This is a brief Blog just to catch you up.  Internet service is a luxury that the National Parks have yet to embrace.  So our only internet service has been the occasional McDonalds.  The Parks also do not have electrical hook ups so I am sitting in the car to write this in hopes that we will find a Wifi signal to be able to send this.  From this point on we are only staying at National Parks so the Blog will not be fully filled in with pictures and explanations for a while.  We are writing about every place we go so when the time comes you will have all the exciting details.  Here is a brief overview of the last two weeks since May 11

Day 69 May 12

                Day 2 at the Grand Canyon

                                We went to a Geology seminar about the canyon and learned about A DUDE

Day 70 May 13 Mothers day

                Day 3 at the Grand Canyon

                                Got reservation for Phantom Ranch and  went to Coulter Tower

                                Repotted cactus

Day 71 May 14

                Day 4 at the Grand Canyon

                Hike down to Phantom ranch using the South Kaibab Trial 7 miles

Day 72 May 15

                Day 5 at the Grand Canyon

                Hike out of Grand Canyon Bright Angle trial 9.4 miles

Day 73 May 16 Happy birthday Dad

                Drove from Grand Canyon to Mesa Verde

                Stopped at Four Corners

                Got to camp late

Day 74 May 17

Toured everything we could at Mesa Verde

                Cliff Palace

                Balcony House

                Spruce Tree House

                Mesa Houses

                Than went shopping and had a late  Pizza

Day 75 May 18

Durango for shoes Lesley’s shoes did not survive the Grand Canyon Hike the last couple of miles were rough with broken shoes.  A word of advice do not buy cheap hiking boots.

Crossed continental divide where there was snow on the ground and a snow flurry was happening.

Drove to Great Sand Dunes and 95 degrees and very windy went to dunes to see sunset

Day 76 May 19

 Anna and I climbed the Sand dunes to about 600 feet.

Mom and Jane did the Montville trial to explore the abandoned village

Went to a Ranger talk on dunes and eclipse

Drove back across the divide to Devil’s Canyon

Day 77 May 20

Slept in and went to Natural Bridges

Hiked

Ranger program and watched eclipse.

 We got great pictures of the Eclipse!

Hiked down to a bridge at night

Day 78 May 21

Drove from Devils Canyon to Arches

Squeezed into a sight but had to wait till six before they would give us a sight so spent the day hiking in the 98 degree weather

Skyline arch at sunset

Ranger program on animals adaptations

 Day 79 May 22

Some more Arches Drove to Capitial Reef but the campground was full so we camped in the National Forest  in a random dirt road.

Day 80 May 23

Capital Reef (great park) did scenic drive and hike explored old farm, drove to Bryce it is supposed to snow this weekend (Bryce is at 8000 feet so it often snows in May)

 We stopped at a RV park to Recharge batteries shower and have internet but the internet did not work.

Day 81 May 24

Went on a 10 mile horse ride through Bryce Canyon

Day 82   May 25, 2012

 The High wind warning prevented us from going to Zion National Park today some roads were closed. So we slept in a little. We fixed the camper in the morning and hiked two trails one in the afternoon and one at sunset. It was a great hike with awesome views.

Day 83 May 26

Got up early to Drive to Zion in order to have most of the day there.

Day 84 May 27

Found a McDonalds on the way to Great Basin NP

There is a lot more to say on each day plus nice pictures I hope to be able to show them to you soon.

Watching the Eclipes at Natural Bridges National Park

Arches National Park

Bryce Canyon at Sunset

Day 68 May 11

Jane had her AP History exam at Flagstaff High School in the morning.  While she was doing that we packed the camper and picked her up in the parking lot of the school pulling the trailer.  The area did not have trailers in mind so it was a little tricky.  We then went to Wal-Mart and picked up some supplies for the week including light weight sleeping bags so that we could backpack and sleep in the bottom of the canyon.  We also had to by lots of high carbohydrate snacks because the trails are quite strenuous.

We stopped at Wupatki Indian ruins on the way to Grand Canyon.  These ruins are interesting because they are not Cliff dwellings.  They also showed that the Aztec culture influenced there building style and recreation.  There is a constructed ball field similar to what the Aztecs used.  The Blow Hole was also here near the blow hole.  Air rushes out of the ground here, it is thought because there might be a huge system of caves or cracks and there is only a few places with small openings for the caves to balance out the pressure with the outside.  Check out the pictures. 

Wupatki Indian Ruins

Fossilized ripples in the sand



The weird Blow Hole

Sunset at the Grand Canyon

Then we drove to the Grand Canyon and arrived at the first overlook just as the Sun was setting.  We got into Mather campground just as the rangers were closing up for the night.  This was only the second time we arrived at a campground in the dark.  Fortunately we had made reservations a few weeks ahead.

Day 67 May 10



A cicada, these make a different noise than the ones we have.

"Twenty miles long, 400 feet deep and ¼-mile wide, it was carved by Walnut Creek over a period of 6 million years. Within its winding walls are natural riches – an abundant mix of plants and animals drawn there by water and varied topography. It seems a timeless place.

Walls of buff sandstone form the canyon’s inner gorge; the rock contours reveal their origins in the wind-scoured dunes of an ancient desert. The limestone ledges of the upper canyon contain delicate marine fossils, remnants of a later sea. Much later, the people of this canyon built their sturdy homes in shallow alcoves along these ledges. "
Quote from the National Park Web Site on Walnut Canyon.

The creek at the bottom of the canyon only runs part of the year.  So the Indians devised methods to store water for the dry periods.  They made large vessels and stored water in separate rooms next to their dwellings.  They used up all the resources in the area and moved on.  They merged with the Hopi and brought with them their crafts of pottery and weaving. 

Dwelling on the opposite wall of the canyon



The lower level of the canyon is made of fossilized
 sand dunes formed at the edge of a sea. Notice the
transition line to regular limestone.  The sea covered
what was once the shore and coral laid down the
upper layers. 

Well preserved room.

Notice the black on the walls from 100 years of cooking fires.

All the ciders you see in the pictures of the volcano look like this.

Sunset Crater is a young volcano that erupted around 1000 years ago.  It was a fissure eruption and resulted in a series of cinder cone volcanoes.  The Indians were around to witness it and even pushed corn into the molten lava as a form of offering maybe.  Rock with the impression of corn  has been found in the lava flow.  Scientist date the flow three ways.  One by the dwellings the ash covered,  two by tree ring Data, and three by magnetic data of the rocks. All of which points to the area being active for a relatively short time about 1000 years ago.  The ash from the eruption had a nice effect on the surrounding area by acting as a fertilizer.  The cinders acted as a mulch and allowed for the soil underneath to hold onto its moisture longer allowing the Indians crops to grow more effectively with less rain. 



Sunset Crater with one half covered with cinders.

Aa lava flow around 800 years ago

Side of sunset crater layered in cinders

Day 66 May 9

Shopping and Errands

An exciting day of running errands! First we went to Walnut Canyon National Monument to try squaring away a problem with our Annual pass for the national parks, (seems we were issued last years pass and no one picked up on that until last week) then to check out Flagstaff high school so we are all set for Friday. Next, we stopped at a local orthodontist's office for some maintenance for Jane and Anna. Many thanks to the staff at the office of Dr. McLaughlin for being so friendly and accommodating! All appliances are fixed, and Anna has an appointment on Friday to have her band re-cemented. We rounded out the day getting groceries, and a couple of new pairs of jeans for Anna...she just keeps growing! Back at home we studied for AP and watched some original Star Trek :)

Day 65 May 8

Boiler and steam engine used to run the winch.  The hole was dug
to search for the meteor in the bottom of the crater.

The tour guide took our picture.

Meteor crater in Winslow AZ. A very different geological site than we have seen so far. The impact of meteor measuring 150 feet across impacted the earth here about 50000 years ago. It broke into smaller fragments when it entered the atmosphere. The largest fragment is on display in the museum for visitors to see and touch. It is made of 92% iron, 7% nickel, and 1% trace minerals. The crater created when the meteor hit the earth is believed to have been 700 feet deep originally, but due to erosion since the impact is now about 500 feet deep. The circumference of the rim is 2.5 miles, and it is about   3/4 mile across. It is estimated that it hit the earth at a speed of 11 miles per second! One way to discern an impact craters from volcanic craters by the condition of the rock strata surrounding them, which is upturned, or even reversed by the impact. Also, the crystalline structure of the rocks surrounding the impact are changed by the decrease in pressure and temperature after the impact. Finally, there is a type of rock that is found only many impact sites called a shattercone that is created by the impact. Although these are things that seem easy to reason out today, it was not as evident in the recent past. One of the things that solidified this way of thinking was comparing the similarities of meteor sites and nuclear test sites. In the afternoon, we headed to Flagstaff, where we will stay for a few days to see some area attractions and to give Jane some final preparation time for the AP US History exam on Friday.

Anna at the rim.

Day 64 May 7

Today we went back to Petrified Forest National Park and visited the Painted desert side of the park as well.  We learned that tons of petrified wood was taken from the park as soon as the rail line went through.  All the plundering of the area led to its protection as a national park.   The Painted Desert part of the park is formation of layers of rock and soil of vastly different colors.  The layers we laid down over millions of years with slightly different chemical compositions.  The greens are from copper and the reds from iron those are the main ones.  The colors also show up in the petrified wood. 


End of a log sticking out of the side of a hill

Note the different colors, reds are from iron, black is from a combination of
 Manganese,carbon and iron. 

Day 63 May 6



One of the Dinosaurs found in the park.

Today we went to Petrified Forest National Park.  It has a huge amount of petrified trees, trees that only grow in the tropics near the equator.  This means that the area we are in use to be near the equator.  There used to be a big river here.  The trees would fall in the river and become covered by sand and mud.  The silica rich water allowed for the replacement of the trees with silica turning the trees into rock. What helped preserve the trees also helped preserve some animals.  Some extraordinary fossil finds have been made at the park.  There are some active dig sites at the park that are finding more dinosaurs.  The digs are done in the summer months though so none were going on when we were there.  They are not open to the public anyway. 

  Collection of petrified wood in the park is illegal but there are plenty of legal sellers in the area. 




The tree looks cut but it is not, the act of crystallization creates
nature weak spots so the logs fracture at regular intervals.



Bonus animal, an elk right near the car.

Anna next to one of the big specimens.

We went to the biggest seller of petrified wood and rock in the area.  It was a huge rock shop.  I was able to purchase lots of nice specimens of native rock and petrified wood. The park ranger said this particular dealer owns 40,000 acres near the park and makes his money mining for fossils and ranching. I will bring the samples to school when I get back. 

Day 62 May 5

The view walking up to the ruins

Inside the reconstructed room,  they added two feet to the actual original height
 to make it more comfortable for us tourist.

Some of the 110 rooms. (notice that there are no doors)

 Today we went to Tuzigoot National Monument and Slide Rock State Park.Tuzigoot is an ancient village or pueblo built by a culture known as the Sinagua. The pueblo consisted of 110 rooms including second and third story structures. The first buildings were built around A.D. 1000. The Sinagua were agriculturalists with trade connections that spanned hundreds of miles. The people left the area around 1400. One portion of it has been reconstructed to show how they built the roof and used the buildings.  This is the first ruins that we went to that discussed the burial of the people that lived there.  Hundreds of graves of adults were found around the immediate area, they did not find graves of children until they excavated the floors of the buildings.  The children were buried in the floors of the homes.  Scientist believe they did this so the spirits of the children could still be protected by the families.  None of the graves are marked even though they know where they are to discourage looters and desecration of the graves. 














It was a hot day so we went to a natural water slide set in a valley nearby at Slide Rock State Park.  It was an old apple orchard, they could grow apples because of the shelter of the canyon and the year round water even though they are still in a desert.




In the evening we watched the Super Moon rise.  Which is a full moon when the moon is in the closest part of its orbit to earth. 

Anna's finacial review weeks 1-9

week1	1228.07
week2	715.22
week3	315.68
week4	634.91
week5	1561.37
week6	781.73
week7	1148.21
week 8	868
week9	1140.27
actual total	8393.46
Goal total	8190
Difference	-203.46
Actual average per day	133.23
Goal per day	130.00



Me at Meteor Crater.

As you can see we are only a little behind our goal.  We had a big expense to repack the bearings on the trailer and check breaks.  The trailer is in good shape.  We will catch up soon when we go to the Grand Canyon and stay in one place for a few days. 

Day 61 May the fourth be with you




Where we shopped for the day

Today we spent the day shopping in Sedona, Arizona.  This is a tourist town that has lots of little shops along the main street.  It was fun but took along time to go through all the shops.  Their was some amazing art work and jewelry to look at.  The Red Rock Mountains give a very pretty back drop for the shops. High Iron content in the rocks gives it the red color, apparently it can be used to make a dye. The geology of the area is interesting visit this web site to learn more, "Sedona Geology".  We did not take our camera with us so the pictures are a result of a google search.  I did buy a piece of jewelry made from a 100 million year old sea creature.



Ammonite necklace (not the one I bought)

Day 60 May 3

Montezuma's castle:

The "castle"

The very deep well.  The white things are turtle traps.

Structures at the edge of the "well"

 Here is some information on it from Wikipedia


Montezuma Castle National Monument, located near Camp Verde, Arizona, in the Southwestern United States, features well-preserved cliff-dwellings. They were built and used by the Pre-Columbian Sinagua people, northern cousins of the Hohokam, around 700 CE. It was occupied from approximately 1125-1400 CE, and occupation peaked around 1300 CE. The monument is not at all a castle, but remains to be named "Montezuma Castle", despite it having nothing to do with Aztec Empire nor being named after any Montezuma emperors, such as Montezuma (spelled more properly "Moctezuma"). Many sites in North America are misnamed such as this site, because their discoverers were more interested in the discovery than information or understanding. Several Hopi clans trace their roots to immigrants from the Montezuma Castle/Beaver Creek area. Clan members periodically return to their former homes for religious ceremonies. When European Americans discovered them in the 1860s, they named them for the Aztec emperor (of Mexico) Montezuma II, due to mistaken beliefs that the emperor had been connected to their construction.^[6] (See also Montezuma (mythology).) Neither part of the monument's name is correct. The Sinaqua dwelling was abandoned 100 years before Montezuma was born and the Dwellings were not a castle. It was more like a "prehistoric high rise apartment complex". End of Quote.


The rock formation is from a huge volcanic eruptions that put a thousand feet of ash and rock down in a series of eruptions.  This created layers of conglomerate and tuff that were eroded by Clear Creek creating the valley.  Since different layers eroded at different rates it left large holes in the side of the cliff where they could build the buildings.   The volcanoes that deposited the ash are in Southern Mexico.  When the Indians were there Sunset Crater volcano erupted covering the area with ash, so it was abandoned for a little while.  When they returned the ash actually helped the soil.

We are going to visit Sunset Crater around May 10th.

Next we went to an interesting geologic and archaeological site nearby called Montezuma's Well.  This is a sink hole created by a collapse of a huge limestone cave structure at the water table line.  This allowed the ground water to fill the sinkhole creating a permanent water source in the desert.  The Indians of the area used the outflow to irrigate their fields.  The pictures show some dwellings at the well.   The water is full of lime, which caused the carbon dioxide level in the water to be so high that no fish can live. Turtles can however.  The problem is that someone released their two pet turtles into the well and they out competed the native turtles.  They have caught a hundred or more and removed them to new homes.  When we were there they had just caught one of the last 3 that they think were in the well. 

Notice no walls,  hard to do a sneak attack in a desert.

The area we are in was along the Santa Fe trail and after the civil war it needed protection from local Indians that wanted the white men to leave.  So a fort was built to provide soldiers to protect the area.  It was originally called Fort Lincoln but was changed to Fort Verde.  We decided to visit Fort Verde on the way back to our camp site at Dead Horse Ranch State Park.  The fort was very similar to Fort Stockton we visited in Texas.  It was interesting to see the similarities.  On of the interesting differences was that since they were very far away from central army authority the soldiers gave themselves more room and privacy than was mandated by regulation. 

Maybe a relation?

The fort was part of a complex signaling system of other outposts that used flashing light from mirrors to signal over long distances to keep track of Indian movements.  The Indians eventually learned not to go within sight of any signal station to avoid detection.  Then they set up a system of Telegraph lines.  William Barnes was one of the first telegraph operators. 

Cool stuff found in a old latrine

Day 59 May 2



Gila Monster hanging out on a rock on the path

Baby prairie dogs.

desert fox

Javalina, a type of peccary ( did not want a picture taken)

Today we started early to avoid the high heat to go to Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.  It is a very well done zoo.  Even early the temperature was in the 80s by the time we left around 11:30 we were well in the 90s.  They had water fountains every couple of hundred feet to help it was a quite busy place.  The battery on the camera went out so we did not get all the pictures that we wanted.  They had a huge aviary full of humming birds that was amazing.  We than drove to a town called Camp Verde to be near some Archeology sights.