Posting by Caroline Seitz

Driving deeper into Arizona, we entered a fantastical landscape known as the Painted Desert.

The Painted Desert is a vast area of Arizona that includes both Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest National Parks. Some people have described the landscape as rock rainbow, others have said it resembled a multi-colored, many layered cake. No matter what you prefer to compare it to, the colorful sediments and rocks combined with the Arizona sun create magnificent views.

In addition to the natural beauty, petroglyphs also decorate the rocks.

As mysterious as the petroglyphs seem, there is an even stranger phenomenon found in the Painted Desert -- a petrified forest of giant fallen trees.

The logs are actually a three dimensional representation of the original tree turned into stone.  They look totally real!!  Like you could burn them.  In fact, a lot of what was laying around the desert seemed as if someone had cut the logs and then split them into firewood.  But when you pick them up or touch them, you know you are not touching wood.  The “logs” are cold, hard, solid stone.

Next:  The Exciting Conclusion to our Epic Journey!

Posting by Caroline Seitz

One of the most isolated areas of the lower 48 United States is the only place where four states intersect at one point:  Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah.

Four Corners Monument is located on Navajo Nation Land and is operated by the Navajo Parks & Recreation Department.  The Navajo are in the process of renovating the area – they have added a granite and brass marker, interpretive signs, and booths for Navajo vendors selling handmade jewelry, crafts and traditional foods.

After spending some time walking around in the four states, we got back in the Monte Carlo and headed south into Arizona towards our next stop:  Canyon de Chelly National Monument.

Canyon de Chelly National Monument is managed by the United States National Park Service, however, the entire 84,000 acre  Monument is comprised of  Navajo Tribal Trust Land.

The area is one of the longest continuously inhabited regions in North America.  Ancient Puebloans (Anasazi) built cities into the cliffs and overhangs throughout the canyon.  They left the area in the mid 1300′s.

The Navajo re-settled the area and about 40 families currently reside in the Monument’s boundaries.

While we were at an overlook, I saw a group of children playing basketball in field at the bottom of the canyon.  Right next to where the children were having so much fun were the ruins of an Ancient Puebloan city.

While we were at another overlook, my Dad decided to be funny and moo at some cows he saw on the canyon floor.  Dad’s voice seemed to echo and echo throughout the canyon.  In fact, it just kept echoing.  “Wow, that is a REALLY LONG echo in this canyon!” I exclaimed.  Until my brother pointed to a rancher walking down the dirt road far below us.  He was mooing back at us.

Coming Next:  A Painted Desert and a Crystal Forest

Posting by Caroline Seitz

We left Moab UT and headed southeast for about 140 miles until we reached Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.  The weather was very turbulent, changing from dark and stormy to bright and sunny and then back to stormy.  Aaaah, mountain weather…

As we drove up, up and up into the park, the  fog became so thick that I became a bit apprehensive about being on such a twisty, turney mountain road.  Luckily, we made it safely to the top and the weather cleared so we could see the ancient ruins.

The sky had cleared enough and the rain/sleet mix had stopped long enough that we decided to do a quick lunch.  MAN – it was COLD!!

Over 1400 years ago, people known as the Ancestral Puebloans (aka the Anasazi) started building villages and towns in the four corners region of the United States.  During the height of their civilization, the area was more heavily populated with people than today.  They built elaborate towns into protected alcoves in the cliffs.  Families lived in apartment buildings and row houses, kind of like we do in urban areas today.

Agriculture, basket and pottery making took up much of their time.   They were able to survive and even thrive in this region for about 700 years.

For many years, the disappearance of the Anasazi was a mystery.  Did they all get wiped out by disease or war?  Were they taken away by aliens from outer-space?  Did they enter another dimension?

Archeologists today believe that the Anasazi never actually “left.”  That they are, in fact, still living among us.

“When the cliff dwellers of Mesa Verde left, they traveled south into New Mexico and Arizona, settling among their kin who were already there. Whatever may have happened, some of today’s Pueblo people, and  maybe other tribes, are descendants of the Ancestral Puebloans of Mesa Verde.” – National Park Service & United States Department of the Interior

Next:  Four Corners Monument & Canyon DeChelly National Park

Posting by Caroline Seitz

We entered the surreal world of Arches National Park, UT on Friday October 22, 2010.  It was as if we had been transported to an alien world. Bizarre rock formations appeared through the misty, rainy desert day like something out of a dream. Arches National Park comprises 119 square miles of protected land containing over 2000 natural sandstone arches. Even though it was cold and raining, we braved the elements and spent a few hours hiking in the park. Most of the arches in the park have names.  The arch pictured below is “Landscape Arch.” This arch is 290 feet long but only 6 feet thick in its thinnest section. It is nearing the end of its “lifespan” – it could collapse at any moment. The most famous arch in the park is Delicate Arch – the arch that is featured on the Utah license plate.  Below, Will is pointing to the famous arch. Many of the arches seemed like portals into other dimensions or worlds.  Like the Star Trek Episode “City on the Edge of Forever”  – I thought if I went through this arch, I would be transported to an alternate reality. Was that an alien creature on the other side of the portal? No, just a beautiful raven. After exploring the arches in the freezing cold, we need to refuel ourselves and have lunch. After our delicious lunch, we loaded up into the car and headed out to Canyonlands National Park. Canyonlands is a totally different experience from Arches.  Easy access and day hikes are a big part of Arches, but Canyonlands is a much larger and formidable park.  Although the main roads are paved and well maintained, most of the 530 square miles of Canyonlands are only accessible via off-road vehicle, horse, raft, or foot.

One of my favorite books,  Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness by Edward Abbey features both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks (before they were National Parks) as prominent “characters” in the story.  Abbey is able to capture the essence of the look, feel, and even smell of the area.   He also echoes many of my own thoughts of the desert:  “Strolling on, it seems to me that the strangeness and wonder of existence are emphasized here, in the desert, by the comparative sparsity of the flora and fauna: life not crowded upon life as in other places but scattered abroad in spareness and simplicity, with a generous gift of space for each herb and bush and tree, each stem of grass, so that the living organism stands out bold and brave and vivid against the lifeless sand and barren rock. The extreme clarity of the desert light is equaled by the extreme individuation of desert life-forms. Love flowers best in openness and freedom.” “May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” – Edward Abbey

Next, we’re headed to Mesa Verde National Park, CO.

Posting by Caroline Seitz

On October 19, 2010 I flew to Reno to meet up with my brother from Hawaii and my Dad who lives in Reno in the summer and Arizona in the winter. Our mission: drive from Reno, NV to Surprise, AZ via Colorado and visit as many National Parks as we could along the way.

We started our epic journey by packing up Dad’s 2000 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. We had a lot of stuff, including two boxes of home-grown tomatoes plus three grown adults to take, but my experience loading vehicles for live animal shows has taught me a thing or two about how to pack!

Will and Dad and a Packed Monte Carlo

We headed out of Reno on I-80 east, along the Truckee River.

The Truckee River

We were following much of the Truckee River Route of the California Emigrant Trail. We stopped at a rest area that marked the Forty-Mile Desert.  This part of the trail was described as the most dreaded section of the entire route to California.  We decided to have lunch.  Too bad those emigrants in the mid 1850′s could not have gotten in a time machine to join us.

Lunch in the Forty-Mile Desert

We continued heading east until we reached Wendover NV.  We spent the night there and in the morning, we toured the historic Wendover Air Base. “Wendover Air Base operated primarily as a training site for the crews of B17, B24 and B29 aircraft, including the Enola Gay and Boxscar, the crews of which were responsible for the first deployment of nuclear weapons over Japan in 1945.” – (Tooele Co Website)

Wendover Air Base

The Great Salt Lake loomed ahead – and we stopped at one of its shores to explore and have lunch.

Great Salt Lake

CobraCaroline examines the Great Salt Lake

CobraCaroline wonders what will happen to her hand

The Great Salt Lake is too salty for most plants and animals to survive, however, there is one famous resident of the salty lake: Sea Monkeys! Sea Monkeys are actually shrimp that are able to exist in salty inland lakes around the world.

No reptiles live in the Great Salt Lake, however, many species of snakes and lizards live in the surrounding desert. Sadly, I found a juvenile gopher snake in the parking lot of the lake’s marina, but it had been squashed by a car.

Smooshed Gopher Snake

Next Posting…Arches National Park

Arches National Park