Part 8, November 2008 Land Cruise News

Part 7 left us at National Bridges National Park. From there, we went to the Grand Canyon. Chuck and I both had been there in our previous lives but we wanted to go together. Wow!!!! We arrived late in the afternoon in mid November and the colors down in the canyon were breathtaking.

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The colors and the Colorado River were outstanding.

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There was a light haze that put sort of an eerie slant on these two photos.

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Beautiful just keeps coming to mind.

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The next day, we set out to see the Grand Canyon.

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One of the many rapids on the Colorado River.

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From the Grand Canyon, we met up with some friends who were staying in a Flagstaff KOA campground. Now, that was an experience! Forty two dollars for a dirt parking space.

From there we headed south and stopped off at the Walnut Canyon National Monument to see the Sinagua (Spanish for "without water") cliffside dwellings. They inhabited this area between 1125 and 1250 A.D..

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One of the 2 trails at Walnut Canyon is only .9 mile but there is a 185 foot climb which is comprised of 240 stairs. The brochure said we would pass 25 cliff dwellings but we could only see about 1/2 of that and most of those were afar (as you can see from this photo).

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While on the trail, we encountered a bunch of young men working on the trail. Seems part of the trail was covered by a recent rockslide. These were volunteers from all over the world. We heard mostly Australian accents.

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Dwellings on the other side.

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Wall in remarkably good condition considering the age.

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Multiple rooms.

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People lived in these dwellings, below the mesa and above the canyon floor. They hunted for meat, gathered nuts and seeds, and farmed the land.

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There are actually wild Black Walnut Trees in this canyon, hence the name.

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These dwellings are right on the "trail".

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This is a large set of dwellings. Condominium??

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We were amazed at the technology involved in these dwellings. Notice the wood header over the doorway. The small hole over the doorway was to let the cooking fire smoke out.

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Looking inside.

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*******End Part 8*******