Canyon De Chelly National Monument
Previous : Day 4 (part 2) - Mesa Verde National Park
Day 5 (part 1) of road trip.
Today we had planned to cover Canyon De Chelly (CDC) National Monument (NM) and Petrified Forest National Park. We left our hotel in Cortez CO around 7am and started driving towards Canyon De Chelly. On the way, we came across Four Corners NM but it was supposed to open at 8am and there was a queue already of few vehicles. We decided not to see this place as it would have taken out almost 45 mins - 1 hr from our already tight schedule.
As we got closer to CDC, we came across very heavy fog which kept getting thicker and thicker as we approached Chinle AZ. I was optimistic of fog clearing away (based on my experience in last few days) but alas we were not that lucky this time.
We reached visitor center around 9:15am and were told that they had no idea how long fog will take to clear up. We decided to do the White House trail to the floor of the canyon and hoped that fog will clear up by the time we come back from the trail.
The trail is very nice and moderate difficulty. Here is one view showing two windows (and the fog :).
We were surprised to find cattle grazing at the floor of the canyon. It seems someone owns a ranch on canyon floor and we were not supposed to go in that area. After walking through some stunning views, we finally reached the end point of the trail: White house Ruin as seem in the picture below. This cliff dwelling was similar to ones we saw in Mesa Verde yesterday.
The trail took about two and half hours total. We had done it at leisurely place to give fog more time to clear up :)
But there was no sign of fog clearing up and we decided to move forward to our next adventure.
Next : Day 5 (part 2) - Petrified Forest National Park
Day 5 (part 1) of road trip.
Today we had planned to cover Canyon De Chelly (CDC) National Monument (NM) and Petrified Forest National Park. We left our hotel in Cortez CO around 7am and started driving towards Canyon De Chelly. On the way, we came across Four Corners NM but it was supposed to open at 8am and there was a queue already of few vehicles. We decided not to see this place as it would have taken out almost 45 mins - 1 hr from our already tight schedule.
As we got closer to CDC, we came across very heavy fog which kept getting thicker and thicker as we approached Chinle AZ. I was optimistic of fog clearing away (based on my experience in last few days) but alas we were not that lucky this time.
We reached visitor center around 9:15am and were told that they had no idea how long fog will take to clear up. We decided to do the White House trail to the floor of the canyon and hoped that fog will clear up by the time we come back from the trail.
The trail is very nice and moderate difficulty. Here is one view showing two windows (and the fog :).
As we approached the floor of the canyon, we came across this area which had stunning waves formation on the rock. We spent some time going up and down the rocks while taking several pictures.
This another view of the area and you can see my son sitting little far away.
We were surprised to find cattle grazing at the floor of the canyon. It seems someone owns a ranch on canyon floor and we were not supposed to go in that area. After walking through some stunning views, we finally reached the end point of the trail: White house Ruin as seem in the picture below. This cliff dwelling was similar to ones we saw in Mesa Verde yesterday.
As we walked back, we came across another familiar sight of jewelry stall. Here is a shot of canyon floor in its winter glory.
It was getting colder and we joined Navajo folks who have started a fire to warm up. We chatted for good 15-20 mins discussing about similar practices followed by both folks in India and Navajo area. We discovered that Navajo people worship their ancestors (very similar to practice in India). Also dine is the local language spoken by Navajos.
Here is another shot of canyon floor.
I could not resit taking few more pictures in area where we saw wave like formation :). Here is one more.
As we reached closer to start of the trail, we looked back at the Canyon and took this shot.
The trail took about two and half hours total. We had done it at leisurely place to give fog more time to clear up :)
But there was no sign of fog clearing up and we decided to move forward to our next adventure.
Next : Day 5 (part 2) - Petrified Forest National Park
Comments