RoVing Walkers: September 2024

Monday, September 23, 2024

Lake Powell, AZ - Williams, AZ

September 21 - 23, 2024

From Monument Valley we traveled on September 21 to Lake Powell, AZ (time change back to Pacific!). We stayed at the Wahweep RV Park inside Glen Canyon National Monument for two nights. It was a national park campground but we had full hookups. I looked it up and the rate was $78 per night. We had a nice pull-through site with lots of room.

That afternoon we had a tour of Antelope Canyon. God's creation is so amazing! We had a very sweet Navajo tour guide, who even helped us set up our phones to get the best pictures. And did they come out good!

In Page we got on these small buses and they took us to the canyon.

Our tour guide.

Entrance to the canyon.

Our tour guide said that sometimes they get flash floods through the canyon and the level of the floor can go up or down. It was like walking on sand at the beach.

See the heart?

Looking up.

Outside the canyon. You'd never know they existed.

After exiting the canyon we had to climb up over a sand dune on a metal ramp. Then we had to come back down on these metal stairs. There were more at the top you can't see in this picture.

By the time we were done it was almost sunset.

The next afternoon we got on a boat for our tour of Lake Powell near Glen Canyon Dam. I didn't get a picture of the boat but I did get some cool pictures on the lake and of the dam.

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area is 1,869 square miles with Lake Powell as the centerpiece. The lake's meandering shoreline is 1,960 miles and is longer than the entire US western coastline. (At least it once was; I'm not sure if that's still true with the water levels being so low). Work on the dam began in 1957 and was completed in 1963. It took 17 years for the new lake to fill completely!

Castle Rock.

The white line is where the lake level should be.

You can see the spillways on both sides of the dam. They are way above the water line!

After the boat tour we went to the visitor center.

The engineering is truly amazing.

Today, September 23, we traveled from Lake Powell to Williams, AZ. Here are a few pictures of the scenery on the drive.

We are now at the Grand Canyon Railway & RV Park in Williams, AZ. We'll be here for three nights. It's a very nice park and has full hookups, as all our parks have.

Tonight we go across the street for an impromptu group dinner, and tomorrow we ride the train to the Grand Canyon South Rim. Wednesday we go to Bearizona. There has been so much to see and do on this trip! I don't see how they could pack anything else in.

"In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth".

Genesis 1:1

Friday, September 20, 2024

Mancos, CO - Monument Valley, UT

September 20, 2024

On Thursday, September 19 we drove to Gouldings Monument Valley RV Park and Campground for two nights. It's full hookups, as all of our Adventure Caravan RV parks have been.

On the way from Mancos to Monument Valley we stopped at Four Corners. It's where the corners of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona come together. I decided just to stand instead of getting down on all fours. I'd been there a very long time ago and they've added some vendors since then. I did buy a couple of things.

Then we drove by Mexican Hat.

We then took the road that was in the Forrest Gump movie where Forrest decides he's ready to go home. It's become quite a tourist attraction.

Friday morning we got on an covered with open sides truck with seats for our Monument Valley tour. I forgot to take a picture of the truck. Our tour guide first took us to a hogan and explained how they were built (out of juniper cedar), as well as daily life for those who lived in a hogan. There was a wood stove in the middle, replacing an open fire of previous generations. The ceiling was open and never covered, so rain and snow would come in, and the floors were dirt. To build the hogan they stripped the bark off the juniper cedars and kept it. They would let the logs dry for about six months and stack the logs into the hogan shape. Then they would use the bark as chinking. They would then get some of the dirt from around the valley and mix it with water. Then they would cover the hogan with the dirt and water. Some Navajos still live in the hogans with no electricity and running water. In previous generations the grandmother would stay at the hogan for the day and weave and everyone else would leave to do their jobs, taking care of crops, etc.

Our tour guide in the red jacket. He had a lot of good information and was humorous too.

Then we started out into the valley. God's creation is truly beautiful!

West Mitten (left) , East Mitten (middle), and Merrick Butte (right).

Here's a peak at our transportation. It was a little dusty but worth it.

John Ford made several movies here with John Wayne and others. They were selling fry bread there and I've wanted to try it for a long time. They sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar and it was very good.