She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

Actually, no one on this trip wore a yellow ribbon, but the John Wayne cavalry flick of that name was filmed on location at our next goal of the journey - Monument Valley. But first, we had to make the long drive across the Navaho Nation to the town of Kayenta, which was just south of Monument Valley. Along the way we passed through mostly agricultural land - the Navajo people seemed to mostly be farmers and cattle ranchers. There was also the obligatory casino and a high school. Funny thing about the high school. Some years back, my nephew Joe's high school in Parsippany N.J. got all politically correct and decided to change the name of their football team from the "Redskins" to the "Redhawks". The theory was not to offend Native Americans or something. Well, the Navajo high school had a football team named-you guessed it- the Redskins. Oh well, I guess it's OK for them.

Anyhow, we finally made it to Kayenta, and turned northward toward Monument Valley. Monument Valley is not a U.S. national park but since it is on Navajo land it is considered a tribal park and is administered by the Navajo Nation. A small fee got us in and we started to check the place out. The first thing one sees is a big new modern resort hotel with restaurants etc. that the Navajo have built overlooking the valley. It was quite impressive with an excellent view of the area from its terrace.

The main event, so to speak, is a 17-mile dirt road which starts at the hotel parking lot and wends its way through the valley proper. There were tours available in open four-wheel drive trucks for a nominal fee for those who did not wish to drive their own vehicles over the trail. However, since we were driving a Ford Escape - a small SUV- with decent ground clearance, we decided to do it ourselves.

Monument Valley Visitor's Center

This formation is called "The Mitten"

This is "John Ford Point" named for the famous director of Westerns who used this area extensively for his film locations. See this clip from "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" - watch the landscape as they ride out of the fort: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhnDe_rTk_o

We drove along the 17 mile road and the little Ford held its own quite nicely. We stopped along the way for photos and just to take in the scenery. One funny thing happened when we stopped at John Ford Point. A busload of foreign tourists had just disgorged and listening to them speak I figured out they were from Italy. Between their broken English and my fractured Italian, we exchanged greetings and I ended up taking a group picture for them. Actually, on the whole trip, we saw nearly as many foreign tourists as Americans. I'm glad to see people coming here to see our natural wonders (and spend their money-ha,ha).

Elephant Butte - Supposed to look like an elephant?

Some interesting towers.

Some more "John Wayne" scenery

Finally, a fairly massive formation.

After we toured the valley, we headed back down the road to Kayenta and our motel - the Hampton Inn of Kayenta. I would recommend staying here if you are in the area. It was fairly new, clean, and the beds were comfortable.

The Hampton Inn Kayenta - I think that's John Wayne's wagon in the front.

The nicest surprise of the day was the restaurant recommended to us for dinner by the desk clerk. It was a real "locals" place just down the road called "The Blue Coffee Pot". It had good food and was very reasonable. I had short ribs of beef with a salad and two sides for under $ 10.00.

"The Blue Coffee Pot"

After dinner, we went to the nearby supermarket to pick up some snacks and soft drinks for the road the next day. Looked like any other supermarket except the pet food section had 100-pound bags of feed for horses on sale. Hmm. did Big John and the cavalry shop here? No, actually if you recall, many of the Navajo people are ranchers and horses are still important in that business. Also, I'm sure many folks just like to ride - it is the wide open spaces.

Next: The Grand Canyon

Mesa Verde and The Four Corners

We left Durango early the next morning (after our free continental breakfast at the Best Western - that was one of the good things about the place) and headed back westward. Not far down the road we came to the entrance to the Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde is the location of some of the most well-known Native American cliff dwellings in the U.S. True to its name, it is located on top of a high mesa and is entered by a steep, winding road (not unlike the Arches N.P.).

Mesa Verde has a number of sites which were inhabited by ancient native peoples from around 550 A.D. until around 1200 or so. The people are referred to as "Ancestral Puebloans" and are believed to be the ancestors of a number of modern tribes in the southwest U.S. including the Hopi and the Zuni.

The most notable sites are villages built of stone located in natural alcoves in the sides of canyons. The alcoves provided protection from the elements and probably gave them a defensive capability superior to villages built on flat ground. The official Mesa Verde website is here: http://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm

Anyway, we stopped at the visitor center to determine which site was the most easily accessible given the limited time we had to spend at the park (we had a considerable distance to drive that day). The young woman ranger at the front desk recommended the "Spruce Tree House" as a site that did not require a guided tour. She also assured us that it was a short, 1/2 mile walk into the site. This sounded good to us, so we drove on down the road to Spruce Tree House.

It was a 1/2 mile walk alright: vertically. The site was reached by a series of steep ramps leading down into a canyon. We were hesitant at first, knowing that the walk down was no big deal, but we would, at some point, have to walk back up again. Well, in for a dime, in for a dollar. We hiked down to the site and it was spectacular. The hike back up was, once again, a breathtaking experience (don't forget-we were at about 7,000 feet elevation).

The entrance to the trail

Looking down on Spruce Tree House from about halfway down the trail

Approaching the dwellings

Looks like my old apartment in Jersey City...

This is a "Kiva" - an underground space used for ceremonial purposes. Modern-day Puebloan cultures still use Kivas for ceremonies.


In this view, you can see the cut stone that the buildings are made from.

After our tour, we continued on our journey to Monument Valley - a trip which would take us across the vast Navajo Indian reservation; more properly known as the Navajo Nation.

On the way, we stopped at a kind of touristy, but fun spot called the Four Corners Monument. It is the only place where the boundaries of four states: Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, come together. It is also the boundary between the Navajo nation and the Ute Indian Nation. It's administered by the Navajos as a tribal park, so my old-fart pass didn't get us in free. No matter, we paid the fee and went on in.

Tio Bob casts his mighty shadow over four states

Tia Michelle does likewise.

After posing for the obligatory pictures, we ate some Navajo fry bread from a nearby stand. It's similar to a funnel cake - delicious but probably not very good for you.

Next: The Navajo Nation and Monument Valley

All Steamed Up in Durango

After a fairly long drive from Arches N.P., we arrived at our motel in Durango CO. It was a Best Western just outside of town and was pretty much the only place that had a room available that night and the next (we knew we would spend all day on the train trip and decided we needed to stay two nights). It was, unfortunately, only marginal as a place to stay. The bed was comfortable, but the room was plain and had a disinfectant smell to it -although it was clean. The worst part was that it was on the second floor with no elevator. Needless to say, at an elevation of 6,000 feet, hauling our luggage up to the room was a "breathtaking" experience. But it wasn't a disaster and we put up with it for two nights. The good news was that the reason for the scarcity of hotel rooms was the fact that we had arrived by pure dumb luck at the peak of the southwest Colorado fall foliage season.

The Best Western Durango

Colorado fall foliage - the aspens were gorgeous

Durango is a pretty cool little town. It was in fact the first real town we came across since leaving Vegas. It's a college town (Fort Lewis College) plus being a center for skiing, hunting, rafting, fishing and other outdoor activities. It has numerous restaurants, bars and interesting shopping areas. And, of course, it has the Durango and Silverton narrow-gauge railroad.

What is a narrow-gauge railroad? Gauge is the distance between the rails. In most railroads, subways, etc. in the U.S. and the rest of the world this is 4 feet 8-1/2 inches - normally called "standard gauge". However, under certain circumstances, such as mountainous terrain, a narrower gauge is used to reduce construction costs. In the case of the D&S it is 3 feet between the rails.

The D&S was originally a branch of a larger system called the Denver and Rio Grande Western (D&RGW). It was built to haul gold and silver out of the mountains to Durango (which started out as a railroad town) and from there onward over the main line. Eventually, the D&RGW abandoned its connection to Durango after the mines played out and the D&S became an independent tourist railroad.

Enough history. We ate in a nice restaurant that night in Durango called the "Red Snapper" and hit the hay. The next morning we were at the depot to board our steam train into the Rockies.

Here comes our train!

Watch out behind you Bob !

The engineer gets his orders for the trip

The Durango and Silverton operates a fleet of narrow-gauge, coal-fired steam locomotives and is one of the few tourist railroads in the U.S. to operate all steam powered trains. Since I'm a steam buff, I was pretty much in heaven.

Our route took us through the outskirts of Durango and up the Animas River gorge, rising a total of 4,000 feet to the old mining town of Silverton. The full name of the Animas is "El Rio de las Animas Perdidas" - the river of lost souls. Sounds spooky, but it supposedly refers to members of an early Spanish expedition who ventured up the river never to be heard from again.

The Animas River Gorge

Another view of the river

As we rounded a sharp curve we got a good view of our locomotive working hard to get us up the steep grade to Silverton.

Some of the steep cliffs which line the gorge. This area was used as a location in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". It was the site where they supposedly jumped off the cliff to escape the posse.

At first, I felt a little guilty about dragging Michelle so far east out of our way to indulge my train fetish. But she later said that the trip up the river into the Rockies with the scenery and foliage was one of the highlights of our trip out west. She also like Durango itself as an interesting town. So I didn't feel quite so bad.

Again on a sharp curve we could see the rest of the train behind us

Looking down into the river gorge - hope the track work is sturdy!

A view up the gorge with some of the Rockies in the background

Finally, after a spectacular 3-1/2 hour train ride, we arrived in the old mining town of Silverton. The railroad tracks are laid right up one of the two main streets in Silverton and end pretty much in the center of town.

Michelle stands at the end of the line in Silverton

The engineer and fireman do an end of the run inspection of the locomotive's running gear. In order to accommodate a large, powerful loco on the 3-foot tracks, the driving wheels are located inside the engine's steel frame while the cranks, counterweights etc. are on the ends of the axles outside the frame.

Silverton is a typical mining town. Like many others (Skagway Alaska comes to mind) it basically existed to separate the miners from their pay. As such, back in the day it was well equipped with saloons, bawdy houses, gambling and anything else a weary miner would buy. Today, it exists to separate the tourist from his money. Which now means bars, restaurants, and t-shirt/souvenir shops. Thanks to the cold weather and my lack of warm clothing, it separated me from enough to buy a souvenir sweat shirt.

Looking south on Silverton's main street. That's the first snow of the winter on top of the mountains in the background.

Looking north on Silverton's main street. It was actually kind of a neat town. We were told that the few people who spend the winter there get around town on cross country skis.

We spent about an hour and a half in Silverton - enough time to wander around and have lunch. When we booked our trip we opted for the train up/bus back tour. We reasoned that the train took the same route back and would not get us to town until fairly late. It was not a bad decision. The bus followed something called the " Million Dollar Highway" back to Durango. The highway was even higher up than the train route and offered some spectacular views of the Rockies.

A Video of the train leaving Silverton

Thus, we arrived back in Durango in plenty of time to buy the obligatory HO scale souvenir model D&S railcar and to have dinner at a pretty good Mexican restaurant.

Another advantage of our "detour to Durango" happened to be that on our way back westward, we were going to pass right by the entrance to the Mesa Verde N.P. We stopped there the next morning and got to see some amazing Native Indian cliff dwellings.

More about that next time.

To the Arches and Beyond

In order to make it to the Arches N.P. in any reasonable amount of time from the Bryce Canyon area, we had to make our way north to Interstate 70 which cuts east/west across southern Utah. After about an hour or so on local roads, we reached the interstate and headed east. Michelle did most of the driving on this leg - it was her kind of road: speed limit 75, straight and mostly flat across a desert with light traffic.

We made one stop on the way for breakfast (no, we didn't trust Ruby's even for that basic meal) at a town called Salinas Utah in a cafe called - I kid you not - "Mom's". The food was decent enough, although the building in which "Mom's" was housed was a former coffin factory. I guess they had to bury the losers in all those western shootouts some way.

Anyhow, if you have to cross southern Utah by car, I recommend I-70, not the least for its scenery.

One of the vistas traveling down I-70 in Utah.

The scenery along the Interstate was as spectacular as in some of the National Parks

Eventually we came to our turnoff and headed south on a secondary road to Arches N.P. After passing the entrance booth with my trusty old fart's N.P. pass, we drove up a long winding road to the top of a plateau. From there we drove through the park, stopping to take pictures and a few short hikes.

A sort of "Balancing Rock"

One of the natural arches which gives the park its name

Another natural arch

And yet another


Your intrepid author stands in front of some interesting albeit non-arch formations

On our travels through the West, we spotted numerous people decked out in all sorts of self-consciously "outdoorsy" get ups. These floppy sunbonnet thingys were very prominent among them. Michelle called them "when LL Bean goes wrong".

This formation is called the "Delicate Arch"


These Native American petroglyphs were near the "Delicate Arch". They are attributed to the Ute Indians from whom the state of Utah gets its name.

We walked a ways up this trail which led away from the road and into the interior.

Michelle is holding up the canyon walls

This is what we saw about a half-mile up the trail.

This is an interesting formation. I can't quite place what it looks like though. Although, rumor has it that a truckload of Viagra overturned here a few years ago....

Finally, as we were leaving the park, we saw this formation called "The Three Gossips"

Arches N.P. was well worth the time we spent there and gave us more of a feel for the wonders produced by the geological and other forces which shaped the inter-mountain West.

We left the park and headed south on U.S. 191 across the Colorado River, through the town of Moab UT and on to Monticello UT where we picked up U.S. 491 eastward into Colorado and onward to Durango. It was interesting to see how the terrain changed as we approached the western slope of the Rocky Mountains: growing less arid and with increasing vegetation. On the way toward Durango I phoned the Durango and Silverton Railroad office to reserve us two seats the next day on their authentic steam train ride into the Rockies.

Next: Steam trains - yay!