Indian life in Arizona.

When we first started planning this expedition many months ago, our daughter Julia became enthused and practically planned the whole trip for us. She, Robert and their lab puppy had set out in June 1998 on a month long trip with graduation funds along with their sleeping bags, backpacks, bicycles, kayaks and all other worldly possessions strapped to the top of Julia's six year old jeep. They wound up in Truckee, CA and ended up living in the Lake Tahoe/Reno area for nine years. On the way west and for the next nine years, they extensively traveled throughout Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, California and parts of Mexico. Whenever we talked to Julia she had fresh exciting travel tales to relate to us. In retrospect, I don't believe her stories did justice to the wonders we have seen so far on this trip.

Today we set out on a day trip from Flagstaff to nearby parks and monuments. Early morning we arrived at Sunset Crater National monument. The volcanic eruption that took place about a thousand years ago left a huge crater and mountains of red and black lava rock. There are fields of rock bigger than enormous boulders and some fields of lava that have been reduced to cinders. The hiking trails are the best way to see the sights and are not challenging. For those folks who are not inclined to take a hike, there is plenty to see from the roadside.

When the eruption took place the Indians that lived in the area moved further away to an area now known as Wupatki National Park. Here they build their pueblo dwellings. These clay brick huts were well suited to the dry climate and were more advanced than the huts that were home to feudal serfs in Europe. They also constructed ceremonial rings and larger rings for games. Such rings were scattered throughout Arizona, so there must have been competitions between families/tribes. Hopefully, the losers did not meet the fate of losers in some Mayan competitions. While in Wupatki we stopped at several overlooks where one could see painted desert scenes that are beyond our photographic skills. Perhaps with Photoshop we can enhance our photos to depict more accurately what we actually saw.

Both Sunset Crater and Wupatki are on the US-545 loop off of I-40--less than 25 miles from Flagstaff to the entrance.

After lunch we traveled to Walnut Canyon National Park, about ten miles from Flagstaff. There we could see remains of Indian cliff dweller homes. Unfortunately this past December there was a rock slide that destroyed the longest and most scenic hiking trail. Still we were able to take short hike in where we could see and photograph the dwellings. If you look carefully at our pics you will see what looks like horizontal slits in the mountainside. These caves were the result of natural forces and were simply enhanced by the Indians that dwelt there. Over three hundred such dwellings have been identified in this area. Just imagine trying to collect the barest essentials of food and water while living on a cliff hundreds of feet from the canyon floor.

Tomorrow we visit the south rim of the Grand Canyon.