Canyon de Chelly, Az

We drove 300 miles (a long day for us) to our next destination of Canyon De Chelly (“de shay”) National Monument. It is located in NE Arizona on the Navajo Indian Reservation, although it is managed by the U.S. Park Service.

The canyon has been occupied by 5 different Native American culture groups, including Archaic, Basket makers, early Pueblo, Hopi and Navajo, dating from 2,500 BC until the present.

We stayed at the FREE Cottonwood CG close to the visitor’s center. It was a nice CG with a variety of different sites spaced fairly far apart. Some sites were in the trees and others were in the open. There were no hookups, but water, bathrooms and a dump station were available.

The monument consists of two canyons: the 26 mile Canyon de Chelly and the 25 mile Canyon del Muerto. The canyons consist of red sandstone walls that rise from 30 to 1,000 ft. The walls are decorated with pictographs and there are many pueblo ruins visible from the early inhabitants.

There are half day and all day tours available from Navajo guides in an open air 6 wheel drive vehicle. We had reservations about the all day tour, but took the advice of friends and fellow travelers and decided to go for it. We found the all day tour to be very worthwhile, because we went deeper into the canyons and saw some spectacular ruins not seen on the half day trip. It was a bumpy, but not uncomfortable, ride that went up and down and crossed streams many times. Actually, it was a kick, with spectacular scenery around us the entire time.

It was interesting to hear the guides speak to each other in Navajo (what did we expect). Our guides told us that they are related to the Athabascan Indians in Alaska and not related to the other tribes in the area. The Navajo tribe is the largest Indian tribe.

We had several stops along our tour and local Indian women were selling crafts and Indian fry bread. We couldn’t resist it. It’s flat, sweet dough fried like a tortilla and then you put honey and cinnamon sugar on top. Yummy.

It is interesting to be on an Indian reservation again. It is a whole different world.

The South Rim of the Grand Canyon

Sunday, April 20 we were up with the sun to beat the 56 other Lazy Dazers to the dump station. We were successful, had breakfast and were on the road by 6:45. Our trip took us north following the Colorado River and then turned east on I 40. We turned north on Arizona 64 and arrived at the south rim of the Grand Canyon in early afternoon. We traveled about 260 miles. La Paz is at about 350 feet altitude and the South Rim is at 7,000 feet. We were climbing all day. When we got out of the RV, it was colder than when we started, about 60 degrees. What a nice change. The south rim is part of the Colorado plateau and has a transition zone pine forest.

We got a nice site, with lots of sun for the solar panels and open sky at 151 degrees, magnetic. That is where our Direct TV satellite resides and provides us with input from the outside world.

Mather CG is beautiful, in the trees and it’s only about 10% full. There are definitely advantages to traveling in the off-season. AND, 2 elk walked right through our campsite. That’s a first.

For our RV friends: Mather CG is much nicer than the full hookup trailer village. It’s centrally located and has pay showers with a dump station. The grocery store is large and well equipped. There is only one gas station located near the east entrance to the park, approx. 20 mi east of the village (and the gas is cheaper here than in Tusayan, near the south entrance).

Parking is limited at the overlooks but there is a shuttle available that runs regularly. Don’t miss the historic El Tovar hotel on the edge of the rim. They serve wonderful food, but I would call ahead for reservations. They fill up quickly.

Monday saw us out exploring. The viewing was hazy, due to high winds from the south blowing up dust. Notice the background in the first 2 photos. The winds died down on Tuesday morning and we went out again to see the improved views.

The canyon is 3000 feet deep and people fall over the edge more often than you might think. Last year, a model fell to her death when the photographer asked her to “step back”. That first step is a few hundred feet down!

La Paz County Park, Parker Arizona

The Southern California Lazy Daze Caravan Club outing in April was to La Paz County Park in Parker Arizona. A great place and time for the start of this leg of our journey. We arrived on Tuesday, April 15, a 300 mile drive from home. This is a bit long for one day’s drive, but on a first day it is ok. Being early in the week, there were only about 10 rigs when we arrived. The park is right on the Colorado river and is the water cold!

The temperatures are getting warm, topping out at 92 on Wednesday. The prior weekend saw 100+ here, too warm for us without electrical hookups (for AC). The rest of the week saw the temperature topping out in the 80s and low 90s and in the 50s at night, great sleeping.

The town of Lake Havasu, with THE London Bridge, is just 30 miles north of our camp site so we had to go see it. The town is new and up scale. The developer of the community bought the bridge in 1969 and “built” an island for the bridge to go to. We had a very nice lunch overlooking the bridge.

New Mexico (and more) Trip

Well it's springtime and the Lazy Daze is itching to go again! We have always liked the desert southwest and never had a chance to explore Northern New Mexico and southern Utah. So now is the time. For the next two months we will be following approximately the above route.