21st June, 2008 Mountain Home, Idaho

Travelling only a short distance today, we had time for Her Majesty’s oil change the rental company said was due at 99,200 km; we had actually reached 100,500km. So far we have travelled over 8,000 km. We had a short wander through the downtown area of Twin Falls especially to look at some elk antler jewellery. We can’t say it appealed to us as it is browner than ivory. In fact, it can be quite brown depending on what the elk was eating about the time it dropped its antlers for a new set. Furthermore, the makers had set the elk antler in gold with diamonds so it was beyond our price range even if we had liked it.

Twin Falls is a large town of over 35,000 people and very busy on a Saturday morning except for most of the supermarkets and large retail complexes. As per usual, the huge open-air car parks were mostly empty. We spied a car rally in a local park so David went off to investigate the row of Corvettes. The Corvettes ranged form 1961 to 2007. There were Chevs, Fords, Buicks, Pontiacs, Dodges, and Chryslers of the post 1960s too. Many had modifications to bodywork and engines and David was disappointed to see that none of the Corvettes had the 427 cubic inch engine, which was the top of the line motor. Modifications to the bodywork of one particular Corvette ruined its lines.

Meanwhile, I watched the local Catholic Church. A parade of people was entering the front of the church and a priest walked passed in his full regalia. First, I saw 3 different families arrive; each had a daughter dressed in a long white dress with yards of material in the skirt. Ah, ah, I thought, first communion. To me, it looked a little strange as most of the women were in long evening dresses at 10 am in the morning. There were a few cocktail length outfits and most of the men wore black suits. Then, a second woman arrived wearing the same lime green satin dress I had seen on an earlier church entrant. It was strapless, with a shawl and three bouncy layers to the skirt. Now, I was thinking perhaps it was a wedding. Three men pilled out from the same car as this woman wearing black suits, white shirts and lime green satin vests. So, I waited to see the bride. Instead, the three groomsmen and the second bridesmaid piled back into the car and took off. Obviously, a very disorganised wedding or perhaps, Mexican Americans don’t use bridal cars!

We headed up the main shopping boulevard to the bridge that crosses the Snake River. The Perrine Bridge has a couple of lookouts that afford great views of the canyon. To the west, a very green golf course with its water hazards partially fills the canyon floor on what, we presume, was a debris bed form the great flood.

On the way out of town we saw an amusing site: the Sawtooth Surgery Center! Shame it wasn’t a dental clinic.

Saying goodbye to Twin Falls, we headed west for Buhl where there are dairy farms and Smith’s Dairy. Here we were told to sample the local ice cream and we opted for a banana split and a sundae – haven’t had them for decades. Dairy products are so cheap. Beside the huge double icecream scoop waffle cones at $2.75 each, a half a gallon of milk (nearly 2 litres) is only $2.75 too. A half a gallon of double cream costs just $7.00 but I can’t imagine buying so much cream. What’s more, the milk comes in recycled bottles, not plastic! Most of the dairy cattle seem to be out in the fields chewing the cud here, which is nice.

From the Magic Valley, you enter the Hagerman Valley but the Snake River flows through both. Here the south desert ridge is higher, and made of yellow sedimentary deposits, than the north canyon rim, which is black basalt. The valley between is green because of all the irrigation. At Thousand Springs, amazingly, a thousand springs appear at the base of the northern basalt cliffs and run through green scree slopes to the river. The basalt rocks are porous and absorb water, in other words, an aquifer exists. The water flows out of the rock at a temperature suitable for trout so trout hatcheries here produce 70% of the USA’s trout.

The Indians caught salmon at the cascades to the west but damming the river for irrigation has probably ruined all that. Sturgeon and steelheads are the fish most mentioned around Twin Falls. The Indians traded this salmon with overlanders using the wild west’s Oregon Trail. You can still see and walk the original Oregon Trail with it wagon wheel ruts but we contented ourselves with viewing the trail from the south ridge lookouts. By this time, it was getting very hot again.

The sedimentary cliffs to the south have yielded some great fossils. This area is considered one of the great fossil areas of the world. The Hagerman Horse is a famous one. This horse was probably like today’s zebra. It is now extinct. Interestingly, the modern horse was originally native to North America. It travelled to the Old World but became extinct here. The Spaniards reintroduced the horse back into the continent. Other fossils include a turtles and mastadons. There is a small visitor’s centre in Hagerman that we popped into for a look.

We tried to book into a state park on the river mid-afternoon as they had some shade but there were no vacancies so we came on to Mountain Home (note: no mountain!). There was absolutely no shade here either as it is a new park too but they have a very cool a/c office with tables and chairs, a library and free tea and coffee so I have parked myself here until it cools own outside. Now I am stuck! A dust storm has hit with a vengence, 60 mph winds. A thunderstorm has been forecast so I have to sit out the dust storm and race back to the van before the thunderstorm hits! It’s going to be fine timing; they close in an hour what’s more. Poor David is stuck in the van with it all closed up in this heat! They also get snow here up to 2 metres deep! I hope the storm doesn’t wreck their beautiful entry here. There are lovely roses and shade trees as well as lawn as you drive in to the site, which is set back a long way from the road.

I am photographing interesting number plates on the cars here. Today we saw, but were unable to photograph, SASYGRL and FUNLUVN. It seems in some states, you can put anything you can fit on your plates. If you have a new vehicle, you get 30 days to register it and get plates so that some cars have no plates at all! Other states only require rear plates so there is none, or whatever you want, at the front. People from these states may purchase touristy plates like ROUTE 66 or GOD BLESS AMERICA from gift shops for the front of their cars.

20th June, 2008 Twin Fall, Idaho

A cool night! Yeah! Then we were up early and off.

The main street of Midway continued the Swiss theme with an Edelweiss Gallery, Olde Swiss Square and the Cuckoo Café. Lighting in the main street was provided by simple old-fashioned lamp posts. They even had a covered wooden bridge, Swiss style for pedestrians to cross the river into town and a bicycle track led from Midway into Heber too.

Heber City is a nice town set among green rolling hills to the east and snow topped mountains to the west. Some businesses are housed in stone buildings that look like very expensive homes. Often several are clustered together around a circular drive in. There lovely established trees, especially down the main street, with more elaborate lamp posts, this time supporting handing baskets of petunias like we saw in Bath in 1977. This area oozes money.

Outside town, dairy farms and more cattle than we have so far seen greeted us. It was lovely to see cattle in the fields as we have travelled for so many miles with just empty paddocks and desert to look at.

Then I took the wheel of Her Majesty’s Truck for the first time and dove for a couple of hours. I didn’t find it so difficult as David had as I am now used to the “wrong” side of the road. Furthermore, I was on wider roads, not the narrow winding things he started out on. However, there was a lot of roadwork happening, until David took the wheel over again, naturally!

Making our way back to the west we had managed to avoid Salt Lake City. We saw the Great Salt Lake but the road doesn’t go close to it. This lake is a fraction of the size of the original lake, Lake Bonneville, that occupied this area until about 15,000 years ago. It was dammed by lava flows up through cracks in the ground. It is, therefore, a very wide and flat valley. The road passes closer to the eastern valley side, which has substantial mountains to view.

North of the town of Tremonton, you are in green gentle hills folded like thick velvet. Irrigation plays a major role in keeping this valley so green. From there we crossed into Idaho near where the original northern border of Lake Bonneville had been. Immediately, the land became flatter and drier with warning signs along the road about dust storms. You are not allowed to stop by the road because of them and we saw dozens of little willy willies especially on bare land where farmers were preparing crops.

The rocks have changed completely as now we saw black volcanic plateaux, not he sandstone plateaux of Utah. We turned off the main roads to Magic Valley as we wished to pick up the winding Snake River. This river is fascinating as it rises in the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming, winds south through Grand Teton National Park, then heads north in Idaho, but turns south again just near Idaho Falls. It continues south and then west until Twin Falls when it turns north east flowing through Caldwell where our friends live. This river then continues north, forming the boundary between Idaho and Oregon and eventually up into Washington State where it flows west, then south into the Columbia River near Pasco. So you can see where it got its name. Overall, it is 1056 miles long and has 19 dams on it. Water, flowing through the desert is such a boon. Australia just lacks these great rivers running through our deserts but then we haven’t had the uplifting that provides the gravity to make them flow. What makes this river tortuous especially here is the lava flows from underground that produced shield cones over the sedimentary rocks produced in other large ancient lakes. These shield cones forced the river to wind around them.

Agriculture is also interesting here too. As far as we could see, there were irrigation pipes of varying styles pumping out the water from the Snake. Rich green fields produce among other things potatoes (Idaho is famous for its potatoes.), barley and hay. In fact, the farmers here create large walls of cut hay rather than place them under sheds. Because the fields are so intensively farmed, the cattle seem to be herded into dirt cattle yards and fed on hay. We virtually saw no cattle eating grass in the fields all day. Some times they have long sheds for the cows much like our battery chicken farms only very open sided.

Before entering Twin Falls, we detoured to see the Shoshone Falls north east of the town. These falls, in spring, are 1000 feet wide and are deeper than Niagara and are therefore called the “Niagara of the West”. Apparently, in full snowmelt mode, the mist rising from the canyon can be seen 12 miles away. Being summer now, the falls are only half their normal width and, if they are taller than Niagara, I don’t think I will bother going east to see the eastern Niagara. Soon, the falls will be dry as irrigation uses most of the water via a dam upstream. There is another dam just behind the falls as well. This dam is used to divert water into a hydroelectric plant but the locals have created a delightful swimming and boating facility there as well. What is most fascinating was how the Snake River Canyon here, and the falls, were created. Lake Bonneville to the south in Utah had no outlet and eventually the water level rose until it breeched the lava flow that was damming it to the north. Suddenly, the whole wall gave way about 15,000 years ago and flooded the Snake River Valley for 8 weeks. The power of this flood carved the deep canyon and littered the valley floor with large basalt boulders called melon balls. It is considered the biggest flood known, I guess that is in the US.

We stopped at a new RV park out of town, which unfortunately was relatively new so the trees had not grown very high. However, we found enough shade to sit it at the back of our van and enjoyed the warm breeze until we were cool enough to have dinner. Here it is not too far from the Nevada border so they advertise the casinos there – Vegas without the crowds.

One of the really nice things about coming to Idaho is seeing lawns and gardens around houses. We have missed them and feel sad when we see house after house just sitting in dirt. Along the Snake River, the homes overlooking the water were most attractive.

19th June, 2008 Wasatch Mountains State Park, Utah

Today we escaped the heat and desert for an alpine, European setting. We needed blankets to sleep. Yeah!

Getting an early start, we drove north, passed the entry to Canyonlands NP, and on to the Interstate 70 and Route 191 which, were good roads that followed the interestingly eroded grey Book Cliffs west and then north. Our plan was to zig-zag towards Idaho.

At a couple of places, we saw closed down petrol stations with prices as low as $1.009 a gallon. Ah, the good old days! At another, there was an amusing advertisement for a museum of prehistory at Price which said,” Introduce your monsters to ours!” David wondered whether they would keep ‘ours’.

We had decided we had time to view the Huntington and Eccles Canyons, which were marked as scenic in our book of maps. So from Price, we headed south, turning north east at the town of Huntington. At the entrance to the canyon, we were still in rocky desert and not sure that we were not heading for more of the same hot desert, but after passing a coal fired power plant and methane extraction pumps (they looked like the small oil pumps we saw at Aneth but there is coal in the Wasatch Plateau), the road began to climb higher into the plateau. This plateau is the most northern in Utah but is very different to those to the south. The scenery grew greener as we followed a fast flowing Huntington Creek, which is fed by snow and provides excellent trout fishing. All along, as we drove higher into greener landscapes, there were small camping spots and anglers trying their luck.

Near the summit, there are at least 6 dams or lakes that provide alpine vistas of snowy mountains, green valleys and blue water. One was at a site where a 65 year old mammoth was found preserved in the icy mud.

From the summit at Mt Pleasant (9655 feet), we wound our way down the Eccles Canyon, which was not nearly so attractive and a little spoilt by the coal mine near its end especially as the dry, rocky desert reared its ugly head. We stopped for a break at the end of the canyon, where the road joins Route 6 and watched as a coal train with 4 engines and 100 coal wagons passed by. David counted the wagons this time!

It was then time to make our way to the Wasatch Range to the north. This range is to the east of Utah Lake and the Great Salt Lake, which Salt Lake City abuts. However, we wanted to by-pass the urban areas so at Provo, south of Salt Lake City, we took the route to the north east. Provo is an attractive city with treed lined, wide streets and some attractive old buildings including the Tabernacles and the Library. It is obviously a well-to-do city.

To escape into the Wasatch Range we entered a canyon, the Nunn Valley. Here the grey strata are wonderfully folded under tremendous geological pressure and a long waterfall plummets into the valley. At the other end of the valley to Provo, and over Soldier Summit at 7,400 feet, and you are in the Heber Valley, headed for Heber City but, just before it, we turned north to Midway and then into the Wasatch Mountain State Park.

Midway was a complete surprise, not because the whole Heber Valley was green and surrounded by rolling green hills but because it is filled with Swiss /German architecture. There are carved wooden balconies, painted scenes on exterior walls, water mills and so on. The big resort there is called the Zermatt Inn. We guessed it was called Midway because it is half way up the mountains between Heber City and the snow.

The state park is one of the most developed in Utah with full hook ups, a golf course and showers. We camped by a shaded swiftly flowing stream but the roaring of the water did not keep us awake although I missed the comfort of the motel bed!

18th June, 2008 Moab, Utah

Thankful for a cool night where we even ended up turning off the fan, we again rose early to walk. Breakfast is included in the tariff here and available from 6am. Was it freezing in the Breakfast Room. We ate quickly to avoid going to the van for jumpers. The hot food consisted of scrambled egg and a white sauce with flecks of brown in it. From the nearby signs I realised this was for biscuits and gravy. The biscuits are scones and they cover them with the white gravy. We know Americans call biscuits ‘cookies’ but we didn’t know they called scones ‘biscuits’. The biscuits and gravy did not appeal so we had mainly our usual affair of cereal, toast and tea except that I had waffles and maple syrup instead of toast and jam.

By the way, I have eaten the beef jerky. It was very tasty and was like crisp bacon but David, who is not very adventurous when it comes to food, had a couple of pieces and refused to eat any more.

Today, it was the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park north of Moab. This park has two other sections: The Needles to the south which we visited earlier and The Maze to the south west which is only suitable for 4 wheel drive vehicles so we gave it a miss but bought a postcard. Actually, I think The Maze is probably best seen from the air.

Island in the Sky gets its name form it height at above 6,000 feet and the fact that it is only connected to the rest of the mesa but a narrow neck of land 40 feet wide across which the road runs. This neck provided a valuable place for ranchers to place a short fence but safely keep their cattle in. The Island in the Sky is 43 sq miles in area.

Actually, we discovered why Moab is teaming with Jeeps. There are few hiking trails here but lots of long 4 wheel drive tracks for people to drive. There is, for example, a 100-mile or so drive around the canyon rims that is only suitable for these vehicles and Hummers, which you can also hire. Hummers are enclosed with a/c while most of the jeeps are open and therefore very hot, windy and dusty to drive.

Perhaps I should explain the geology of the area here. There are 3 levels to the national park as well as three sections. At the top is the flat mesa, which ordinary vehicles can access and use to get to several lookouts and trails. Then below there is the White Rim Train of the canyon rims, which is for 4 wheel drives and lastly, at the bottom, are the Green and Colorado Rivers which are accessed by rafts. It is a little like a mini Grand Canyon except that 2 rivers are involved. It has familiar structures of the white Navajo Sandstone above the Kayenta red sandstone and other subsequent sandstone layers lower down because this park too is a part of the original large Colorado Plateau that also included Bryce, Zion, Cedar Breaks, The Grand Canyon and so on (called the Great Circle). The La Sal Mountains to the east are volcanic and about 300 million years old while the Navajo sandstone was laid down about 175 million years ago before the plateau was uplifted a mile. So you can see over 300 million years of geology at this site and Arches NP.

First, we drove and then did an easy walk to Mesa Arch because a ranger had told us this was best photographed in the “morning”. What she should have said was that it was best photographed at “sunrise”. We were too late and it would also be fine photographed in the afternoon. Nevertheless, we were not sorry to see it. This arch is positioned on the very edge of the mesa so that the land drops hundreds of feet down and you have a view to the east across the Colorado River canyon to the La Sal Mountains through the arch. Stunning! It makes you suck in your breath. You can also walk over the top of it although we didn’t out of respect. These arches are actually fragile in geological terms. While we loved the view, we decided not to return in the afternoon. It would be a lot of petrol to cover the 80 miles round trip just to photograph it in the right light.

The next recommended morning stop was Upheaval Dome where the walk was more strenuous. In fact there are two lookouts here. We did the first and most of the walk to the second. The last bit was too steep and we could see that little advantage could be gained from it in terms of the view. Upheaval Dome is actually a sharply weathered grey crater with, apparently, a little dome or spire in the centre. This can be seen in aerial photographs but not form the lookouts. Geologists cannot agree on the original of this feature. Some say it is a salt dome that has collapsed but it hasn’t produced the same features as in Arches NP a few miles away. Others say it is a meteor crater. Perhaps it is a mixture of several events such as those above and volcanic activity. Who knows? No one was there to record it.

Then it was off to 3 lookouts with minimal hiking since it we had already hiked for about 2 hours and it was now after 10:30 am. It was, furthermore, too hot to do anything more than jump out of our air-conditioning and enjoy the views and jump back into the a/c. Actually, the Visitor Center lists only about 5 of the walks; three are over 8 miles long and the others we did.

At Green River Overlook, you see a great sight for miles that highlights the white sandstone rim of the top of the canyon below you. You see the flat mesa top, then the red cliffs to the white rim flat rim to the red canyon walls to the green river. In the late morning light you can gain an excellent view that includes The Maze section to the south west.

The Grand View Point Overlook was a little disappointing and we heard someone say that Dead Horse Point in the adjacent State Park was better so we decided to pay the extra $10 entry to the state park and look at the view from there. In the national parks we use our annual pass which cost $80 and had well and truly paid for itself as some parks cost $25 to enter although the fee is valid for up to 7 days.

Dead Horse Point further to the east gets its name, supposedly, from the fact that it too has a narrow neck that allowed cowboys to round up the wild horses and corral them at this point (the remaining edges being sheer red cliffs). Here the neck is just 30 feet wide. Unfortunately, after choosing the best horses, they left the remainder locked in the small point area where there was, and still is no water, and they died of thirst. This point is so hot that they have erected shade shelters over one of the 3 lookout points to protect tourists and, as per usual, the Visitor Center is very coolly air-conditioned.

The eastern lookout at Dead Horse Point affords a view of the La Sal mountains, the Colorado River and potash evaporation ponds. What is so significant about potash evaporation ponds, you ask? Well, they are dyed bright blue, in fact, several shades of brilliant bright blue, and stand out vividly against the grey, red and green of the rest of the view. Apparently, the blue dye helps absorb more sunlight and so hasten the evaporation process. The potash is used in fertiliser as all good gardeners know that potash improves flowering.

From the western viewpoint you can see the approximate area of the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers and The Needles section of Canyonlands NP.

While Mesa Arch and Dead Horse Point were really great, if you didn’t have the time to see them, you could give them a miss or a cursory drive from one viewpoint to another as without the jeep drives, they are a lot of miles for very few rewards compared to the other parks we have been in. We cannot comment on whether the jeeps are worth the hire, however.

We decided to postpone lunch until we got back to our motel around 3pm. Then it was blogging, washing, haircuts and a swim in their great pool before a late dinner.

The pool here is much nicer than that at the Moab RV park where we stayed 4 nights ago. Rather than being on the main road, it is in the courtyard of the hotel, protected and shaded in the early evening. Lots of parks and motels place their pool at the front, right in view of passing traffic so there is no privacy and it is always noisy. The pool was a fraction warmer so we could stay in longer as well as being bigger. No noisy youths stopped us enjoying our swim at 6.30pm, thankfully. It was all very civilised. Still, we were paying for it.

Tomorrow we leave the Utah desert canyons behind, and hopefully, the heat as well, and head for Idaho and eventually our friends, Kathy and Ken Zobel in Caldwell. Kathy met David on a trip to Israel in 1972 and we have corresponded every since.

Quote of the day:
Husband: “Do you want to fill your bladder?”
Wife: “No, thanks, I’ll just put some ice in it.”

Doctors and nurses please note this new form of suppository. English teachers please note the meanings involved here. (Many European hikers have their water bottles secreted inside their backpacks and access their water via a tube that they suck on like a big straw. Yuk!) This couple were parked right next to us and, with a daughter a doctor, I was barely able to suppress a burst of laughter.

17th June, 2008 Moab, Utah

Please note - we have had to delete photos on earlier blogs to make room for more.

David woke after a very hot and disturbed night to inform me that we were going to an air-conditioned motel. What a relief! We were unable to keep the back doors open last night because of the winds gusts that even penetrated our barely opened side windows so that at least once in the night I was hit with a fine shower of red dust. Then the wind disappeared altogether so that we sweltered until about 5am. This was not fun and we are supposed to be enjoying our holiday.

It was decided to save some petrol by doing the morning walks to Landscape and Double Arch before going into Moab to book into a motel. Landscape Arch was a one and a quarter hour hike and supposedly easy. Again, we’d say ‘moderate’ as there was some climbing. On the way we did the detours to Tunnel Arch and Pine Arch. All were worth the look and by now we were easily able to understand how most of the arches got their names. Pines grow under Pine Arch for example. However, Landscape Arch is a little different. Perhaps the name came form the fact that it is the largest arch in the park, longer than a football field. In 1991, a large slab of rock, about 60 feet, fell off. Luckily, no one was killed under it although people were there to take photos of the fall. It is now so thin that tourists cannot walk under this arch although you can walk under many others. Eventually, all these arches will fall and disappear.

Then we drove to the Double Arch Trailhead where a shorter walk takes you to a large arch that has been turned into 2 by a pothole enlarging and deepening to put a large hole in the centre of the arch. This double arch is massive in size, rather than width.

Here, we were warned, by a Melbourne couple that we should not leave finding a motel until late because there is a shortage of rooms. So we went straight to the two motels on the northern side of town nearest the park entrance. The Holiday Inn was booked out but at the Aarchway Inn (Yes, they go in for ‘aa’ spellings here to get higher in the alphabetical listings.) they had one Executive Suite left. We took it. Their symbol is a kokopelli in a hammock. Sharen Fifer, a friend, will know what we mean when we say: “It’s a sign!” It was dearer than Hawaii but cheaper than Vancouver. As we couldn’t get in until 3pm, we went into town to stock up of food and ring the hire company about the detached awning. After a couple of phone calls and a discussion with the local RV man, it was decided that it was not worth fixing as it would need to be pulled to pieces, checked and then reattached at a price the hire company thought would probably equal a new awning. So off to the tip we went with the awning. They did not charge us as they would get the metal recycled and make money but we will have to pay the $500 insurance excess when we get back to Vancouver. That was one very expensive gust of wind. Still we are determined it will not spoil our holiday. It’s only money and a few nights in a motel but we will have no shade awning for the rest of our trip which is a shame as we are moving into summer proper and we were very careful with it, not leaving it out at night or when we were not on site.

When we got back to the Inn we were early but allowed to go to our room. However, there had been a change. The Executive Suite was no longer available as the existing occupants wanted to extend their stay so would we take the Honeymoon Suite for the same price? Of course, we didn’t care. We just wanted a cool place to sleep and rest during the day. What a treat! The Honeymoon Suite! This suite turns out to be three times larger than any other in the motel. It is isolated at one end with a side entrance door just outside our door to our van. We were able to easily bring in the clothes and food we need for our two days here. This also lessened the load on our poor van fridge struggling in the 104 degree F heat. Besides having three rooms (kitchen, lounge / bathroom / bedroom) we have a king sized bed, 2 air-conditioners, a ceiling fan and a spa bath plus shower. They had even started both air conditioners so that the rooms were lovely and cool.

About 6pm we took off for our afternoon hikes. This time we went to the Delicate Arch and The Windows sections of the park. Accessing Delicate Arch is a bit difficult but interesting. First you drive through a valley with strong almost iridescent green tones from the copper that has oxidised on the surface of this section of the Sand Valley. Then you have a choice of three viewpoints. The first is a strenuous walk right up to Delicate Arch. This arch has also been described as Grandma’s Bloomers or Cowboy’s Chaps (leather pants) for they look like pants of a bow-legged cowboy. However, the most amazing feature is that it sits, not into the sidewall of red rock like others but like a semi-circular hoop right on top of the rock!

Naturally, we are not into strenuous walks especially at the end of a hot day, so we contented ourselves with an easy, and then a moderate climb over sliprock, to two other vantage points. The Upper Delicate Arch Viewpoint is actually about a mile form the Arch itself but you could clearly see it and those climbing the strenuous walk to near its base.

The Windows section of the park is a little further to the south and closer to the main road in. Here there are three main arches called the Turret Arch, The North Window and the South Window. There was some cloud cover again tonight but it did part on occasions to shine brilliantly against these red arches. Actually the North and South Windows have a bump between them that looks a little like a nose so that they windows could be seen as the two eyes of a mask, upside down. There were also some attractive views from this section across the fins to the La Sal Mountains.

Arches National Park is definitely worth a visit, not because it is always spectacular, like Bryce, but because it is so very varied within a small area. Here you can see: the La Sal Mountains and snow beyond the park; distant mesas, smooth red rock walls, hoodoos, fins, arches, the Sand Valley anticline, the soil colours of white, red, grey and green and petrified sand dunes.

At The Windows, we passed a woman with a pink T-shirt embroidered with the word Sydney, and pictures of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge purchased when they had just visited Australia last year. Everyone we meet has either been to Australia, and loved it, or wants to visit. Several have asked us to keep talking or record our voices on CD to they can keep hearing our accent. They seem to like it! This couple had spent 17 days in Australia, 7 in NZ and 3 in Fiji! It’s such a long way to go for so little time and, naturally, they now realise this and want to return.

By the time we got back to the car park, it was nearly sunset so we had tea in the parking area. Then as darkness fell, we made our way out of the park and back to our cool motel for a spa. A full moon rose beautifully above the La Sal Mountains and many stopped to try and capture this on their cameras but by the time we were down the mesa and headed for the lights of Moab, the moon appeared stationary over the town. The Moon over Moab! Poetic!

16th June, 2008 Arches National Park, Utah

Moab is surrounded on 3 sides by barren desert hills, so while it is a well-treed town, an oasis in fact, it is airless in the evening. Last night was our hottest night and we again slept little until 5 am when it was cool enough to have a sheet over you. We found nowhere we could buy a small battery operated fan for the van, unfortunately.

We decided to fill in the morning before taking occupancy of our national park site by driving up the Colorado Riverway. This is a scenic drive we found outlined in our maps of America and follows the Colorado River. We had seen and purchased a great postcard on Fisher Towers, which is on this route, and decided to go and see the original. Unfortunately, they were doing yet more road works on this route and we had a substantial wait before our line of cars were allowed to proceed behind a pilot truck for several miles. It has a sign on the back: “Pilot car. Follow me” but David thought there was bound to be some fine print there that added: “I’m lost too.”

The Colorado River here is brown, loaded with silt, since it is upstream from the Glen Canyon Dam where it deposits its silt becoming the emerald green we loved at Marble Canyon. What is more, we have discovered that most of it is not the Colorado River at all. The Colorado and Green Rivers were merely tributaries of the Grand River (hence The Grand Canyon) but when officials tried to correctly rename the river downstream from the confluence of these two rivers as the Green River (since the Colorado runs into the Green River in Canyonlands National Park), locals managed to get an act through Congress so that the incorrect name, the Colorado, was kept for south of the confluence. Otherwise, the Grand Canyon would have the Green River flowing through it and could have been the Green Canyon! Colorado is Spanish for red but this too is a misnomer since the Colorado is sometimes brown (as today), grey or, as south, green. It depends on the colour of the sediments carried or not. Green is actually the colour of the Grand Canyon’s River.

The Colorado Riverway was well worth the journey as the river winds it way through red and black cliffs. The black comes from bacteria that feed on the minerals on the rock surface, in particular, manganese and iron. At one point, we appeared to follow the river downhill, except that it was actually flowing the opposite direction. This is a strange experience. Then the valley widens and several ranches with irrigated paddocks offer cabins for tourists and the opportunity to ride the river or their numerous horses. Fisher Towers is a close collection of spires (weathered buttes) and you can gain an eastward view of them that includes the Colorado winding its way towards them.

Wishing to avoid the road delays on the return trip, I suggested that we take the turn off to Castle Valley a little more than 17 miles before you get back to Moab. How amazing that this road is not marked as scenic and its neither promoted nor well maintained. Castle Valley is an unusual gem. On the left side, you face the same barren escarpment that you see along the Colorado and places like the Vermillion Cliffs but on the right side of the valley, these red cliffs are increasingly well vegetated so they are mostly green, not red. In the middle lies a green, irrigated valley of farmland punctuated by a green and grey cone-shaped mountain. Behind the cone, at the end of the valley are the tall green and grey La Sal Mountains still with a touch of snow. Snow and desert; valley, cliffs and mountains; and finally red, grey, green and white all existing in the same strange valley. Firstly, you drive down the left barren side. Then climb onto the foothills of the mountains and cross to the other side of the valley. From these foothills a wonderful panorama of the valley can be gained. A couple from Mississippi were at the lookout, overwhelmed by the view, when we arrived. The wife whispered to David, “This is God’s own country”. We smiled. It was certainly wonderful but we wondered if the couple had ever seen the splendours of Europe, the stunning turquoise rivers and deep gorges of the former Yugoslavia and the beauty of New Zealand. David, of course, being David, wondered at the theological implications of her statement.

Behind us were scattered houses perched over the view and further on, the majestic Mt Peale at nearly 13,000 feet made us feel so far from the harsh heat of Moab just twenty miles below us. From hot desert canyons to cool alpine mountains in just twenty miles, it is truly a treat. We sure appreciated the break from the heat.

Now, it was time to head for Arches National Park where we were booked in for three nights. I was hoping the higher altitude of Arches would provide relief from the heat. From the impressive Visitor Center close to the entrance, with its displays, theatre and bookshop, which we availed ourselves of, we wound our way up the hills behind the centre. People we met from Melbourne at the Moab campground in the morning before we left for the Colorado Riverway, warned us of the steep road into the park but it was nothing compared to the road into Yosemite, Zion or Mesa Verde. The first stop is to view the Moab Fault which is visible in the opposite valley face once pointed out to you. After that, there are a series of weird rock forms from a balancing rock to three figure-like spires called The Gossips. You also gain a good view here of the La Sal Mountains to the east. Then there is a while until you reach a valley with faint colour overtones of the Painted Desert. It is an anticline.

This anticline has a strange geological history that separates Arches from The Needles and The Island in the Sky sections of Canyonlands National Park, which are so close to it. As well as sand dunes being deposited and petrified above red sandstone, here salt was deposited and mounded by earth movements until it formed a dome with a depth of up to 5,000 feet. (Sand is plastic under pressure.) Then red sand was deposited on top of it and hardened before the whole Colorado Plateau was uplifted. The red rocks cracked over the dome and were weathered to a thinnish layer. While Canyonlands and the Grand Canyon South Rim were and are created by the river, the main features of Arches, the arches themselves, are formed by rain and wind. Rain seeped through the cracks of the red top layer of rock and dissolved the salt dome underneath so the dome collapsed, creating an anticline called Sand Valley. The thin layer of fractured red sandstone was weathered to form relatively thin fins of rock standing vertically. Weather wrought holes in the sides of the fins to create grottos and then arches.

So now, you have Sand Valley with a section of red fins, called the Fiery Furnace, along its northern edge as well as many pockets of fins displaying 2,000 arches and they say there are still possibly more to discover. It is a strange landscape but well worth seeing but not in the heat of summer!

We found our campsite and sighed thankfully that there was a slight breeze making it cooler than Moab even though we needed insect repellent and the ants followed us form one spot to the next. We immediately began to put up our awning so we could sit under it and enjoy the air movement. Disaster! One sudden gust of wind out of nowhere ripped the awning up, over the top of the van detaching it completely. Two men were sought from a tent site to come and help us retrieve it. No other group suffered any damage although the sites are comparatively close here. The awning was not badly damaged and we rewound it and left it at the back of our site. Grey clouds were approaching so David used the sealant to plug the holes left when the screws and the van parted company. We took off about 6:30 for a hike to Tapestry Arch, Broken Arch (it has cracks in it) and Sand Dune Arch (it has sand dunes under it). It was labelled an easy walk! Ha! Since when is clambering over rocks, tree stumps and up sand dunes easy. The classification system of walks really needs to be a looked at and standardised across all national parks. Easy sometimes means wheelchair accessible but this was definitely a moderate walk.

After our walk we had tea, and further gusts nearly took a tent away across the road. David secured it but after dark, further gusts demolished their shade structure completely. This was where the mother and her 3 adult girls kept their eskies so I don’t know what they will do tomorrow when the sun burns down on them. There should be signs us warning people about the gusts and telling van owners not to put out their awnings.

15th June, 2006 Moab, Utah

Sadly, no coyote howls and no cool air either last night. However, we did have a sleep in after the air temperature dropped a little after 5am and we were entertained by the antics of a long-tailed squirrel over breakfast.

First, he chased a chipmunk out of his bush and up a rock. Then, he looked at the rock face and appeared to be preening himself in front of an imaginary mirror. Next, it was a breakfast of pine core seeds delicately but quickly consumed. Time for work, obviously, as it raced up an adjacent small tree, perched on the top of some dead branches to survey his territory. However, it must have been a perfectionist, since it then sought an even higher perch in a tree further back in the cluster of tall rocks carefully looking east for a few minutes before checking the west with equal effort. Naturally, all work and no play etc also applies to squirrels, so work done, it was off scampering around as if at play.

Then we too were off. It was already hot and so we took only two short walks. The first for just 0.6 mile was to Pothole Point. Here you follow piles of little rocks guiding you across what is called sliprock. In this rock there are potholes filled with dirt and fine gravel. Yet, after rain, they fill with water and blossom into complex micro-ecosystems. As the water dries up, the organisms bury themselves under the dirt crust and gravel until the next rain falls. It is amazing that anything could survive in these potholes where the temperature rises to over 75 degree C in hot dry weather. As the dirt gradually accumulates in these potholes, plants take root and eventually the large potholes become mini-gardens in the rock.

Then we drove to Big Spring Canyon Overlook where we realised what the rounded white sandstone caps atop the red sandstone bases reminded us of – cowpats! They are thick, flowing rounded forms so that our previous descriptions of them as ‘pancake’ and ‘rissoles’ failed to adequately describe them. The canyon was dry and so we contented ourselves with some photos of the canyon and the weird rock formations before jumping back into the air-conditioned cab of our van.

Our second short walk of just 0.3 mile was to the Roadside Ruins site. At the start of the track, you pick up a pamphlet outlining certain features marked by numbers along the track. These pamphlets are kept in strong, lidded metal boxes and, if you decide to keep the pamphlet, you put 25 or 50 cents in the moneybox next to the metal box. If you don’t want it, you return the pamphlet and pay nothing. It’s an excellent system used widely in the national parks here.

This ruin pamphlet pointed out native plants used by the Indians and how they used theses plants, which was extremely interesting. The ashes of one plant were used as baking powder. You wonder how they even stumbled across such an idea.

However, the main feature of the trail was an Indian granary from about 1250 –1275 AD. There are lots of them in the park but no remains of any houses so they guess the Indians were migrating through the area rather than being permanently settled here. A stone was placed over the hole to keep out the rodents.

Next, it was off to the Visitor Center for some postcards. We often visit these centres both before and after visiting the sites. No wonder the rangers can work in these deserts, and apparently love it, the buildings are air-conditioned. They don’t rough it. The ranger informed us that next month the temperatures will range between 109 and 120 degrees F and that, in winter, the snowstorms are accompanied by lightning. Bizarre!

Rejoining the main road at Church Rock, we headed north to Moab, named after the town of Moab in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon heading for Arches National Park. Quickly, you come across sandstone rocks already with large grottos and a beautiful arch, Wilson Arch, can be seen right beside the road towering over a very attractive, and rare, Rest Area. These foretell of what we hope to see at Arches.

Stopping at Moab, (we were 1 night ahead of our booking for Arches as we only stayed 1 night at The Needles), a centre for adventure tour based tourism (besides rafting on the Colorado River, jeep riding through the desert is extremely popular), was both a good idea and a shock at the same time. Firstly, I sort of expected another Durango, but here it is lower and subsequently hotter. David told me that I should have expected desert because of its biblical reference. When I told the lady in the general store that I would have a swim in the campground pool when it cooled down, she laughed at me. It doesn’t cool down much here at all. Nevertheless, it was a good idea to stay here. We have a lovely shaded site, power to recharge our laptop and phones now flat from my blogging and the pool. Also, we are caressed by cottonwood tree seeds floating on the slight, but hot breeze. At least the air is moving, if only a fraction. Fortunately, the insects did not appear and we were able to have tea outdoors in the shade.

Beef, buffalo and elk jerky are apparently a favourite snack of Americans. The meat is cooked by smoking and dried out so it is portable and a source of protein. Finally, we decided to buy a small packet as a part of our cultural experience. It comes in many flavours (pepper, teriyaki, chilli) but we will try the original when we can bring ourselves to open the packet. We’ll let you know how we go.

Before tea, we indulged in a swim, bombed continually for 20 minutes by 10 unsupervised youths who lacked the manners we admire in their parents but we were determined to persevere knowing that within 10 minutes of getting out, we’d be hot again. Eventually, their mothers called them for dinner and we had a few minutes of peaceful exercise to make up for the lack of walking today.

We have been in van parks that have heated amenities and air-conditioned laundries (the banks of dryers pump out a lot of heat), but this is the first park we have come across where they air-condition the loos!

14th June, 2008 Canyonlands National Park, The Needles

We can recommend Durango and the United Campground which is shaded, clean, well appointed and convenient. The trolley bus runs right outside the ground so that you don’t have to unhook your van and pay $7 a day parking to get to the train station in town, What’s more, it’s great for children as 6 times a day the train runs right through the campground itself and they love to watch and wave as the train puffs through blowing its whistle to clear the tracks. There’s also a pool but we had no time for a dip. Here we saw our first ironing board, but no soap dispensers in the loos. It’s always a surprise to see what is included and not included every night. As for Durango, there are at least 35 restaurants within 8 small blocks but we were happy with Jean Pierre’s bakery. Two good courses, an attractive decore and 2 glasses of wine for less than $60.

It was a steady climb up out of Durango this morning and down to the Mancos Valley but still we passed several cyclists on the hills. Passing Hesperus Ski Lift on our way back to Cortez and seeing the mountains to the north with their rivers of melting snow, reminded us that there is a ski resort north of Durango with the religious name of Purgatory. Freezing in Purgatory, that’s an interesting idea!

We forgot to also say that Americans also seem fond of unusual names for their children. The most unusual have been a boy named Reebe (1 syllable) and a girl named Tanner. I guess, she could well end up a bikie's moll. (Leather, get it?)

After stocking up with fuel and petrol at Cortez (we noted that Foster’s is $11.97 for 12 cans, no city tax) thinking we will have several nights without facilities, we headed across the Mancos Valley for Monticello. The beginning of the road is listed as scenic but we saw little to impress. It is mainly cattle properties. However, we did see our first hand-painted sign supporting John McCain for President in November’s election. There were 2 signs actually. The first said,” Vote for John McCain. He’ll bring the snow and the rain” while the adjacent one said, “Jesus Saves”. Should there have been a little ‘BUT’ sign between them?

Then at Monticello, we were back in Utah, which, as we explained before, equals Utterly Terrible roads. They were doing up the road into and through this town forcing you to drive on the atrocious shoulder of the old road while they worked on both sides of the main part of the road itself. On the other hand, Monticello had a lovely cool shaded park for us to have lunch in although it lacked public toilets unless you went into the Library in the park and used their’s which was what some seem to be doing.

Monticello is a town with a supposedly interesting history of Indians and outlaws hiding in the hills and canyons. However, it is the canyon country developing several miles north of Monticello that would have provided havens for outlaws. Monticello itself has a great view of Abajo Peak, Mt Linnaeus and Shay Mountain but is flat.

From north of Monticello, the canyon scenery develops. First you see Church Rock, a white domed hoodoo of impressive size that has a small cave at its red base. A dirt road runs right up to the cave as if offering a drive-in place of worship. Just after this rock, there is the turn off leading to The Needles (southern) section of Canyonlands National Park where we were scheduled to stay 2 nights. As per usual, it is a long trek to the actual park entrance. The scenery is initially reminiscent of Mesa Verde with sandstone cliffs. Then you see sandstone domes and think, ah, Zion. Here, however, the cliffs erode in large vertical slabs, not the smooth curves of Zion. There are properties here where cattle are fed on rich green irrigated pastures in the valley and even, surprisingly in a very hot and dry desert, a lake or dam that sat beautifully beneath red towering cliffs. These red cliffs remind one of the Vermillion Cliffs and then the sandstone diminished and you thin you are entering another Monument Valley but in an earlier state of erosion as more of the plateau survives here.

We stopped at several laybys (turnouts to Americans – note, it’s all a matter of prepositions!) to take photos but the most interesting spot was Newspaper Rock. The Indians call it the rock of stories. It contains an even better set of petroglyphs than at Sand Island. There are bison, deer, weird human forms, spirals, hands, feet and supposedly a kokopelli although there was only one that could have perhaps, in the past, been the rain god. Naturally, the natives were there with their stalls but we have been overwhelmed with all the jewellery and are happy with our pots now safely stowed, we hope, in the above cab section of our van.
It is hot, very hot. We are not overly impressed since Monument Valley, Bryce and Zion are far more dramatic. Then, we entered the national park proper and were told that the camping ground was full. You cannot pre-book Canyonlands for some unknown reason. It is mid afternoon but the ranger says we can try our luck. Maybe there are still some sites left. The gate doesn’t know what the Visitor Center knows and neither knows what is actually happening a few miles down the road at the camping ground – very strange. Two rangers stopped us just after the entry and quizzed us on the manner of the ranger at the gate, “How would you describe her manner?” etc etc. We wondered if she knew they were checking up on her. Her manner was fine, but not overly friendly but we didn’t dob her in. The whole park needs better communication and procedures, it seems.

The sites are very spread out as per usual in the national parks we have visited and we found a smallish site the back of which was shaded by tall rocks and it was obviously too small for the big rigs. So I babysat the site while David raced back to the Visitor Center to get a tag to place on the site to hold it for us.

Abandoned, in the middle of a hot desert, I sat in my collapsible camping chair with my camera, a useless mobile phone and a litre of water. There were other humans around the corner but well out of site and shouting distance so that I could not hear a sound in the heat of the afternoon. I took a few photos from my chair in the shade of the rock but ants bit my feet. I moved further up the rock shelf. At a strange angle I sat, drank my water and suddenly appreciated the peace of this place. While I sat enjoying the occasional breeze, “Waiting for God, Oh, would he come back for me?”, the hot sun burnt into the eroded plateau and isolated rocks before me. A chipmunk scurried into some desert bush and I waited. My water bottle ran out.

David arrived back to inform me that you had to self-register further on down the road. Why don’t they tell you these things? Where is the sign or information? How were we supposed to know that half a mile down the road, almost at the end of the campground, the information is listed? See what I mean about better communication? Thus we secured our site but only for 1 night. In this heat and with this landscape, we can’t see ourselves staying here more than 1 night although we planned 2.

We opened out our awning, on the afternoon sun side, all the windows and the two back doors shading them with the acrylic rug from Durango to try and get the varying breeze through the van while we sat in the shade of the rock. We set the roof vent fan running. Biting insects, including flies, sent us searching for our bug repellent but it was after 7.15pm before the van and our picnic table were in the shade and I could get tea. Yesterday it was a hot meal and hot chocolate; today, it is cold salmon salad and chilled orange juice. Ah, the variety of our travels. We had just finished our tea and were enjoying the balmy evening when the mossies hit and we were forced back into the still hot air of the van. This van is not designed for hot weather with only 2 partially opening small windows, a small opening awning in the door and a roof vent. We could not leave the back doors or cab windows open as there are no fly screens for them. Who would live in a dessert? Biting insects, searing heat, winter cold, dust, dirt and no electricity or running water are available here for campers. In our stuffy van, it doesn’t even cool down much at night.

We plan to just drive to a couple of short walks in the morning, visit the Visitor Center and drive on to Moab where we will enjoy the comforts of home. Unless you hike down some dirt roads into some airless canyon in 96 degrees Fahrenheit, there is not much else to do here but fight off the insects at this time of year. Canyonlands and Zion are best seen in early spring or late autumn. We are a little too late. Nevertheless, the space and stillness can be savoured here.

A long-eared rabbit hops calmly across our site but this is coyote country so perhaps we will hear one tonight.

A final comment for today, we went to buy fresh salmon for tea at the supermarket today but were put off by a sign saying that colour had been added to the pale salmon. What, artificially coloured Atlantic Salmon!

13th June Durango

As a dutiful, loving wife of a train watcher, I survived, while David thrilled to, a 7 hour return journey on a narrow gauge (3 foot) steam train from Durango to Silverton today through the San Juan National Forest.

For those interested, the train consisted of 10 carriages – coaches, open gondolas and concession car - hauled by a coal fired 143 ton Baldwin K36 class tender locomotive #480. The train stopped twice to take on water. One of the original wooden water towers remains but today the water was supplied from steel tanks that were refilled from nearby mountain streams. The entire train was turned at Silverton using a Y junction. The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway operates 4 of the Baldwin type locos. Ten of these were built in 1925 and 9 are still running. They also run 3 Alco K28 tender locos weighing 127 tons, these being the last of the 10 of their class built in 1923. Other rollingstock consists of Boxcars, Cabooses and a Parlor Car, in all, a total of 50.

No, seriously, we had a great day even if it was a bit long. For one thing, the landscape varies from a green valley occupied by some stunning timber and glass homes to a steep granite and basalt gorge where the train creeps along on a ledge high above the raging river, which occupies all of the gorge width. Then you see the mountains around you increase in number and height until you can view over half a dozen snow- tracked ones. Finally, you reach Silverton, an old mining town, now a tourist attraction. Its old buildings from the period 1890-1903 have been turned into cafes, restaurants, gift shops, hotels and B & Bs. There are stage coach rides and even a wild west sheriff meets the train as it stops right in the middle of one of the 3 main streets (no station) with a gun in his holster and a Winchester rifle in one hand.

This town is at the junction of several high valleys so that it sits on flat land surrounded by snowy mountains. The snow is still melting so that on the way up and down you see rivers of snow in the crevices at the top of the mountains and then these become waterfalls rushing to join the Animas River. We lost track of the number of creeks and waterfalls we saw joining the rapid, churning water.

While Silverton is really just too touristy, surviving on 3-4 trains a day from Durango and the people who drive up the Million Dollar Highway, we found some Puebloan pottery there that was a tiny fraction of the price charged elsewhere. This is largely because it is from south of the border, that is Mexican Indians just over the border from Arizona. Everything south of the border is cheaper here.

The pottery is made by coiling and pinching the clay, decorating with traditional minerals using human hair brushes containing from 1 to 50 hairs. They create fine line geometric patterns and then fire the pots in ground kilns and finally polish them the traditional way rubbing with smooth stones.

We are happy to support underpaid artisans rather than pay through the nose for the local stuff we saw at Cameron and North Rim. Now, we just have to cart it around and get it home safely. If we don’t, it will be sad but no crisis as we paid a relative pittance for all the detailed work involved.

Taking this return train journey is a bit of a dilemma. Do you sit on the right in the warm sun going up and the afternoon sun coming back or do you sit on the left side of the carriage and freeze on the way up to get better photographs in both directions? Naturally, we chose to freeze so we invested in a cheap acrylic blanket sold at the gift shop and wrapped that around our legs. On the way back, it offered more protection for our new pots. We actually had seats booked on the right side (you have to do this to get good seats as the train ride is extremely popular) but 2 couples travelling together were split up, 2 on the right and 2 on the left, and they wanted to sit together. So we did a swap and it suited us for photographic reasons

Since we had booked in the more expensive of the open cars available on the first train of the day (more padding and no kids under 12), they gave us souvenir plastic mugs with lids that you can fill with complimentary tea, coffee or hot chocolate as many times in the day as you like. On the train you go to the Concession Car but you can also fill them at the Durango Station Café before you leave so this we did. Rugged up with 4 top layers and with a blanket around our legs we sipped chocolate until the train was well under way.

At first we thought we would see very little on the way up but the train crosses the valley several times so it all sorts itself out in the end and we were pleased with our decision to swap.

On the way up we saw a female elk and a beaver mound, while on the way back, we chuckled over a dozen or so prairie dogs close to Durango that seemed fascinated with the passing train as they sat atop their mounds but, as David joked, they forgot to wave! Lots of humans waved. From rafters and kayakers on the river to car occupants waiting at the half dozen or so level crossings in and close to Durango.

The train dominates Durango and it has made it a rich, popular and attractive tourist town with a lively atmosphere but an expensive place to live according to the lady from the train station who caught the same trolley bus home as we did. The local trolley bus is clean, excellent and cheap at 50 cents a ride. We rode the equivalent of over 3 Sydney bus sections for that price, each.

However, there are many other great things to do here. The Animas River must be one of the great rivers for mile after mile of white water rafting and kayaking. Most of its distance from Durango to Silverton (48 miles by road) is surging rapids. Then, there is fishing, cycling, skiing, Mesa Verde, mountain climbing, paddleboat pushing, hiking and soaring. Actually, even the Americans seemed a little confused about soaring. Just north of Durango is an airstrip for the Soaring Club, that is, gliders but at Tall Timbers Resort, part way up the train line and only accessible by rail , is a Soaring Resort. How could you glide out of the timbered country? We saw what they meant as we pulled into Tall Timbers Station but others asked the train’s brakeman, who resided in our carriage. It is the equivalent of our flying foxes where lines are strung up between trees and you swing your way across from one tree to another. They knew these as zip lines.

Each year on Memorial Day, there’s a race between the train and cyclists to reach Silverton. The train has never won! On the other hand, we beat a group of kayakers down today. They need great body strength to control their craft through the rapids and may tire quickly, needing to stop for a breather along the way. While kayaking doesn’t appeal to me, I would love to white water raft it, if only I was younger and stronger but I was never one for the adrenaline rush in my youth. The mere thought of me rafting the Animas had David’s jaw drop.

This trip has some great scenery although you end up very sooty in the open carriages (the inside ones are cleaner and warmer but you are looking through small old glass windows all day), it made a great change from walking and hiking.

We ended the day with dinner at a French bakery / restaurant in Durango having salmon on salad with a creamy hoisin and ginger sauce (me) and shrimp pasta (David) thus avoiding the possibility of frozen vegies. We declined desert there but bought 2 French desserts back to the van to consume with a cuppa, very nice. We also tried a glass of a nice sauvignon blanc by Honig from California’s Nappa Valley.

10th June, 2008 Monument Valley

One of the challenges of changing campgrounds every couple of nights is operating the showers. Very occasionally, you find separate taps like at home; however, here at Goulding’s the hot water turns on anti-clockwise while the cold turns on clockwise. The basin taps, on the other hand, are normal! Most showers come with a variety of mixers; some you adjust the temperature by turning to the left for hot and others you turn to the right. ‘Off’ can be at noon or 5 o’clock on these dials. The volume of water can sometimes be increased by pulling the centre out (or pushing in for less water). At South Rim, if you increased the hot water temperature, the volume of water automatically decreased while at North Rim, the sadistic park superintendent has a foolish but devilish plan to save water. You pay for 8 minutes but it comes out at such a ferocious speed that you are pummelled to death if you don’t get out within 3!

On the other hand, the restrooms (toilet blocks) here are very good. Usually, you can get soap, paper towels, hot air dryers, power points and hot water over the basins (even in national parks), but rarely all of the above at once. Often, you get thin paper toilet seat covers like you used to get at DJs in the city. Many taps (and even one paper towel dispenser) are action activated and even some of the toilets flush automatically when you stand up (and once when I didn’t – unnerving!). Those national and state parks that only have pit toilets supply an antiseptic gel that you rub into your hands until they air dry as no water is provided.

Today we spent $110 very well indeed when we took a three and a half hour guided tour into Monument Valley with a Navajo guide, There is a 17 mile self-guided tour you can do over atrocious dirt roads but this tour takes you to far more places. The vehicles used are utes with open cabins on the back so there is no glass to obstruct the view. On the other hand, it’s mighty dusty! So it was good sense to get on the earliest tour of the morning to avoid the heat and the dust. The more these vehicles turn up, the more dust you eat.

This is a national monument, not a national park and it is run by the Navajo people as it is on their reservation. There are apparently some Navajo here who have still never seen a European as they cling to their traditional ways. Many still use the Navajo language, which was used by the US Intelligence service in World War 11 and the Germans thought it was a code they were never able to break. These days, the languages, customs and arts are taught in the very new, modern brick local Schools.

Besides the fantastic shaped mesas and buttes (eroded mesas), there were hogans to see. A hogan is a traditional, round house built of overlapping logs (without nails, screws, wire or joints) and then plastered in red mud so that it looks like an earthen mound and is cool inside. It has a door that must always face east, to greet the sun each morning, although in the old days the doorway was covered with just a blanket. If the owners were out, a timber beam was placed diagonally across the doorway. We even saw a jewellery stall with its open sign still out but with a timber plank across their sign to signify that they were, in fact, not open. (No one seems to ever take down their open signs around here.) Hogans can come in other shapes too. The round one is called a “female” hogan but a tepee-shaped one is called a “male” hogan. People can decide to build whichever shape they fancy. In the olden days, if someone died in a hogan, they were left their with all their personal belongings. The dead person’s horse was killed and buried just outside. Then the hogan was never visited again but these days the Navajo are mainly Christian and use cemeteries and visit with flowers.

We visited an old lady, Susie in her hogan. She’s about 90 years old and has 9 great great grandchildren. Suzie is considered the grandmother of the clan. Navajo clans are very important as in the past, they never married outside their clan. Suzie strongly deplores the modern trend of tribal intermarriage fearing it will bring great sickness. She used to have over 200 sheep but, like others, she has had to reduce them because of the declining rainfall in the valley. Luckily, tourism and the Gouldings has helped replace the income lost from the declining herds. (We hardly saw an animal although the guide says they are roaming free in the valley with each Navajo using a different brand to distinguish them. How they ever find them, is beyond us.)

For a small but voluntary donation, Suzie showed us how she worked the wool as she still weaves her own blankets etc. Her hands are very supple for her age from the oil in the natural wool fibre. She also took a buffalo grass bundle they use as a hair brush and created a Navajo bun on a young girl in our group who had long hair. Navajo women never cut their hair. Navajo women are very powerful; it is a matriarchal society. Men must give gifts to a girl’s mother to marry into a family and the animals, rugs, and hogan always belong to the women. Men move in with their wife and her family but they do not live in villages like the Apache. Each extended family lives on their own so that the Valley is dotted with widely-spaced hogans with modern trailers and wooded corrals. They make these with a timber frame and just lean half logs or planks against the frame. These timber structures with rooves also provide a play area outside the hogan for children when the weather is hot. While some Navajo live and work in towns like Tuba City and Kayenta, they still build hogans and have trailers out in the valley. About 300 people live in Monument Valley, about 30 families, according to the guide.

Suzie was wearing lots of heavy silver and turquoise jewellery like what is sold at stalls but this jewellery only began to be made after 1900 when the Navajo learnt how to work silver. Sometimes in the past, they had inlaid coloured stones into thin timber frames and these frames were replaced by silver.

One of the amazing things about Monument Valley is that it was not as we had expected from Hollywood movies. The valley floor and gentle mesa slopes were green, not red dust. We guess it is the time of the year. From close range you can see the yellow and red dirt between the sagebrush, yucca, cacti and grasses. We only saw one tree, a cottonwood, surrounded by lush grass at Sand Springs where water seeps out of the ground beside sand dunes and runs a short distance before disappearing back into the sand. It was like an oasis.

There are many amazing rock features but the most interesting include the Totem Pole. This 400 foot high pile of rock has been used in car commercials. Cars, and even John Wayne, have been lifted to the top by helicopter! Then there is the eye-shaped arch hundreds of feet above your head, called the Sun’s Eye. We saw it in cool shade but about 2pm the sun actually shines through this hole creating a light shaft. This phenomenon is matched by the Ear of the Wind another huge arch nearby which was worth a few photos from varying angles. Finally, there is John Ford Point, named after the film director. It is not particularly impressive in itself but the Navajo have turned it into a theatrical event by having a Navajo horseman ride out onto the point so you can photograph him with the most commonly recognised mesas as his backdrop. It looks spectacular. I guess there weren’t any more large unnamed features left to credit John Ford for the fame and increased prosperity his films have brought to the Navajo through the work of the Gouldings who brought Ford to see the valley. There is also a memorial stone there to a young Navajo uni grad and ex-Marine who was killed by lightning there at the age of 32. It is very poignant and adds to the theatre. Clever Navajo! You can even pay $2 and sit on the horse yourself for family members to photograph you.

Talking of movies, John Wayne is a hero around here. Besides gifts with his photo on in all the main gift shops, the Gouldings complex play one of his movies every night for free at the motel.

Gouldings is an interesting set up. Harry Goulding and his wife arrived in the mid 1920s and started to help the Navajo. First they set up a trading post and began to supply the Indians with free water, which the complex does until this day. Navajo bring in their water trucks and get their water because there is no water or electricity to their homes. Now, spread out to the west of the valley is their original home (a museum) a motel, a church, a health centre, a general store, a petrol station, a gift shop, a fast food outlet, the tour company and the camping ground. All are run by Navajos and they run a very clean and efficient operation. It is a credit to them. Who owns the complex we do not know as there is no mention of Goulding children; everything is just Gouldings and the couple are held in high regard to this day.

Now the Navajo have a modern visitor centre and appear to be building a large motel complex on a ridge inside the park - looking east, of course with wonderful views of the mesas.

Luckily we had taken the first tour of the day. It meant poor photographic light at first but as the sun rose we were thankful to avoid not only the heat but also the dust as a dust storm started just as we were heading back to Gouldings. We felt sorry for those heading out for the afternoon tours in the open sided vehicles. We spent our afternoon doing the weekly laundry in air conditioned comfort at the camping ground and then taking a dip in their indoor heated pool.

Unfortunately, I got some dust inside my camera during the tour and have had a little trouble opening and closing the lens cover (some photos did not turn out and I had to stop taking them for a while, while I figured out what to do about it) but it is improving and I just need to check it before I take photos.

We also spent considerable time talking to a retired couple from Vermont who had sold their house and were going to build and stay in the Colorado Rockies. House prices are very depressed in the east but inflated in the west as people retire away from the cold, humid east or build holiday homes in the mountains. Indeed, early in our tour someone told us that the economy was so bad in Detroit that you could buy a home for $9,000 US. It seems fanciful to us. This couple recommended that we avoid the east coast except for New Hampshire and Vermont in autumn. They had spent years travelling the country and said the east was not very interesting and claustrophobic. They have Hopi Indian friends and had come to spend some time with them before building their new home. Interestingly, they had no time for George W. who they labelled as “our stupid President” and were hoping for an Obama victory, which they believe is very likely. As for the war in Iraq, they believe it has ruined more than the lives of many National Guardsmen, who only signed up for home defence, but also the economy so that too many American workers were now doing it very tough indeed. They still only get 2 weeks annual leave and no long service leave apparently.

9th June, 2008 Monument Valley

We were a little jaded with The Grand Canyon by this stage because, although it is grand and majestic – a must see- the view appears to change very little as you walk miles around the rim.
David had decided to drive straight out of the park, not stopping at the eastern viewpoints but last night, he discovered that his photographs from yesterday were very poor so I persuaded him to change his mind. In actual fact, no photos can adequately capture the greatness of any of the major parks we have visited so far.

The eastern lookouts were, in our view, better than those in the central, blue route, section of the park. The first two as you enter from the east rate the highest. Lipan Point looks straight down the actual Grand Canyon and across to the Unkar Delta we had seen from the Cape Royal Road on the Nth Rim so that several glimpses of the Colorado River are possible while you see virtually nil of this river from the central, most popular lookouts. Seeing the green river adds the dimension of depth to that of extreme width you can obtain from any lookout. The first lookout as you enter from the east, Desert View offers the best views of the river full stop as well as views across the Navajo Indian Reservation to the north east. It also has a reconstructed Indian tower that now houses a gift shop and a glassed in viewing platform. We chose not to see the beauty through glass but I bought a T-shirt with Indian figures on it there. Being the first viewpoint inside the park for most tourists makes it a very popular site but at least we got our icecream here without queuing!

One highlight was seeing our first coyote right beside the road into one of these eastern lookouts. The poor thing looked rather bewildered as cars and a bus stopped dead in the middle of the road and one driver raced out to kneel reverently in the middle of the bitumen and snap photos.

We then made our way back to Cameron, but the wind was slight today so we popped into Cameron Trading Post, which had originally been set up to trade with the local Indians, to purchase some petrol and look at the art gallery there. That’s what you do here – look at the gallery but buy at the souvenir shop as the gallery prices are ludicrous. An attractive Navajo woven rug about one and a half metres by just over a meter was $14,400US plus tax, of course. Naturally, I liked it! The pottery was priced for millionaires. One tiny pot 5cm wide and 4cm deep cost $350 US and it only had a little clumsy decoration on it. School children produce similar pinch pots all the time. I spied my favourite pot, beautifully tapered from a tiny opening to a bulbulous base, it had a brown clay opening followed by black and white detailed geometric patterns to the base. I wasn’t game to ask the price but other pots of similar and smaller size were over $7,000 US each! They sold nothing in the half hour I was there although they were paying three guards to patrol the rooms of the pueblo style shop to make sure no one touched anything, hardly profitable for them or the artists. You wouldn’t be game to lift anything to see the price underneath. Any breakage could cost more than your whole holiday. It was a case of, if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it. So at the souvenir shop I settled for a cross stitch pattern and thread to do my own Navajo rug.

Then it was across the edge of the Painted Desert, more forgiving this time and onto Elephant Feet for lunch. Elephant Feet are two hoodoos well over 7 metres tall in the middle of a flat plain, right by the side of the road and one of the few places where it was possible to pull off the road outside a town. There is a great need for rest areas, semi-trailer stopping bays and picnic spots along many of the roads we have travelled. Most small towns do not even have public toilets and picnic areas set aside for through travellers as we do in almost every country town I can think of.

Another van pulled in beside us and out piled the support crew for a Canadian woman (rider 111) competing as an individual in the Race Across America. It is a time trial event of just over 12 days to cross the whole country on a bicycle and so we took down their URL and later looked up how she was going. She was coming second just 70 odd miles behind the leader. We sent her a greeting and encouragement hoping that someone would remember the 2 Australians they met at Elephant Feet or she will be most confused!

From here the landscape improved with more vegetation and more prosperous Navajo farms. For some distance, we followed an electrified railway line that ended up at some sort of mine but it did seem strange right out in the middle of nowhere. However, as we approached Tuba City (pop. 9,000 approx) the landscape deteriorated to dessert again.

Then onto Kayenta at the junction of 2 main roads where the town was divided into 4 sections. First you see the new housing estate of duplicated sand-coloured houses varied only by tin roofs of blue, brown or green. Then there is the older part of town with the same dirt coloured walls but brown or grey tiled roofs. There is the shopping centre and untidy business district. Finally, the poorer end of town has poorly maintained trailers surrounded by discarded vehicles (they just leave them lying around when they buy a new one) and odds and ends of machinery.

We moved on straight through Kayenta quickly and soon we saw our first “monument”, El Capitan isolated beside the road. At the entrance to Monument Valley, a national monument under Navajo control, not a national park, we turned left, not right into the park and headed for the red hills that encircle Gouldings Caravan Park where we were allotted a red dirt site but with some low trees and full hook ups. However, it had hot showers and an indoor pool – great in a hot gritty desert. We booked on the first tour of the valley for the next morning.

The road right behind us leads to nowhere but the cars and trunks kept driving past until about 11 at night. We couldn’t help wondering what they do out there!

Note: 4 posts added today.

8th June, 2008 Grand Canyon, Sth Rim

If there is a motto for the Grand Canyon it is: “What goes down must come up”. We were not in the market for going down the steep grades into the canyon (because we couldn’t struggle back up!) so we played safe and stayed on the rim today.

The roads of the Grand Canyon are divided into 4 sections. The largest is the eastern section, about 2/3rds of the roadway that you must drive yourself. Then comes the purple shuttle route that goes from the main area to the Kaibab Trail start and a couple of other lookouts. Then there is the blue route, which does the main area from the hotels and lodges to the west to the visitor centre in the east. Then there is the red route to the west. The purple route is best done in the morning as is the east entry road. The red route is best done in the afternoon and the blue route which is a rim walk can be done when the sun is high in the sky. So we started by going to the visitor centre and then swapping shuttles to the red route. We got off and on twice at different lookouts and then walked the rim to the market place.

At first we were a little disappointed as you see virtually nothing of the canyon from the rim walk but it is a bitumen walk, easy even for wheelchairs and there were interesting plants to view. The cliffrose dominates with its heady, musty perfume. It is a pale, single rose flower about 2 cm across with a large number of brighter yellow stamens and the older ones can grow into small tree-like shrubs over 8 feet tall. The main tree is the pinyon pine we had seen at Cape Royal on the Nth Rm. It has 2 leaves coming out at each point and lighter green cones that are very edible for both animals and Indians. Along with these were orange buttercup, purple trumpet, mauve and red flowers as well as red plume like leaves that grew from green bases like plumes.

After a while we reached better views and the two main lookouts, which were crowded with tourists, Mather and Vavapai Points. Like most points on the Sth Rim they are white rocks jutting precariously out into thin air some with, and many without, any protective railing. The views are impressive as we had good visibility of 89 miles. From there we caught the blue shuttle to where the red shuttle begins near the Bright Angel trailhead and the hotels and rail depot. The Grand Canyon South Rim has a train line in as well as the airport just to the south. Many people come in for just a day and use the shuttle service from the visitor centre to the town of Tusayan and airport to the south. There is even an Imax theatre at Tusayan.

The road west from the Bright Angel Trailhead and hotel is supposed to go to Hermits Rest but two thirds of it is closed as road and walking track maintenance are desperately needed and being carried out. We were lucky to get the shuttle as far as Hopi Point as it too will be closed after July 7. Hopi Point is higher than the starting point of the shuttle so you either get on and off the shuttle on your way up, using the 10 to 12 minutes between each shuttle to take in the views or you do as we did and take the shuttle to Hopi Point and walk the whole way back. The shuttle does not pick up on the way back. It is largely downhill and in the afternoon shade. The lookouts along this route offer far better views from the rim than the blue route section rim walk but as it is closed to all but disabled drivers’ cars there aren’t so many tourists here. You can see more of the Colorado River and the Canyon sides here. Over the last mile of this track you can pick up parts of the Bright Angel Trail from the Nth Rim and watch the weary hikers struggle up the steep track to release and relief.

Our relief was to get an icecream from the Soda Fountain at one of the hotels but again there were dozens waiting in a queue. We hopped on a crowded blue shuttle with other sardines. As some sardines struggled off at each stop, more sardines pushed their way on – most unpleasant in the afternoon heat. Between 10 am and 5 pm the shuttles are very crowded. They need either more buses more frequently or trailers attached to the buses as in Zion.

We stayed on until the visitor centre as we needed some postcards and then caught another blue shuttle back to the market place where I had spied a comic kokopelli T-shirt I wanted and then home! What a day! We walked well in excess of 5 miles and it showed. A shower and bed were most welcome and we were thankful that in the campground we had peace and quite from the crowds that swarmed around the hotels and the shuttle stop to Tusayan.

7th June, 2008 South Rim Grand Canyon, Arizona

What a day this turned out to be! From cool, peaceful high attitude pine forests to desolate, hot, wind-whipped deserts, we experienced it all. Instead of the “Revenge of the Ponderosa”, the day commenced with a herd of 8 does grazing calmly through the camping ground although, from time to time, strong wind gusts could be heard high in the pines.

Retracting our steps back to the main road through the alpine forest and meadows, we popped into the national forest centre at Jacob’s Lake. Here we found diagrams relating all the recent parks we had visited. They are a part of what is called the Grand Staircase. Bryce /Cedar Breaks exhibit the youngest rocks, called the pink cliffs. A grey rock layer beneath these is exposed at Lake Powell, which we did not visit. The subsequent layer is white and that is the Navajo Sandstone layer of Zion. Today we saw the next oldest layer the Vermillion Cliffs. There is then a chocolate layer visible apparently at North Fredonia, which we drove near, and then there are the rocks of the Grand Canyon visible except for the deepest rocks because the Canyon is 1.6 miles deep. At the South Rim of the Grand Canyon a layer of Kaibab limestone lies above the Coconino Sandstone as erosion has removed this limestone layer at the wetter North Rim. Overall, this means that different parks are showing different layers of the overall Colorado Plateau structure. Fascinating!

Interestingly, the volunteer at the forest centre mentioned the freak snowstorm of our first evening at Nth Rim. He said he saw the biggest snowflakes of his life then; some were three and a half inches in diameter. He also commented on the Lodge Restaurant where, apparently, there have been plenty of complaints about the food.

After Jacob’s Lake, we drove east through a sandstone vee to see the red cliffs named the Vermillion Cliffs. We had seen another section of these cliffs further north but these were more impressive and they continued for miles along the northern edge of the Honeymoon Trail. After this trail was pioneered late in the 1770s, Mormon newlyweds road this trail to the Temple at St George to have their marriages registered.

At the beginning of the Vermillion Cliffs, we came across another group of Navajo jewellery sellers by the roadside. From here on we saw many, many of these timber lean-to stalls selling cheap silverplated and beaded jewellery and the occasional nice piece of sterling silver. There is so much turquoise around, it turns you off in the end. It is white stone that they dye bright blue. I prefer the green turquoise which is natural and they say comes from Nevada. They also use opal but I believe it is artificially made.

After miles driving east along this red-edged plateau, you turn north and follow them again into a narrowing valley that contains the Marble Canyon with the Echo Cliffs on the opposite side of the valley. North of the town Marble Canyon, the two sets of cliffs appear to merge and between them runs the Colorado River. What a stunningly beautiful sight! The river is a rich emerald green. We have never seen anything like it; it takes your breath away. In this desolate spot of red and brown, there is this cool, wonderful green. At ground level and above, all is dry, hot, dusty and rocky and at the Navajo Bridge, which crosses the Colorado, there is a rock pueblo-style visitor centre and two steel bridges with an arch design. The original steel bridge has been duplicated to take heavier traffic while the old structure is now a pedestrian walkway so that you can walk right into the middle and see the Colorado River. It affords the opportunity for great views and photographs. This crossing was the only one for 600 miles once and so was of vital importance to the local people.

We stopped at a fair few Navajo stalls after the bridge. Some were very friendly and willing to chat. They are struggling in the harsh valley and reservation but sell horses and cattle and try to grow a little corn, beans and watermelon so they are not dependent on the general stores or the government. You have to admire them surviving in this desert but we saw at least half a dozen light planes on a couple of airstrips so someone must be doing all right out of the passing tourist trade.

One of the main figures of the Navajo people is engaging Kokopelli, the rain god, who, in a desert, is naturally also the god of fertility. He is dressed with a feather headdress and moccasins and plays the native flute. You can buy these wooden flutes, some decorated with the ubiquitous turquoise, at gift shops and trading posts but the cheapest is about a hundred dollars and they run up to at least $375 each. The Kokopelli has a humped back full of seeds and mist and plays to bring the desperately needed rain. He figures in a lot of the jewellery and we succumbed.

From the Marble Canyon crossing, the road turns south along the Echo Cliffs down the other side of the valley. At the end of the echo Cliffs, the valley flattens out dramatically. You are in the Painted Desert. The dramatic colours give way to chalky shades of pink, green and grey while the towering cliffs are replaced with conical mounds and the wind that blew all the way up and down the previous valley now became a hot, driving gale. Pink sand was blown across the roadway and we ceased to even think about stopping for a late lunch or view any more Navajo stalls even though we passed two that had signs up saying that they were “NICE INDIANS”.

If anyone every offers you a lucrative job in Cameron, Arizona, run! Guidebooks recommend you stop at Cameron’s Trading Post for Navajo souvenirs but it was a hellhole on this day. Cameron was a crafty local European in the early days who took out a mining lease on the one easy crossing down in the canyon between the North and South Rims and charged a toll. The government eventually built another free bridge near his and broke his stranglehold. So today there are two bridges and crossings in the canyon but apparently mules will only cross one as they can see the water below through the boards of the other.

We ploughed on knowing that soon we would be climbing again to over 5,000 feet for the Sth Rim. However, the South Rim is just 10 miles as the “raven flies” (they don’t have any crows here) from the Nth Rim but it took us 8 hours by road. Fives hours is a normal run without all the stops.

Once inside the park, you drive about 26 miles to the park centre and our campsite. After the desert, we were so relieved to see the ponderosa pines shading our booked site and find thhadat the wind was cooler and had somewhat abated.

After a snack and a cuppa, we took off to investigate the post office, general store, bank, deli and cafeteria. There are far more facilities at the Sth Rim as it gets over 4 million visitors a year but you can’t afford to buy an icecream at the store because it will be melted by the time you get through the checkout.

Our site is very convenient to toilets and the showers and only 5 mins walk from the marketplace general store but it is also not crowded. There is plenty of room between tents and vans and we can also access the shuttle buses, which we shall do tomorrow.

6th June 2008, North Rim Grand Canyon National Park

Today we slept in after a much warmer night. Then David drove to the North Kaibab Trailhead where he abandoned me to take a hike in the canyon. This hike route goes all the way to the South Rim but has to be done in 2-4 days. David plans to try and get as far as the Supai Tunnel which is a 4 mile round trip. Unfortunately, there is no information here about the steepness of trails so he won’t know how he will go until he tries it. This is also a mule trail so maybe he’ll meet some mules on the walk. When you do, mules have right of way and you must step to the high side of the path, remain still and dead quiet and let them pass. A few mules have been killed and people injured on the trails when these rules have not been adhered to.

At 6.30 this morning David rang the restaurant at the Lodge and booked a table for dinner. They don’t guarantee a window seat but the aim is to be there for sunset. It is hard to get a booking at that time if you don’t ring when they first open in the morning. Still, even if we don’t get a window seat, it will be an experiencing dining under the blacked aged tree trunks that form the beams of this 1930’s lodge.

Ros

I made it! In the absence of any difficulty rating of the North Kaibab trail, from other parks I would judge it as moderate. It was a tiring hike, the 2 miles down to the Supai Tunnel took 65 minutes, but 95 to return. Nevertheless it was worth it. Besides the usual rocks, logs and other steps on this zigzag trail, the main obstacle was the solid and liquid deposits left by the mules. On the way down I passed one group of returning mule riders then saw another two groups as I was coming back. The descent into the canyon provided a closer look at the many features we had seen from the rim. The green appearance on the slopes became a mixture of trees and shrubs. Visable at most times in the distance was the snow topped Mt Humphreys, Arizona’s highest peak at 12,633ft. At the entrance to the short Supai Tunnel I discovered civilisation. This was a popular rest stop for hikers both descending and ascending the trail. There was one guided group that had come from the south rim taking 4 days to do the trail. Because of problems with a member of the group one of their guides had to carry two heavy packs to the top. He was not impressed with people who do not follow instructions.

David

We have dined at the Lodge and God was good. He gave us a window seat so we watched the setting sun gradually at first, and then quickly, race up the various rock strata leaving behind darkened faces. Naturally, we had to sample a North Rim Sunset cocktail. It was ok but we have tried 2 cocktails in our lives and have decided that we are definitely not cocktail drinkers! It had amoretti in it along with fruit juices including cranberry (very popular here) and so was bright red, like a sunset.

The food is not recommended. My pork shank was very tender as it was a little overcooked but it was supposed to be served with root vegetables. For this, read onion and celery from the stock the shanks were cooked in. By this stage they had no taste and no texture. Besides, since when was celery a root vegetable? David had the lamb, which was also overcooked and tough but his was served with mashed potato (containing bacon) and frozen beans and carrots. Not being thrilled by this, he was happy to give me half his vegies so I at least got something besides bread to go with my pork. The bread was served with butter and wherever we have been we have noticed that the butter is almost white while many types of cheddar cheese are almost orange, like the colour of our Leicester. We have taken to eating sharp cheddar cheese here as it is like our mild cheddar at home.

As we were not overly full, and we needed a bit more time to enjoy the view, we ordered dessert. I had a New York cheesecake, which was fine except the biscuit crumbed to tiny pieces as soon as a spoon approached. More shortening definitely required there. David had chocolate cake, of course.

By this time, night had fallen and we could see lights to the south. The server (They do not call them waiters or waitresses here we have found.) redirected our vision from what we thought was the South Rim buildings further to the west. The white mark on the landscape we had mistaken for the South Rim was, in fact, the airport. The actual South Rim can only be seen by the flickering lights of cars driving along the long rim road. The most prominent lights were from further south and turned out to be cars travelling the highway from the city of Flagstaff down onto the Coconino Plateau of the South Rim. Nevertheless, the whole experience was enjoyable and since there are no other restaurants on the North Rim, we guess that they have to keep food prices low. The restaurant was certainly busy.
Ros
As we were leaving we spoke to the couple behind us, saying they could now enjoy the lights uninterrupted by our backs. But they graciously replied that we had not been in their way. They had been thoroughly entertained by us! What had we done hat was so amusing? Grimacing we walked off, up the left side of the stairs instead of the right! We can’t seem to get used to keeping right here on paths and stairs, not left. All we could think of was that we had used the extra large steak knives throughout the meal along with our fork. David thinks most Americans cut up their meat first and then just use a fork. It was certainly awkward trying to eat with the equivalent of a small carving knife!
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