April 26, 2013 – White House Ruins Trail at Canyon de Chelly

This morning’s adventure took us to the trail head at the White House Ruins Overlook and then down the trail to the White House Ruins. 

Here is the start of the trail:

 

We will be going down to the Canyon Floor which is 550’ below us:

The first tunnel:

Out to the trail:

 

The next couple of pictures are the trail – very interesting at spots:

 

Yep. still the trail:

Those two pictures above – yes, the trail. :-))

The trail is on the right – getting easier now:

The last tunnel:

Through to the valley floor:

Before I go any further, I just wanted to show some sites from the trail as we headed down to the canyon:

 

Isn’t he cute?

 

Can you see all the people on the trail?

I love this picture:

  

On the canyon floor – it was breathtaking to look up at these canyon walls!

And we are at the ruins.  All those vehicles are people who took the guided canyon tours.  The tables on the right are Navajo’s selling their crafts.

  

Some information on the ruins:

The White House Ruins were constructed in two sections: the cliff dwellings in the alcove and the masonry pueblo on the canyon floor.  The Navajo call this site “white house in between” referring to the white plaster walls of the room built in the alcove.  The multi-storied pueblo below was once high enough to provide access to the rooms in the alcove above.

This site may have had up to eighty rooms and housed more than a dozen families.  Today there are only about 40 rooms left.  Archeologists believe that the construction began about CE 1060 with additions as late as CE 1275.  It is estimated that the village was in its prime about 800 years ago.

       

  

Some of these prehistoric paintings are at least 35 feet above ground level which means they would have had to have a long sturdy ladder to reach them.

The people that lived here grew crops of corn, squash, and beans and gathered various fruits and nuts from the wild plants of the canyon floor and rim.  They also hunted to supplement their diet with venison and rabbit.

 

After walking around the area and taking a break, we headed on up the trail.  First going thru the tunnel:

This is the inside of the tunnel.  Andy and I were trying to figure out if this was a natural cave that was just widened or was it man made – what do you think?

 

We continued up the trail – notice the people coming down:

Here is an interesting story and another reason we like this lifestyle.  As we are going up, this couple was coming down and asked if we were from Pennsylvania.  It turns out to be Connie and John – fellow SKP Boomers.  We had all been at Boomerville and the Winter Blast but did not really meet.  So we took a picture of them and they took a picture of us.

 

The pictures do not show the immenseness of this canyon and the deep colors – it is beautiful.

I am so glad we did this trail.  I was a little concerned at first but really glad we did it – :-)

We just hung out this afternoon – reading, updating my pictures and my blog, and figuring out what we are doing over the next two weeks. 

This evening Connie and John came over – they are parked right behind us in a Bounder also.  It was great chatting and getting to know them better.  Hopefully our paths will cross again.

We are heading out tomorrow so stay tuned and enjoy today.

April 25, 2013 – Canyon de Chelly North and South Rims

This is one of the days where I am so grateful and feel so blessed for the opportunity to see this incredible country.  This was definitely one of those WOW days where the scenery is more incredible at every turn.

So here is some background:

Canyon de Chelly National Monument is located within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation. Reflecting one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes of North America, it preserves ruins of the early indigenous tribes that lived in the area, including the Ancient Pueblo Peoples (also called Anasazi) and Navajo. The monument covers 83,840 acres and encompasses the floors and rims of the three major canyons: de Chelly, del Muerto, and Monument. These canyons were cut by streams with headwaters in the Chuska mountains just to the east of the monument. None of the land is federally owned.

Millions of years of land uplifts and stream cutting created the colorful sheer cliff walls of Canyon de Chelly. Natural water sources and rich soil provided a variety of resources, including plants and animals that have sustained families for thousands of years. The Ancient Puebloans found the canyons an ideal place to plant crops and raise families. The first settlers built pit houses that were then replaced with more sophisticated homes as more families migrated to the area. More homes were built in alcoves to take advantage of the sunlight and natural protection. People thrived until the mid-1300’s when the Puebloans left the canyons to seek better farmlands.

Related to the Athabaskan people of Northern Canada and Alaska, the Navajo settled the Southwest between the four sacred mountains. The Navajo, or Dine' as they call themselves, continue to raise families and plant crops just as the “Ancient Ones” had. The farms, livestock and hogans of the Dine’ are visible from the canyon rims.

Canyon de Chelly National Monument was authorized in 1931 by President Herbert Hoover in large measure to preserve the important archeological resources that span more than 4,000 years of human occupation. The monument is located entirely on the Navajo Nation with roughly 40 families residing within the park boundaries. The National Park Service and the Navajo Nation share resources and continue to work in partnership to manage this special place.

Yes I copies that but wait until you see the pictures:

The North Rim Drive:

Cottonwoods and farming in the Canyon:

 

Rock Layers:

 

 

Antelope Ruins – these ruins date back to CE 693 and is considered to have been occupied until CE 1275 – about 700 years ago:

(Note:  I was used to AD or BC dates, however, it has been changed in recent years to BCE – before common era or CE – common era.  It goes by the Julian Calendar. Confused – me too!  When I goggled it, there was a few different definitions.)

Caves in the walls – check out the wavy rock:

 

Between the two trees is a white truck – what a contrast:

The long dark streaks are part of a metabolic process in which microbes living on the canyon walls digest airborne minerals, resulting in stains left from manganese.

These ruins are at the Mummy Cave Overlook and are known as “house under the rock"”.  Archeologists believe that there was continuous habitation at this site from the time of earliest known occupation of the canyon to the latest dates of permanent residence by ancient Pueblo people.  Throughout the ruin, much of the original plaster used on the walls remain.  Mummy Cave received its name when an archeological expedition into the canyon in the late 1880’s found two mummies in cists below the site.

 

 

 

Yucca Cave:

This small structure is left of the one above.  It was used for food storage in prehistoric times.  There is a hand and toehold trail that connects the two alcoves.

The rock face falling away:

 

The South Rim – notice the cottonwoods in the distance:

I love this picture of Andy:

 

 

WOW and more WOW!:

More ruins – there was so many in these canyons:

These are the White House Ruins (remember that for my next blog):

 

I love the colors and the waves of the rocks:

Horses roam freely here:

 

The Navajo prehistoric people use to gather fresh water from these basins that would fill during the summer rainstorms.

More views of the canyon:

 

 

 

This is know as Face Rock:

 

And this is Spider Rock:

  

    

   

 

Spider Rock is 800 feet tall and stands at the junction of two canyons – Monument Canyon and Canyon de Chelly.  The Navajo believe that Spider Woman, the deity who taught the Navajo women how to weave, lives atop Spider Rock.  According to Navajo oral history, Face Rock reports the names of misbehaving children to Spider Woman who carries them to the top of Spider Rock.

More cliff dwellings and views of the canyon:

The clouds were upon us and the wind was picking up so we headed back:

And went thru what we first thought was rain – turned out to be a dust storm.  Oh my!

What an incredible day!