Natural Bridges National Monument

Today we drove to

Holding a raven skull at the visitor center. 

We had lunch and then we went for our first hike to see the second world largest bridge, Sipapu. It was breezy and cold hiking down and hot hiking up. 

Let me touch dada! 

First ladder on trail to bridge. These things really scare me. 

Half way there

Sipapu Bridge from halfway point

Enjoying the hike

Fun steep trail

Second ladder

And third 

I was so focused on my foot placement that I didn't even realize that I was under the bridge. I kept asking Jason if he wanted to keep going and then I looked up. 

I was already under it! 

We let her play in the sand a bit while we rested up for the hike up. 

Return 

Sipapu bridge.  

Taking a break

Goof ball 

This is the Kachina Bridge. Our second hike down into the canyon 

It's still very thick 

Petroglyph and pictographs on the sides

She snoozed the entire hike

I think we hiked around 5 miles today. I really enjoyed the first hike because it was a bit extreme and the second hike we were all alone at the bottom which was very peaceful. 

We are camping in the park and we took the only spot that our trailer would fit into. The max length here is 26' and ours is 30' so we were really lucky to find this spot. The campground filled up last night and there were plenty of campers that had to stay elsewhere. There is a BLM campground nearby. Now that we are in utah we are seeing more hikers and campers. Definitely less city people. 

Ella keeps growing! And she has what looks like a molar beginning to pop out. 

Yesterday she dropped her milk and then signed "milk bye bye." She is one crazy girl! 

Goosenecks state park, Utah and Monument Valley Navajo Nations park

I was very surprised to see so much snow when we woke up in Canyon de Chelly! I'm glad I made Jason let gordo sleep inside with us. 

My crazy girl now has 8 teeth! 

After what seemed like a morning full of wrong turns and turn arounds we finally decided to stay here at Goosenecks State park. We also found water! We filled up at sand island blm camping spot. I'm sure they would of frowned at us filling up our rv tank. We just borrowed 35 gallons! 

We are camping right on the rim! We have a 360 view and it's free! 

For our afternoon hike we drove down to Monument Valley and hike their one trail. 

On the wildcat trail. We went around the formation behind us. 3.2 miles in the sand! It took us 2 hours. 

It was actually cool! 

Taking a break. She was hot! 

Isn't she funny! 

It was a nice hike! Thankful to get out again. 

Yay, we finally got to take a shower!! I could not take another day of smelling Jason!! I'm sure I didn't smell great either. 

Canyon de Chelly National Monument

What a beautiful sunrise at El Morro! Then, somehow I managed to fall out of the camper and onto my butt. Thankfully, I did not get badly hurt just bruised. 

My mornings are never dull with these two! 

While driving, I randomly thought about the woman that was injured driving down the Seward hwy on her way home from work. Large pieces of ice fell from the cliffs and landed on her car badly injuring her. I could not remember her name or when it actually happened but while at the gas station I checked Facebook and on my newsfeed there was a post from her page. Her name is Amanda and today is the two year anniversary of the crash that almost killed her but definitely changed her life forever. So today while I hiked I did it for her.  I am not going to take for granted what I can do today. She commented on some things that she will never be able to do again and so for her I am going to enjoy what I can. 

Beginning of White House Trail

Going below the rim! 

Ella loves the view. 

600 feet below and across the canyon is the ruin. So called White House because of the white color of the house on top. This publeon group grew crops on the canyon floor. The Anasazi people built the ruins in this canyon. The Navajo people came later and are descendants of the Athabascans. The Navajos build and live in hogans. I didn't get a photo of a hogan because you have to ask permission to take photos of their property. 

They estimate that about 100 people lived here in the 60 rooms. 

There are pictoglyphs on the rock wall. Some are etched in as well but most were made with paint. You can invision how high the bottom home reached by the location of the rock art. 

I had to hold up the sign. 

Return hike into the wind

Very dusty. Look at Ella's cute legs hanging out! We are getting our money's worth with the ergo. 

She napped while we worked on climbing back up the 600 feet of canyon wall. The 2.5 mile trip took us an hour and it was a very beautiful hike. 

In middle left of the photo is the ruin. 

This is spider rock. Along the drive of the south rim there are several places to stop at and spot other ruins. Some look like the inhabitants dropped down from the rim to reach their homes and others climbed up from the canyon floor. 

We are in Navajo Nation and the monument is within their land. They still work and live here. The White House Trail is the only trail you can hike on without a Navajo guide. The reservation, like many others we have driven through, is littered with plastic bags and trash. The only difference that I noted right away is the lack of a sparkling roadside. Then I read, alcohol  sales are prohibited here.  A ban on plastic bags would help clean up the reservation as well. We noticed this difference in South Africa. I was handed a pamphlet at the NPS visitor center that says on average 2 million dollars are spent every year to clean up illegal dumps. Can you imagine what that money would do if it was used differently? Maybe the illegal stuff would cease.  

This is our third day without power and water hookups. It's been dropping into the 20s at night. This is our third day without a shower!!! I'm ready for a hot shower and for some warmer temps. We actually saw some snow flurries today while on the drive. 

I was able to shop at Safeway today!! Yay! I'm tired of walmart but half the time that is all that is left.