Ruins.
We may not have the colors of the spring or summer, but we've got color the high season visitors won't get. :)
Here's a shot up at the second overlook.
If you look closely at the upper left, you can see Linda waving. :)
This is the view from the third overlook at Massacre Cave.
There is a shelter on a ledge above the canyon where about 115 Navajo people were killed by a Spanish military expedition in 1805, thus the name.
That was our last stop on the North Rim Drive and last look at Canyon del Muerto. We headed back toward the visitors center and started our tour on the South Rim Drive.
South Rim Drive
The South Rim Drive is also on a public road with side roads to the canyon rim. The road does, however, stay a little closer to the canyon for the first few miles.
Our first stop was at the Tunnel Canyon Overlook.
In the parking area, as with most of the overlook parking areas, there were Navajo vendors selling handmade arts and crafts. This young man was doing beautiful rock paintings.
We walked down a short trail for a better view.
We can only imagine how beautiful it is with the leaves on all the cottonwoods. It ain't bad now. :)
Next was the Tsegi Overlook.
In addition to the stunning scenery, you get a good look at a couple of farms in the canyon.
I happened to catch this 4WD drving through the creek. It gives a little perspective. :)
The next stop was Junction Overlook where Canyon del Muerto and Canyon de Chelly come together.
And it was time for another dead tree photo. :)
Then it was on to the White House Overlook. At the mouth of the canyon near the visitors center, the canyon walls are about 30 feet high. The farther you go on each rim road, the higher the walls get - up to about 1,000 feet.
At White House Overlook they are about 600 feet - proof is in the sign. :)
This is a view from the overlook down canyon.
This is a view up canyon.
The ruins are at the base of the wall on the left in the photo above.
The White House Ruins Trail is the only place that you can hike into the canyon without a guide. It's a 2.5-mile roundtrip with, of course, a 600-foot change in elevation each way.
We certainly wanted to make the hike. Here is the view from the rim before starting the descent.
Near the top we went through a short tunnel and then it was a fairly easy climb down long, gradual switchbacks.
In addition to arches and windows, ....
the colors and patterns in the rocks were really cool.
Near the bottom, there was another tunnel.
A few more feet and we were on the canyon floor. We followed the trail toward the ruins and crossed a small bridge.
The view from the bridge wasn't too shabby.
We might have to come back and see this place again in the late spring with some greenery. :)
The White House ruins are fenced off, so you can't get very close. Part of the ruins in the alcove are much lighter in color than the rest, so I'm guessing that's why it's called White House.
This is my favorite photo of the ruins even though the wall seems distorted. :)
We sat down under a cottonwood and had a snack while watching the ravens and hawks soar above us in this quiet place. We loved the whooshing sounds of the ravens' wings during their aerial acrobatics.
Eventually, we picked ourselves up and started back. By the way, there are pit toilets near the ruins. :)
I put the camera away for the return trip. We were a little slower going back up, but it was fine. Though it's a 600-foot climb, there are no really steep parts. There are some ledges, which you know I don't like, but they didn't even get my heart rate up. :)
About two thirds of the way up, we stopped and rested on a bench. It was also a good place to take a look at an arch I had noticed on the way down.
I would have loved to have gotten up close, but it was in an area that we would have needed a guide. So I had to settle for a distant photo. :)
By the time we finished our very worthwhile hike, clouds were starting to move in and the sun was starting to sink. We had three more stops to make, but we skipped the next two for the time being. I wanted to make sure we got out to the last overlook - Spider Rock - before the sun got too low.
Spider Rock is an 800-foot monolith at the junction of Canyon de Chelly and the smaller Monument Canyon.
Monument Canyon is on the right in the photo above. As you can see the shadows were creeping up - we almost didn't get there in time. :)
I had seen some awesome photos of Spider Rock. My lighting and timing weren't the best, but I'm still happy with what we got. :)
I'm not real clear on the naming of Spider Rock but it has something to do with a legend of a Spider Woman. :)
We left the Spider Rock Overlook and headed home. We made a brief stop at the Face Rock Overlook where we saw some more ruins, but we were never quite sure about Face Rock.
What I can tell you is that there are ruins in the crack about half way up the wall in the above photo. How did they get there?! :)
Our final stop was the Sliding House Overlook which is about the mid-point on the South Rim Drive.
One last look down canyon ....
and I climbed up on some rocks for one last photo.
If you look really close at this last pic, you can see a fellow on the far left standing near the ledge where we had been a couple minutes earlier.
It's not the Grand Canyon, but Canyon de Chelly is spectacular for its scenery, its history, and its variety of ruins. It's certainly worth a visit. :)
So that ends the tour of Canyon de Chelly and includes everything you can do on your own without paying a single dime. :)
By the way, there is a private campground with hook-ups about half way between Sliding House Overlook and Spider Rock Overlook. We knew it was for rigs in the 30-foot and smaller range, but we took a brief look as we passed. It's all dirt roads, and right now, with the melting snow, it's all red mud roads. It wouldn't be for us, but it may be an option for some. :)
Back home, our solar panels had fully charged our batteries. Cool. :)
I threw some burgers on the grill and watched the birds in the campground while Linda prepared our side dish of black beans.
Then we watched TV for awhile before going to bed and shutting everything down.
It was a great day at Canyon de Chelly. :)
I knew that you would love the canyon and its mystry. Can you believe car commericals were done on top of Spider Rock at one time. Try to do a guided tour of it sometime. The tour trucks are run by propane. They go through the quick sand really well when its flooded.
southwestjudy
Posted by: Judy Schmader | Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 02:13 PM
We absolutely loved Canyon de Chelly. We were there in the fall and the trees were beautiful and the weather perfect. It definitely has the "it" factor for us:-) We could spend a couple of weeks there just enjoying the rocks and the views. We did take an Indian guided tour which we enjoyed very much. We gained such a different perspective of the area than just driving and hiking ourselves. He explained many things about his culture and exactly how they work with the National Park Service, etc.
Go on down the road further from the campground to a unique little inn. We understand the food is excellent, but we were never there at meal time.
The dogs and horses are tribal property. They have the right to go anywhere undisturbed. The morning we started our guided tour, there were about a dozen ponies "lounging" on the motel lawn:-)
This is one of the great beautiful places we would return to often.
Posted by: Snackmaster and Jan | Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 02:23 PM
Howard, when we visited Canyon de Chelly we were told that Spider Woman carried naughty children away and ate them on top of her lair and that the white rock at the top was their bones.
Carole
Posted by: Carole Keogh | Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 02:57 PM
This is one of my favorite places on earth. We have been there several times and would go back tomorrow if I could. Another must is Monument Valley not far from where you are. I just love AZ and NM.
Bob
Posted by: bob schmader | Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 05:16 PM
Howard,
My husband and I visited Canyon de Chelly a number of years ago. Just as we were walking out of that last long tunnel on the hike, an elderly Native American man and his wife were hiking up the trail. It was so cool! They were just typical farm people and I had the impression that they might not even speak English.
It is a beautiful spot (as is Monument Valley and the Red Rock area around Moab). We've been to them all, some of them several times and plan to go again. We love Arizona!! We've been to most of the spots you've covered on this trip.
Posted by: Barb | Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 08:15 PM