Emerging from our motel room this morning we discovered a strange liquid substance clinging to our car, and to all other vehicles in the parking lot. Water. It rained in the desert! We don’t know exactly how much — not a lot by Minnesota or Iowa standards, but measurable.
This turned out to be a huge advantage for us. After breakfast we drove down to the Navajo Nation, which begins just north of the Arizona state line. After paying our entrance fee (National Park passes don’t work on the reservation) we continued to the Visitors Center to get info on hiking paths. There are few in this section, but a nice, four-mile loop called Wildcat Trail begins here and takes the hiker around West Mitten Butte.
Getting down into the valley floor from the Visitors Center was the hardest part. The trail was steep, very sandy, and not particularly well marked. Once down on the floor, the trail was flat and easy to follow. Jackets and shirts that had been necessary on top quickly came off. The temperature was only in the high 60s, but the whipping wind in the parking lot completely disappeared, and there was absolutely nothing to block the sun. In summer, the hiker who comes later in the day or without water could be in big trouble.
The morning rain left the surface just moist enough to keep the sand and dust from blowing around. There were a few muddy spots, but all in all, it was good to have the moisture in the ground to keep the path firm underfoot.
It was surprising to find a house trailer and a couple of huts on the other side of the butte. The parks we’ve been in cause us to forget that people actually live here. The rock formations are fascinating and there is beauty to the landscape (John Wayne filmed his first big hit Western movie here in 1938, and many more motion pictures and TV shoot-em-ups followed). But this is a godforsaken climate. There are no trees. Even the sagebrush looks a little sickly. Water has to be trucked in for people and animals.
The path back up to the Visitors Center seemed even more steep going up than it had been coming down, though this time we knew where we were going. As soon as we got back we jumped in the car for a longer exploration of the valley via a loop road. The signs warned that road conditions can vary, and that we drove at our own risk. But we had just been on a hiking trail where surface conditions were nearly ideal, so we assumed this sign was meant for other times of the year.
Wrong. This road was terrible. Rural gravel roads in Iowa look like interstates compared to this. It was steep, badly rutted, full of potholes, and generally rough all the way. The speed limit was marked at 15 mph, and there were some big Jeeps and other all-wheel drive pickups and SUVs that could actually go that fast. A compact passenger car could not. Fortunately, there were few vehicles of any sort out there, so we weren’t holding up traffic.
Upon return to the Visitors Center we took some time to visit the small museum. The room devoted to the Navajo “Code Talkers” of World War II was particularly interesting. We also walked around an outdoor exhibit of traditional Navajo dwellings, or hogans. The tribe could really do something great with this as a living history type of thing, showing how the various crafts are done and explaining the culture. But there aren’t even signs here to explain the different types of construction. Very disappointing.
We left the Valley, but not the reservation, as we continued our drive southwest toward the Grand Canyon area, where will be tomorrow. The tribal lands are some of the most empty, desolate areas we have seen. The poverty depicted by the tiny settlements is difficult to imagine. It also contrasts with the community where we are staying tonight, Tuba City, AZ. The motel we are in is owned and operated by the Navajo Nation, and the entire staff is native American. It’s one of the nicest (and most expensive) places we’ve stayed on the trip.
Interesting side note: Utah is on Mountain Daylight Time. Arizona does not believe in daylight savings time, so is on Mountain Standard Time. However, the Navajo Nation overlaps both states and has determined that the reservation will follow Utah, even though the larger share of it is in Arizona. Thus, the part of Arizona that is Indian land is in a different time zone than the rest of the State of Arizona. When we return to Nevada, we will be on Pacific Daylight Time, but that is the same as Mountain Standard, so we only change our watches when we leave the Navajo Nation. Confused?
Getting down into the valley floor from the Visitors Center was the hardest part. The trail was steep, very sandy, and not particularly well marked. Once down on the floor, the trail was flat and easy to follow. Jackets and shirts that had been necessary on top quickly came off. The temperature was only in the high 60s, but the whipping wind in the parking lot completely disappeared, and there was absolutely nothing to block the sun. In summer, the hiker who comes later in the day or without water could be in big trouble.
It was surprising to find a house trailer and a couple of huts on the other side of the butte. The parks we’ve been in cause us to forget that people actually live here. The rock formations are fascinating and there is beauty to the landscape (John Wayne filmed his first big hit Western movie here in 1938, and many more motion pictures and TV shoot-em-ups followed). But this is a godforsaken climate. There are no trees. Even the sagebrush looks a little sickly. Water has to be trucked in for people and animals.
Wrong. This road was terrible. Rural gravel roads in Iowa look like interstates compared to this. It was steep, badly rutted, full of potholes, and generally rough all the way. The speed limit was marked at 15 mph, and there were some big Jeeps and other all-wheel drive pickups and SUVs that could actually go that fast. A compact passenger car could not. Fortunately, there were few vehicles of any sort out there, so we weren’t holding up traffic.
We left the Valley, but not the reservation, as we continued our drive southwest toward the Grand Canyon area, where will be tomorrow. The tribal lands are some of the most empty, desolate areas we have seen. The poverty depicted by the tiny settlements is difficult to imagine. It also contrasts with the community where we are staying tonight, Tuba City, AZ. The motel we are in is owned and operated by the Navajo Nation, and the entire staff is native American. It’s one of the nicest (and most expensive) places we’ve stayed on the trip.
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