Desert Southwest Vacation (Day 8)

Day 8 (Saturday, June 23rd). We could easily have stayed longer in Bryce Canyon or nearby Red Canyon in the Dixie National Forest or the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument which would have provided additional days of unique discoveries. However, we had a schedule to keep and had to be in Flagstaff, AZ by late afternoon which meant 5 hours of driving ahead. We backtracked on route 89 through Mt. Carmel and Kanab and proceeded toward Page, AZ. Entering Page we passed by the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Upstream of the Glen Canyon Dam was the beautiful Lake Powell and downstream continued the colorado river on its' journey to the Grand Canyon (see picture below).

Leaving Page, the road must have taken us down, off the colorado plateau, because we were going downhill with a vast flat landscape before us. We stopped at a scenic overlook where native indians had erected tables to sell jewelry and collectibles (numerous similar encampments would be seen over the next 2 hours) and off to the right was this huge crevase in the earth, what I imagine is the beginning of the Grand Canyon. It was terribly impressive. By the time we reached the outskirts of Flagstaff, we were all pretty tired and considered but eventually passed on a sidetrip to Wupatki National Monument.

I had read about this site that had ancient pueblo ruins, but didn't remember much about it and by this time we were unsure whether we wanted to invest another couple hours investigating. We probably should have gone since researching the site more, it looks to be a very interesting and beautiful area. The Monument is closeby the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.

The many settlement sites (one is pictured at right) scattered throughout the monument were built by ancieint Pueblo, more specifically the Snagua, Cohonina, and Kayenta Anasazi. A major population influx began soon after the eruption of Sunset Crater in the 11th century, which blanketed the area with volcanic ash; this improved agricultural productivity and the soil's ability to retain water. Based on a careful survey of archaeological sites conducted in the 1980s, an estimated 2000 immigrants moved into the area during the century following the eruption. Agriculture was based mainly on corn and squash raised from the arid land without irrigation.

The dwellings, the walls of many of which still stand, were constructed from flat red stones held together with mortar. Each settlement was constructed as a single building, sometimes with scores of rooms. The largest settlement on monument territory is the Wupatki Ruin, "Big House" in the Hopi language, built around a natural rock outcropping. This ruin is believed to be the area's tallest and largest structure for its time period.

Anyway, we didn't go see Wupatki and you can surmise by now that this was my biggest regret of the whole trip.....well this and breakfast at Mr. Lucky's our first full day in Las Vegas (see first vacation 2007 post). We limped into Flagstaff and found our way to the DuBeau Hostel, our lodging for the next two nights.