Day Nine - Monument Valley Utah to Chinle Arizona

All those of you who are tired of rocks put your hand up!  Well, too bad, because we enjoyed another day of simply outstanding rockery!

It started for all of us way before dawn, determined to get that perfect shot of sunrise.

 
 
Once awake it was difficult to go back to bed so we went for a drive out on the (very) unpaved valley road loop. 

 

See that picture of the horseback cowboy out on the rock ledge? That's Andy!

 

There are so many great pictures but time to move on. 

We left Monument Valley to the north for a fairly short riding day. Once again the variation in the rocky landscape was fantastic. That said, the towns on the road to Chinle are few and far between which meant only one quick stop on the way. 

Why Chinle we hear you ask?  Well, it's at the mouth of Canyon de Chelly (d'Shay) - a place people have inhabited for perhaps as much as 5,000 years. And again why?  Because it is unbelievably beautiful and a great place to stay hidden from the world around. It's inhabitants built beautiful stone dwellings up in the canyon walls. We won't give the whole history but it's worth googling. 

 
 
  

And we found the hiking equivalent of the Moki Dugway!  (Google it) The hike from the canyon rim to the White House ruins 600 feet down and back up was so worth it (even if the trail was steep with wicked drop offs sometimes). Here is what is left of some homes that date back to 600 BC. 




Tomorrow we promise to stop the rock show. We're off to Santa Fe!

Comments

  1. Don Weber14 June 2017 at 22:06

    Great riding and scenery, looks like the weather is being good to you too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown15 June 2017 at 05:03

      Weather has been fantastic - and getting fantasticer!

      Delete

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