We got up early this morning to take a full day tour into the canyon. It seemed a bad sign when we heard that 20 people could be packed into a single truck, but it turned out that everyone else was going on a half-day trip. The 6 of us met the minimum for the full day trip, and it looked like we would have the truck to ourselves. One other young couple from Foster City ended up joining us, but there was plenty of room.
The trucks were Korean era troop transports – 6-wheel drive monsters that could go anywhere. Our Navajo driver introduced himself as Ron, and said that Ron was Navajo for “good driver”, so we knew were in good hands… 🙂 He proceeded to tell us what was coming up during the day. He warned that we would be crossing many frozen rivers, and that if we got stuck, he had a winch, but we might have to get out and push. He promised that if it came to that, he would use our cameras to take pictures of us pushing for mementos…
We had our choice of covered or open-top trucks. Since the temperature was below freezing, we opted for the covered vehicle. We lucked out, and our truck survived the trip. The half-day group’s truck died and they were moved to an open (Summer) truck. I expect they were all frozen solid by the time they returned!
The first stop was at a petroglyph that dated back about 2000 years (I neglected to note that actual age). It was surprising how well they were preserved, given the crude corn based ink that was used.
Initially the water we crossed was pretty shallow, and I got quite a few nice ice pattern shots that can later be used as background patterns in photo manipulations.
As we ventured further into the canyon, the water got higher and our truck turned into a virtual icebreaker. At one point, we did get stuck after crossing a river with a couple feet of water covered by a foot of ice. The ice got stuck under the wheels, and we just spun our wheels until Ron went back and freed the ice from the tires. Looking down as we broke through the ice, we could see it piling up on the sides.
We were also shown several cliff dwellings that spanned multiple eras, moving from high up and crude to lower and more sophisticated.
The rock walls rose up on both sides of us, for 1000 feet of sheer vertical cliffs. We were shown where the natives were under siege from Kit Carson and the cavalry for three months before the army gave up and left. The next year they returned and burned the natives out, killing most of them and marching the rest off to a reservation, where many more died.
The sandstone rock in this area formed seemingly impossible shapes as wind and water have eroded them over millions of years. Evelyn kept looking up and saying she saw various animal shapes in the rocks. They were “just rocks” to me, until she made the comment and the shape would suddenly spring to life in my mind. Here is an “elephant” her mind caught:
We were given the history of the region, including the forcible removal of the Navajo, later repatriation to their land, US government giving each family two sheep in the late 19th century, and later taking back the sheep when the government decided the Navajo were over-grazing the land in the 1930’s. We saw cattle scattered throughout, and many horses that ran and grazed the snow-covered fields. We never saw a sheep or goat in the valley, though there were lots of coyote trails.
Evelyn said she thought it was the best tour we had taken in a long time, and Trip Advisor now has one more strong recommendation added for this tour. If you ever go to the Grand Canyon, be sure to set aside time for Canyon de Chelly and take the full day jeep tour. Seeing the canyon from the bottom is much more impressive than seeing the Grand Canyon from the rim.
(We did drive along the rim the next day though, and Canyon de Chelly isn’t nearly as impressive from the rim.)
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There is no right way to wrong things.