Utah and Arizona - September 2012

While hiking into Canyon de Chelly in Arizona this past week with our Navajo guide, we came upon this sight around a bend in the steep path.  There was no particular evidence for how this pony met its demise, but it wasn't eaten as if by a mountain lion so it may have broken a leg on the rough terrain and had to be killed as a result of that.  We will never know - we didn't stick around to examine it closely. 

We started the trail at the bottom of the "V" in the picture above.  The descent into the canyon took careful foot placement and the ascent 4 hours later around noon was arduous with midday temps in the upper 80's.  

This is the view into the canyon when we were about half way down the trail.  Very beautiful.  Canyon de Chelly (link)

Our hired guide was disappointing considering the price paid ($30/hour with a minimum of 3 hours).  Based upon reviews on TripAdvisor, though, this was not the usual case.  It sounds like most of the guides got rave reviews.  However, ours showed up late in a glassy eyed state and provided little interesting information and when he did provide information, he mumbled it and so it was very difficult to understand.  We asked if he had been out with the boys the night before and he acknowledged that this was the case.  

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Canyon de Chelly was a side trip we made from the mecca of Moab, Utah, our favorite place. We came back to Moab after visiting the canyon.  We stayed in our usual campground that had all of the amenities, showers, clean bathrooms, a laundry, lots of shady trees and the Colorado River to sit by in the mornings with our coffee.

Cycling was a big part of what we did while in Moab.  This activity is a newer one for us in that we used to four wheel drive all over the backcountry trails, but vehicle changes and gas prices have made it difficult to do that anymore. Seeing the huge towering sandstone monoliths from a bike or on a hike where you don't hear the sound of an engine is a very positive experience.  Plus, the health benefits are great and the endorphins are wonderful.

We were not aware that the Moab Century and Metric Century (link) cycle rides were taking place our last weekend there.  The 100 mile (the Century) and 65 mile (the Metric Century) routes were ridden by a variety of riders.  One, in particular, was a man in our campground, from Pagosa Springs, Colorado, aged 66.  He was going on the more difficult ride (the Metric Century) .   Quote:  "The Metric Century (65 miles over the La Sal Loop including the infamous "big nasty" section of 3000 feet elevation in seven miles); climbing elevation:  approximately 5,350 feet."   Amazing stuff.  We opted to ride the Potash Road to it's end and back, a mere 34 mile round trip ride all along the river.  It was great.