Canyon De Chelly

Well, after racing the monsoon that was following us from the Hubbell Trading Post, we scooted a touch farther north to land in a campground next to Canyon De Chelly National Park. (Pronounced Canyon De Shay in case anyone is wondering, not Shelley) When we were just set up with the slides out the storm caught up with us with much thundering and caterwauling. We actually pulled in our big slide so our slide awnings would not get torn. As soon as the storm let up we reopened up and went for a walk where we were solicited by not one but two different people to buy their authentic indian art. Why I try to be compassionate and understand that the rez is not a place of high industry and economic plenty, I have a hard time with feeling like I am in a third world country with hawkers and hovels as soon as I exit my home.

We went the next morning into the Park after stopping at the visitor's center. The girl's jr. ranger programs had a new thing (for us) included: Trash bags. Part of their tasks was to clean up trash in the park. Now, I am for clean parks and all of the parks before this were quite clean, so I was put off, but not concerned. Boy was I wrong. This is going to sound repetitive and prejudiced, but I have driven through nicer parts in N. Mexico. All of the land around and in the park is still inhabited/dwelled upon by the Navajo people. In fact you can not go into the canyon proper without hiring a Navajo guide except for one (which we took, see later). Well the road was littered with trash and not a few dead animals (open range). The pullouts were not much better, and at each one, except one, there were 2-8 vendors aggressively hawking their wares. I was very put off. I gave the girls equal amounts of 'trash' from our packed lunch and called it good. I am not of the opinion that we are volunteer garbage men.

The scenery was quite beautiful, with many ruins along the canyon walls. We decided to do the one 4 mile round trip hike down to the white house ruins that does not require a guide. It was a hot day, mid July and we did not really start early enough in the day. That with some altitude made for a huffy-puffy hike. At least there was a neat tunnel in the wall that had a cooling breeze running through it. The ruins themselves were OK, with some pictographs, but you were about 50 yards away behind a fence just beyond, you guessed it, vendors. Apparently for a not so modest fee, you can be driven down (sounded pretty good at this point with the rest of the hike -uphill- to the canyon rim). We made it and then decided to skip the rest of the pullouts and head to spider rock.

Spider rock is one of the neatest views in the park. It is a free standing monolith hundreds of feet tall with a knob of rock on top. It is one of the iconic photo ops of the canyon. It does not look big in the photo, but it is -tall- and quite amazing. The girls also posed for a minute before we jetted back to the trailer and decided to high tail it north into Utah without even staying the night again. All in all I am going to rate this park lowest on the scale so far for dirtiness, aggressive vendors and overall ickyness. That is too bad given the natural beauty of the canyon. I have a hard time reconciling the ranger's talking of the Navajos love of the earth with the amount of trash and debris and general lack of upkeep in the area. I have known many very poor people whose area/living space was neat and tidy and showed pride. That was not evident here. Lesson learned, off to Utah.