TotSW: the scenic road to Page

We got a fairly late start leaving Chaco Canyon, as the day started with the short petroglyph hike in the previous post.  As a result, most of rest of the day was a scenic drive across ranch and Navajo Nation land.  I didn't mind; my knee needed the rest!

From a distance, this looked like an impressively large critter, but as we approached it became clear that it was just an amusing sculpture.

The scenic route I plotted took us by Canyon de Chelly, which I've always wanted to see.  Given the constraints of time and the fact that it requires a guide to get down into the canyon, we contented ourselves with stopping at the many scenic overlooks.

As is common in these parts, there are ancient structures built into the cliffs.  There was a threat of thunderstorms blowing through, so the clouds added to the ambiance.

Close-up view of the ruins in the nook above.

We walked a bit along the top from viewpoint to viewpoint.

One of the reasons you need a guide to go into the valley is that this national monument is actually part of Navajo land and people still live in it.  In fact, this valley has been continuously inhabited for almost 5000 years.  It does look to be a pleasant place to be, with the canyon walls for protection, a broad enough drainage for some agriculture, and a lazy river wandering through.

After a brief stop to look at the artifacts in the visitor's center, we continued on towards Page.  It seems that every time I am on a trip going through this part of the Southwest, we end up stopping for the night in Page, AZ.  All roads in this neck of the woods lead to Page.  In this case, the road we took went near Monument Valley on the way and we could see interesting rock spires in the distance.

Because all roads lead to Page, there are many relatively soul-less chain hotels to choose from; we picked a nice one with a hot tub for me to soak in, got cleaned up for dinner, and walked into town to find food.  The brewpub we found had fried avocado slices....mmmm.  I had a big plate of fried things and a wee slider with a salad, to fortify the next day's tour of the Glen Canyon dam.  Stay tuned for more.