HOVENWEEP NATIONAL MONUMENT

We left Mesa Verde National Park and drove over to Hovenweep National Monument.  We had not been to this place either so it is a new experience for us.  Nice drive here through a small canyon out of Cortez, CO on a little used two lane road.  Pretty nice campground and a few good hikes.

The work on these walls was impressive.

And they built some structures right on top of existing rocks.

And Connie is always clowning around.

Thought this was interesting how they built this inside of a large boulder.

Sunset in the ruins.

Don't know where the reflection above the sun came from, but it is pretty.

Lots of lizards.

These two pictures are from our back door at sunset one night.

A slot canyon Connie hiked.

Another sunset picture.

CANYON DE CHELLY AND MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK

CANYON DE CHELLY:  This place is located in the eastern side of the Navajo Nation within Arizona.  We left Payson, AZ and drove the 200 some miles through some pretty neat high country with a lot of ponderosa pines – kind of made us homesick in a way.  Then dropped down in altitude to the flatland and then gained a little altitude up to this place.  We got to C De C just after lunch and found a campsite in their large cottonwood grove campground.  They have changed the camping here and two days before we arrived they started charging admission.  And the agency that is now responsible for the campground is the Navajo Nation vs the National Park Service.  Oh well.  After setting up, we headed to the south rim drive and checked out some of the overlooks.  They have some pretty neat ruins in this area, but only accessible by 4 x 4 paid tours and then you are restricted to how close you can get to them.  The next morning we did the only hike that you can do without a guide and that is to the whitehouse ruin.  Nice trail down to the bottom of the canyon, even many of the Navajos use it to get down there to sell their wares to the tourists.  They really have some nice art and jewelry at a fair price I might add. After our hike, we drove the north rim to a couple of overlooks then headed to Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado.   Click on a picture to enlarge them.

MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK:  This place is well worth the stop for anyone interested in the ancient Puebloan people and their culture.  They used to be referred to as the Anasazi.  We arrived fairly late so got up early the next day to get going, only to hear it start to rain.  So we delayed until that stopped before going through part of the park – some of it is closed until the middle of May.  And I might add, it was pretty cool that morning also – high altitude with snow banks still showing.  Some of the hikes you have to have a ranger with you, and we were really fortunate to have a Navajo who works part time for the park as he is a graduate student still going to school.  He is majoring in ancient cultures and plans on getting a doctorate.  Very, very knowledgeable and gave us a new perspective on lives of these peoples.   

A LITTLE EAGLE WATCHING AND SOME HIKING.

We got to watch a pair of eagles feed their young ones from the observation point of some Arizona game and fish folks.  That was a treat for us.  Connie met one of them while on a walk by our camp - one thing lead to another and we got invited to come watch the nest with them.  Also spent a couple evenings talking story with them.  Great visit.  And Joan knows a lot about birds so I  learned a lot.

Also tried to do a hike on an old forest service trail, but it has been abandoned so not marked very well.  We missed a cairn off an old jeep trail so never really got headed in the right direction.  But we wondered around the desert finding some new flowers so it was not a total bust.

Snowy egrets hanging around.

And they fly so smooth.

This is why they call them "snowy" egrets - really fine feathers.

Osprey - click to enlarge and check out his talons.

We got too close and he was out of there.

Don't know what ate these prickly pears.

When Joan drove up in this bus, I was just amazed.  We had one just like it only a few years older back in the 70's in Alaska.  This one was also in Alaska!!!

Connie talking to the eagle watchers.

The eagle nest.  

At the observation point.

Sego lily.

The view from our hike of Roosevelt Lake.

A thistle loving bee.