April 29
After eating a buffet breakfast at the Parry Lodge, we drove east 8 miles to Johnson Lake Canyon. About three miles up the road, old ramshackle buildings and a gallows are in a field on private property. They were the sets for some of the films and TV programs filmed around Kanab: Gunsmoke, Have Gun, Will Travel, Bonanza to list a few. Many of them were falling down or about to.
Drove back through Kanab in a little bit of hail, and headed for the east entrance to Zion National Park. Gorgeous scenery, After the first tunnel we parked the car, and John walked the mile long trail, the Canyon Overlook Trail.
We heard from a ranger that a woman fell 1,000 feet to her death on the Angel’s Landing Trail yesterday. She was about 60 and hiking alone, no identification. They
are looking for her car or accomodations to try to identify her, She had been sitting on
a ledge, about half-way up, with her feet dangling over the edge.
We went to the east entrance Visitors’ Center and then got a campsite in the Cotton-
wood Campground. All the electric sites at Watchman Campground were taken. So we are once again without power and internet. I’m typing this in Pages and will cut and paste it into the blog tomorrow night. We have a room reserved in Springdale because our tent zipper has broken, so this may be our last night of camping this trip.
After we set up the tent, we drove up the Kolob Terrace Road. It is west of of the main part of the park. We tried to drive to the end and the Kolob Reservoir, but we ran into snow, partially plowed road, and eventually heavy snow on the road, so we turned around.
Had dinner at the Pioneer Restaurant in Springdale. Stopped at an outdoor recreation shop, where John bought a pair of socks.
We are now in the tent, with out headlamps on, typing on our laptops. The campground is fairly quiet, except for the Virgin River, with normally runs no more than 40 cubic feet per minute. Right now it is running at 140 cubic feet per minute. They have closed the Narrows Trail, part of which is wading up the river. Two young men on a raft tried to make it down the narrows this week, sadly they drowned. Dangerous waters right now.
More tomorrow from Zion National Park…
John and Elaine
April 28
We camped last night at Navajo Lake State Park. Had breakfast in camp and left around 8:30 a.m. Headed west along the San Juan River. Stopped in Aztec to see the ruins of an Anasazi culture. The great Kiva has been reconstructed to look like what archeologists think it did 900 years ago, and is suppose to be the best one in North America. This pueblo has 450 rooms, and was made as one structure. They call it Aztec Ruins National Monument, but, in fact, the Aztec peoples were never in the area. Those who named it thought it looked like the Aztec structures.
We stopped in Kayenta at the Burger King, not to eat lunch, but to looked at the display there that is dedicated to the Navajo Code Talkers. They were a group of Navajo in the armed forces in the Pacific during WWII, who were able to use their own language on the walkie talkies to stymie the Japanese. The Japanese could never break the code because in reality it wasn’t one.
As we drove along, the wind kept increasing. Great amounts of red dust from the red sands were blowing across the highway. At times we could barely see a few feet in front of us. All the cars had to use lights.
We drove into Kanab, Utah, and checked into the Parry Lodge, which has been in use since 1931. Kanab is known as “Little Hollywood” because so many movies and TV shows were filmed here. The old part of the lodge has famous names on the rooms. We are staying in the Ronald Reagan room. There is a picture of him dressed as a cowboy on one wall. The dining room was reserved for two big groups, so we ate dinner across the street at restaurant decorated with a cowboy theme.
At 8:00 p.m. we went to the Movie Barn, part of the lodge, and saw two short films, plus the 1952 cowboy film, “Ride The Man Down” with Rod Cameron, Brian Donlevy, Joel McCrea, Forrest Tucker and Chill Wills. Of course, Rod Cameron won the girl in the end. The wind was gusting so strongly, it sounded like the barn might blow down. We had to hang onto our hats going back to our room.
More from Utah tomorrow….
John and Elaine
April 27
We went out to breakfast with Ken and Betty this morning. Afterwards, we drove into Santa Fe, and John went to REI to look for some new hiking pants. We, finally, left the city around noon. Drove north to Abiquiqu. It is the town where Georgia O’Keefe owned a house where she spent autumns and winters. We checked on a tour of the house, but the 1:00 tour was filled, and there was only one more space on the 3:30 tour, so we decided to skip it. We saw the house from the highway and took pictures. We had driven through the town itself, but her home was behind a long adobe wall.
We stopped at a gift shop and bought some Native American designed placemats and some O’Keefe postcards.
Next we stopped at Ghost Ranch, which is where she did a lot of her paintings the other two seasons of the year. It is now owned by the Presbyterian Church, The tour was at 1:30, so we missed that one also. Did go through the historical museum, where there was an art show going on with some beautiful hand-woven rugs on display. Then we toured the Archeology museum, which was mostly dinosaur and fossil examples which had been found on the ranch property.
We stopped to take pictures of the Scenic Railway cars and station in Chama and had
hot dogs and ice cream at a local store.
Drove through some pretty country heading west to Navajo Lake State Park and Dam.
We have a campsite overlooking the lake. We have electric, but no internet, so I am typing this into the “Pages” program and will copy it and paste it into the blog whenever I am able.
Headed for Kanab, Utah and then Kolob Canyon tomorrow. The National Weather Service is predicting high winds and rain/snow starting tomorrow night, so there may not be much hiking going on.
More from the road tomorrow….
John and Elaine
Foggy Morning
Fog rises early from the pond.
Another sunrise speaks
from the other side of the woods.
Pink clouds float across the horizon.
Gulls call.
The air is warm and willing
to carry wings across the sky.
April 24
We left Alamogordo around 7:15 a.m. Drove out the the White Sands National Monument and drove the road through the dunes, stopping at all the signs and
a boardwalk. The signs told about the various plants and animals that live in the
desert environment. There were so kids sliding down the dunes on discs just as
if it were snow. Really the sand is so white, it almost looks like snow.
Stopped at the Visitors’ Center and watched a movie on how the area was form-
ed. Bought some replicas of antique postcards and of course, another pin for my
hat.
Drove on to the Valley of Fire State Recreation Area. It is known as Mal Pais
(badlands) and is volcanic in origin, black lava rock for miles. We didn’t walk the
trail because by this time it was very windy, gusting to more than 25 miles an
hour.
Headed for Socorro and checked into the Comfort Inn. Then we drove west to
the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Very Large Array Telescope. 30 huge
dishes relaying images from space. They are on the Plains of San Augustin, a
sunken, flat area between mountains.
Came back into town, neither of us very hungry. John got a yogurt parfait and
a wrap at McD’s. I grabbed a PB Granola bar from our stash, but haven’t eaten
it.
Did laundry tonight. What excitement.
Tomorrow we will go to Bosque Del Apache Wildlife Area, a premier birding spot
in New Mexico. John will probably read or take a nap after we drive the wildlife
drive, while I bird around the Visitors’ Center. We were here last fall, and I loved
it.
Then we’ll head to Santa Fe…..
John and Elaine
