Navajo Nation – June 8, 2009

We took a leisurely drive along the east rim of the Grand Canyon stopping at every lookout point. At Moran point, we spotted a group of six rafts floating in the Colorado river. We watched as they rounded a bend in the river and passed through whitewater rapids. They all made it through.

Shortly after leaving the park at Desert View, we also left the US and entered the Navajo reservation. We drove for a hundred miles along the west wall of the Echo Cliffs that guard the land of the People of the four Sacred Mountains. It is a vast, beautiful and desolate country.

At Bitter Springs, we branched off AZ 89 for alternate AZ 89 along the Vermilion Cliffs. We stopped and ate lunch along the roadside in the desert. Dave was very intent on keeping possession of the car keys as we were a good 20 mile hike from anywhere. I was scouting this area for the layered multicolored sandstone that I have seen in pictures. We didn't find it.
We left the res and entered the Kaibab National Forest climbing quickly from 2500 feet to about 5000 feet. The environment changed drastically from desert to forest and the temperature dropped from 90 to 70. At the north end of this section of the forest, we looked backed down into the desert and the rock walls of Zion and Bryce National Parks.

Next: Zion