On Monday, October 2nd, we visited Canyon de Chelly National Monument, over 2 hours drive to the southeast in northeast Arizona.  This was truly a journey into the middle of nowhere, passing through desolate regions on a lonely road until reaching the town of Chinle on Indian Road 7.  There was a lot of road work being done in the national monument, so we missed some portions that were closed.  The winds were the worst experienced so far, enough to blow a grown man off his feet.  That, combined with the sheer cliffs in this area, made the visit a little more intense than we would have liked.  We did get some nice photos, but the only cliff dwellings here are far down into gorges that can only be photographed with a long lens.  You are not allowed to enter any cliff dwellings.  There even was a set of dwellings far down into a gorge where native Americans continue to farm just as their ancestors did in that area.  The farther one goes down into the gorge, the less the wind.  No wonder the natives preferred to live in the gorges.  A local Navajo said that the winds are always strong there, especially in the spring.  I said that I was glad that it was not spring.  Along the roads that one drives to arrive at the overlooks into the gorges are homes and ranches where ancestors of the ancient cliff dwellers continue to live.  All this is interesting, but the very limited number of cliff dwellings and their inaccessibility make this national monument of less interest than a place like Mesa Verde National Park.  It was a long drive there and back through a dismal area to gain so little.  Perhaps if there had not been so many closed areas it would have been a more satisfying visit, but in the end it was just tiring.

On Tuesday, October 3rd, we drove to the Moab Rim RV Park in Moab, Utah.  This was about a mile away from the RV park we stayed in with the tour.  We spent the afternoon on housework like laundry, shopping, and working on organizing photos and videos taken over the prior several days.

On Wednesday, October 4th, we visited the Hole in the Rock along Rt 191 south of Moab.  This appears from the road to be  tourist trap, and to some extent has turned into that.  The current owners have a zoo and things like old motel signs scattered over the property.  The central item, however, continues to be the item of significance.  Albert Christensen was a uranium miner (among other things) who used his mining experience to enlarge the cowboy cave in the side of a large rock into a 5,000 square foot home and diner, which now is a store and museum.  The skill with which he blew out and chiseled out rock to make a very comfortable home is worth the $6.50 price for a 12 minute tour.  The year-round temperature inside is a comfortable 70s.  I am surprised that more is not heard about this place.  After this visit, we moved on south to the The Needles District of  Canyonlands National Park.   This was a long drive south from Moab, then a 30+ mile drive from Rt 191 west to the park.  At first the drive is somewhat featureless, then toward the end there are large rock formations like those in other nearby national parks and monuments.  We got some interesting photos, but the four hour hike of the Cave Spring Loop was the most memorable event of the day.  Betty insisted on climbing the two ladders, scrambling over the rocks, walking the trails up on the rock plateau, then climbing down the other side and proceeding along a trail under rock ledges to complete the hike.  She really feels it today.  We did part of it twice, since the top of the first ladder on one side stopped at a wide crevice that Betty did not want to cross, so we went back down and nearly returned to our Jeep.  Then we saw the other end of the loop that led to the other side of the plateau, with another ladder that one descends to lead back to the parking lot.  We decided to hike the trail backward to see the other side.  There we climbed the ladder and went up the ledges and steps to the top of the plateau.  From there we walked the trail backward to the crevice that Betty avoided at first, but now she bravely crossed it backward, descended the original stairways, and hiked the first trail back to the Jeep.  So, she hiked the first part of the trail and climbed the first two ladders twice, once going up and then going down.  Not bad for a lady scheduled to have hip replacement surgery next month.

The green area is where the cave water spring is located

A long trail under rock ledges leads to the spring

Betty perseveres with her bad hip

Trail proceeds over high rock plateau to continue the loop

Cowboy cave along trail near parking lot

 Today, Thursday, October 5th, we drove from Moab to west of Ogden, Utah.  We are staying at the Century RV Park.  It is right on I-15 and a bit noisy.  The best part of the slot that we have is that we are able to leave the Jeep hooked up overnight, allowing us to have one less duty in the morning before we leave.