Exploring the Grand Circle

Rachel and I decided to take the new Camry out for a long overdue road trip this weekend. Since we moved to Arizona back in August we have planned on exploring our new "neighborhood". With a new car and a long weekend, that was finally possible. On Friday we set out on U.S. 89 heading north out of Flagstaff. Our destination was Page, close to the Utah border approximately 130 miles away. The drive took us past Cameron, the farthest north we had traveled up to that point on U.S. 89, and through a series of tall cliff sentinels on either side of the road.

By nightfall we made it to Page and spent the night in a Days Inn...listening to the sounds of the movie, Borat, coming from the next room. The next morning we were in for a great surprise, the beauty of the surrounding region. We did a little exploring and discovered that Page has existed for a little under fifty years. The town is actually located on Manson Mesa, about 17 square miles, which was secured from the Navajo in a land exchange. The original inhabitants were employed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation in the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam, which was finished in 1966. Glen Canyon Dam is a major source of water and energy for the Southwest, making the growth of the region during the second half of the twentieth century possible. One of the other major sources of energy for the Southwest is the Navajo Generating Station. The NGS is visible from many miles away (we were still able to see it as we drove in southern Utah). The three smoke stacks of the plant are each about 708 feet tall, making them tallest structures in Arizona.

After a quick breakfast, Rachel and I were off to explore Page. First we headed north of town to the Glen Canyon Dam for a tour. The guide was very informative and he explained the entire process of how the dam produces electricity and the way that each state in the Southwest receives their "legal share" of Lake Powell water every year. Currently the region is suffering from a drought and the lake is down 108 feet. Here are some pictures of the dam and bridge structure.

Here is a picture of a slab of rock outside the Glen Canyon Dam visitor center. This rock slab clearly shows dinosaur tracks.

Here is another shot of the bridge. The bridge sits approximately 580 feet above the Colorado River.

The next two pictures show views of Lake Powell, behind Glen Canyon Dam and the Colorado River, the area in front of the dam.

The Colorado River as it leaves Glen Canyon Dam:

And yet another view of the Colorado River. (I should let everyone know right now that this is going to be a picture heavy blog. We took about 150 or so pictures any they all came out quite nicely.)

After arriving at Glen Canyon, as mentioned, we were given a tour of the facility. Since 9/11 the dam has had a pretty high level of security. On the tour we were given, a security officer followed our group of about 10 people throughout the complex. Never close enough to speak to her, but always close enough to know that every move was being monitored.
The tour started by leaving the visitor center and taking an elevator down to the top of the dam. We were allowed to go out on the dam and take pictures for awhile before we got into an elevator that took us down 700 feet or so to the dam's generator room.
Here is one of the pictures I took looking down from the top of the dam. The service vehicles you see in this picture drive to the bottom of the dam through tunnels carved out of the rock cliffs. If you look closely you can see the tunnel.

After the elevator ride to the bottom of the dam, we were led through a series of bright hallways and out into a very large open area, located between the dam and the generator room, known as the yard.

The squares in this picture conceal stairwells to the service tunnels for each of the twelve pipes that feed the generators.

This is a picture of the dam from below. Our tour guide pointed out the large strip of moss stretching out from the mid point of the dam along the cliff walls. The reason the moss grows at this location, he said, is because of the water that leaks around the edge of the dam wall. That is a comforting thought...the dam has a leak!

The generator room:

Visiting Glen Canyon Dam was a pretty enlightening experience, especially the information I acquired about water and electricity and how it has transformed the American Southwest.

After we made our purchases in the bookstore (Rachel bought another pin to add to her National Park collection, I bought a book on Rainbow Bridge), we stopped for lunch and planned out the rest of our day.

We both enjoy National Parks that focus on nature so we decided to head north, following U.S. 89 toward Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. As we crossed over the state line into Utah I noticed a scenic lookout marker. From this marker we were able to see all of the surrounding region. The Vermillion Cliffs, Lake Powell, the Navajo Generating Station, and various other features.

Here is one of the coolest things that we saw (and yes, Mike, I took this photo just for you; it gives you a taste of what is coming in March). Navajo Mountain:

In March we will walk to Rainbow Bridge National Monument and the trail will take us along the western base of this mountain.
Here is a picture of the Navajo Generating Station from about 30-40 miles away. Imagine being able to see from Marion to Upper Sandusky and then on to Carey as well. That is about how far a person can see in certain parts of the West.

A picture of our new car, which performed like a champ on this trip:

Here are the pictures we took at Grand Staircase-Escalante. On display was a small collection of dinosaur fossils that were discovered at the park.
This is part of a foot:

And this is a large section of a dinosaur tail:

Grand Staircase-Escalante definitely has a lot for visitors to explore. We didn't even scratch the surface in our short visit.

We next made our way to Zion National Park. Here are some of the pictures:

We drove through a mile long tunnel carved through a mountain to get from one side of the park to the other. On occasion, there were openings like this one which enabled us to see hundreds of feet below and across from one mountain to another:

When we exited the tunnel, we began to make our way down a series of switchbacks. At one point we looked up to the side of the mountain we had just exited and we could see this window from below (its big enough for a tour bus to fit in longways):

Some more spectacular views:

A natural amphitheater:

View from the Zion campground:

After we left Zion we made our way west to Interstate 15. We spent the night in a terrible Best Western before heading back to Arizona on Sunday.

On Sunday we made our way to St. George, Utah and then over to Hurricane, Utah. To leave Hurricane, we had to drive up a 400 foot tall cliff. Mormons used to bring cheese, cream, and butter from our next destination DOWN this cliff, a very hazardous job at the time. The food went to the workers who were constructing the LDS temple in St. George at the time.

Our final National Park of this trip was Pipe Spring National Monument in the Arizona Strip. If any of you ever get the chance to drive across this part of Arizona it is well worth the time.

Here are some photos of the region:

Another:


And another image of the strip:

And a final image of the strip:

As mentioned, we visited Pipe Spring National Monument before heading home to Flagstaff Sunday night. Pipe Spring preserves the cultural history of Native Americans and the Mormons that made the Arizona strip their home and one of the few sources of water that can be found in this area. Before the arrival of white settlers, Native Americans like the Paiute and Anasazi adapted the water to their subsistence economy. When the Mormons arrived in the area, they built a fort around the water supply and prevented the Native American tribes from using the water. This caused the Kaibab band of the Paiute tribe to starve and by the end of the 19th century, only about 75 were still alive.
Here are some pictures from this National Park:

This is the spring that was stolen from the local tribes.

This is a trunk with the painting of a person's homeland on the inside lid. Often immigrants would have scenes of what they were leaving behind painted on their trunks since they did not yet have photographs.

The outside of the fort:

One of the reservoir pools used for the vineyards, orchards, and livestock.

Another angle of the trees around the two reservoir pools and the fort.

This was an amazing trip, but I am glad to be back now. The semester has just started and I already have lots to keep me busy. I look forward to seeing other National Parks in the Grand Circle, especially Arches National Park and Bryce Canyon.

Oldham Trail

Well Rachel and I went hiking again yesterday for the first time since late September. The reason for the delay isn't that we are lazy, just that we were told the weather would change in October and we wouldn't be able to hike again. The weather has been great here lately so we went to Buffalo Park and hiked along the U.S. Forest Service trails which are only accessible from this location.

Oldham Trail is not a particularly difficult trail, at least we didn't think so, but we have been walking an awful lot lately (about 33 miles a week on average). There were a couple of up and down sections of the trail but nothing akin to the experience we had climbing Mt. Elden.

At a certain point along the trail, as you meander along the base of Mt. Elden, you come to a series of caves.
And another:

Both of these caves are some distance off the path. In the case of the cave pictured above, it is the same very long cave system in two photos. We had to climb the "boulder mountain" a distance of about 20 feet up to gain access to these caves. I won't lie, we were both scared shitless that there would be sleeping bears in these caves. There were shapes that we couldn't identify, so who knows.

After exploring these caves, we continued our 8 mile hike with little to do, save for the brief period when we got lost on the way back, but this has much more to do with how poorly labeled the trails are in some areas.

Here are the rest of the photos from our hike:


In this photograph of Rachel, you can see what I mean by "the boulder mountain". Along the base of Mt. Elden there are several of these formations that look like huge piles of boulders. You can climb through these and explore the cave systems that are found everywhere throughout the area.

Oh, By The Way, We Climbed This Mountain Today

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Elden

Wupatki National Monument

Having read Colin G. Calloway's One Vast Winter Count last year at this time, it was with a great deal of excitement that Rachel and I hopped into the trusty Ford Taurus and headed north out of Flagstaff on U.S. 89 to Wupatki National Monument. Calloway discussed pueblo communities extensively in his book, but to see a pueblo in person and to walk around them is an amazing experience.

We drove through Sunset Crater National Monument on our way to Wupatki, and as we did so, we began to notice the temperature rise. We were leaving our beautiful little slice of heaven for the afternoon, and reentering the heat of the real southwest, which of course is easy to forget when you live in Flagstaff. Living at the base of a dormant volcano at an elevation of over 7000 feet has some advantages. The image above is one of the first shots we took at Wupatki, which has been protected by the National Park Service since 1926. Wupatki Pueblo is actually just one of many (and I mean many) abandoned pueblo sites protected in this national park. Others include Wukoki Pueblo, Lomaki Pueblo, the Citadel, Nalakihu Pueblo and of course my favorite, Box Canyon Pueblo. These are the only pueblos that are open to public viewing, some of them have been excavated by archaeologists and have been restored to some degree. the Citadel has not been excavated or restored. Here is a picture of what that structure looks like.
The Citadel is pretty much in ruins right now. Excavations have been halted either for a lack of money or due to protests from local Indian groups. Here are some pictures of what the center of the Citadel looks like today.

As you can see from this image and the one above. The walls of the Citadel have collapsed from a lack of maintenance. The mortar in the walls long ago began to crumble. All around the base of this pueblo are large piles of stones, some still have ancient traces of mortar on them.

According to the markers at each of the pueblo sites we visited, almost all of the pueblos in this region were built between 1050 and 1100 A.D. Most of the pueblos were abandoned within 150 years of their initial construction, again according to park literature. This seems like an awful lot of work for a group of people to go through just to abandon the buildings after three generations. According to archaeologists, the major reason that people evacuated these pueblos has to do with the lack of rainfall and changing environmental conditions.

From the top of the Citadel, these are some of the views you can see:

The Citadel was actually built on top of a mesa that is covered with large black basalt boulders. The original builders of the pueblo used the boulders as part of the base of their dwelling, which can still be seen in some parts. This is a photo from the top of the Citadel looking off to the Northwest.










This is a picture from the top of the Citadel looking off towards the Northeast. In the far distance is the Painted Desert region of Arizona.




The photograph below provides an example of how the pueblo builders used the boulders on top of the mesa and built right on top of them. This structure was originally much taller, about three stories tall in some places. Today the wall only extends up about one floor in some places.
Looking to the South from the top of the Citadel, one can see a large canyon that was believed to be a quarry source for pueblo builders in this region. This picture really does not do the canyon justice.
Altogether we visited five pueblo sites, here are some of my favorite pictures of them:



This is another image of Wupatki from the canyon wall above the location where most of the stone was quarried for the pueblo buildings. Archaeologists estimate that at the Wupatki Pueblo as many as 100 family members might have lived together. On the hills and mesas around Wupatki it is possible to see other pueblos; however most of them are off limits to visitors.





The square structure in this picture was the source of a lot of fun for Rachel and myself. This is a blow hole. Something I have never heard of before. Basically it is a crevice in the earth's crust that blows air out (cool air) when the temperature is hot at ground level. This blow hole is relatively unexplored. Scientists do not know how deep the earth is cracked beneath the hole; it could be ten feet deep or one thousand deep. All we know is that once you go up to this hole (the square protects people from falling into the hole) you can feel a large amount of air being pushed out.

Rachel is demonstrating just how forceful the blow hole can be. When I took this picture her hair was blowing wildly around. I don't know if the picture does the hole justice. You'll just have to come to Flagstaff for yourself to see how much it blows.
This next image is a picture of the ball court at Wupatki. When archaeologists discovered a ball court (a Mayan influence) this far north, it helped them understand that civilizations from this region had extensive networks of trade, dissemination of culture, etc. One of the shared cultural experiences that probably helped facilitate interaction between different tribes was sports competition. A ball court would also have brought visitors from nearby pueblos to Wupatki for trade and interaction.

This image is meant to show the dimensions of the court. We were actually allowed to walk all around this pueblo site and the ball court which helped us understand a lot more about the size of the buildings and their construction.







The pueblo you see on the right is at Box Canyon. A series of small dwellings was constructed along the rim of Box Canyon. This dwelling has two medium size rooms that you can observe by following a trail up the pueblo. Or you can visit the other Box Canyon pueblo at this site.



This is the second of the two Box Canyon pueblos. It is a slightly more substantial structure, but still quite small compared to other pueblos at this national park site.





I took a picture of one of the wayside markers and have put it on this blog along with actual pictures of the geographic features the marker mentions. If you click on the picture below you can read the marker better. I have labeled each of the geographic features below in order of how they appear listed on the marker.



















This is East Mesa.


Sunset Crater


The Citadel Ruin can be seen at the center of this photograph. It is easier to see if you click on the photo, a blow up image will appear.


This is O'Leary Peak

Middle Mesa

The San Francisco Peaks (Where Flagstaff is located).


Box Canyon Ruins (Again, it might be easier to see this if you click the photo)


The Volcanic Cinder Cone Fields





Our final pueblo visit was to Lomaki Pueblo. This was a beautiful site. The pueblo had about 15 rooms to explore and at one time it had many more than that. Lomaki, like Box Canyon, was built on the edge of a canyon. This is a picture from the north end of Lomaki Pueblo.


Another view of Lomaki Pueblo.


A view from one of the largest pueblo rooms we were allowed into at Wupatki National Monument.



As we finished exploring Lomaki Pueblo I snapped this picture of the sunset. This was a very good day, the only complaint I have is that I had to go home and read all night, although that is the major reason why I left Toledo. NAU pushes its students to work hard, which is necessary for someone like myself who is not always the best self-starter.