2014 U.S. Diary (Part 2) - Visiting Places of Tourist' Interest

- P.Natarajan,  Camp: Canton, MI

After a good night’s sleep, we got ready by 8 a.m. on Thursday, the 31st July 2014. Super 8 Hotel provides a complimentary breakfast. The dining hall was full with the visitors and we took seat in a convenient sofa and had cereal and milk, hot oats, two slices of fresh bread ,butter & jam and yogurt. We drank steaming blended coffee from the decanter and finally took apples and oranges for the way.

     ( breakfast session in Super 8 Hotel )

We vacated  Super 8 and were seated in the car after loading the luggage. Aparna sat on the driver’s seat to relieve Sekhar who covered 475 miles from Denver to Utah.

  
 (Aparna behind the wheel )
 

We visited Arches National Park. The park features the greatest concentration of natural stone arches in the world. The arches invite the tourist to explore the wilderness of countless canyons and the fantastically formed butts carved by the Colorado river, wind, and rain in the desert sand stone. Delicate Arch is a must see in the park. As many as 50 arches had burst in the previous years .In Natural Bridge Monument , we can experience the beautiful remnants of the carving power of white river. Valley of Gods is a loop extending to 17 miles with precariously balancing rocks. We crossed Dead horse point located on the scenic byway - the road offers dramatic views of La Sal mountains.

We moved on to Blanding where the Trail exhibits examples of ancestral Puebloan culture.  Bluff was the next point which is in the center of Four Corners region-it offers the visitor a desert highway and shopping for fine arts and native craft. Four States, Utah, Arizona. New Mexico and Colorado share a single point viz ‘Four Corners Monument’ - only place in U.S. where four states come together in this manner. Mexican Hat which we crossed has been named for the inverted stone sombrero, has a colourful history behind. In the last century 400 people looked for gold, oil, uranium here. The Town is popular for adventure on the San juan River.

Some of the pictures which we were able to shoot are placed below, which are self explanatory. When you happen to see them physically, the sight would be awe-inspiring.

( pn is pointing out the massive sandstone rock in Bluff )

( Arches formed by power of Water rubbing the stand stone rocks)

( archeological view of Mountain rocks in Blanding)

( It seems Rocks have eyes - Nature’s Art Work )

( Delicate Arch - a must see in National Arches park )

We moved to Navajo Nation Park in Four Corners Zone in Kayenta, AZ.  and stopped at BURGER KING for lunch at 2 p.m.  It is not uncommon to discover little treasures in the most unusual places. A classic example is the exhibit about ‘Navajo Code Talkers exhibit’ in the Burger King. The Navajo people are the largest federally recognized tribe in USA. Navajo Nation is an independent govt. body managing the Navajo Indian Reservation. The exhibits in several walls explain how 400 locals fluent in Navajo, an undecipherable language without a written alphabet, volunteered for W.W.II secret tactical “code talkers” unit to evade NAZI and JAP code-crackers. Navajo people are masters in weaving wool carpets dyed with indigo. Their tapestry art is world famous. Another area they are well versed is in silversmithing - an art in silver like making a ‘squash blossom necklace’.

( Burger King Exhibits in Walls the Exhibit of Navajo Code talkers, their art works and silversmithing)

  

( Squash Blossom Necklace- a product of Navajo people-price $1400 )

( Exhibit in Burger King displays ‘know-how’ of Navajo People to extract dye colours from plants )

( Coming out of Home of The  Whopper in Burger King after Lunch

We crossed the Utah’s Canyonlands and, after tasting veggie Burger at Burger King point, started our journey towards the historic Grand Canyon which is at a distance of about 450 miles from Utah. Pl. know that we had already covered half that distance when we had stopped the vehicle at Burger King for lunch

The drive from Navajo Nation was scenic but Aparna encountered two problems while driving, one was the weather as it started raining some what intensely and the other was driving through very steep usp and downs of the mountainous route for sometime . She maintained a good balance between speed and steadiness and found no difficulty in driving her known vehicle.

The vegetation was scanty  except for some short cacti & thorny bushes. We were travelling through  sandy desert & sighted oil fields once in a way.

 ( Picture shows an example of steep ups and downs which Aparna faced while driving on the highway towards the Canyon )

It was about 4.30p.m. when we reached the Desert Park View at Grand Canyon. We had to reset the clock by 1 hour backward as per U.S. Time Zone changes. We gained more of daylight which allowed us one more hour of going round the South Rim of the Canyon in Arizona. We approached Grand canyon from the east side.

What makes Grand Canyon Grand - a million dollar question?

The Canyon could never be captured by pen or brush. The great chasm can not be successfully exploited commercially or artistically. We were awestruck with the stupendous adorable scene of the Canyon and were convinced that it is an abode of God. It looks like a pagoda architecture which rises with projecting buttresses, rows of pillars, recesses, hanging gardens, and so on. Grand Canyon is a grand natural attraction with five million visitors in a year which includes 8.5 lakhs from outside US. Most visitors are from U.K. We started journeying from South Rim which is at about 7000 feet above sea level where activities like rafting, hiking, running and helicopter tours are popular. The floor of the valley is accessible by foot, muleback or raft from upriver. Camping on north side is

( View of the Grand Canyon & Colorado River flowing - without the river there is no Canyon )

generally restricted. All overnight camping below the rim requires a backcountry permit . 30000 requests are received each year by Grand Canyon National Park . 13000 permits only are issued and close to 40000 people camp overnight. The earliest a permit application is accepted is the first of the month, four months before the proposed month. People wishing for a more vertical perspective can board helicopter in Las Vegas.

VISITING THE CANYON:-  Lipan Point is a promontory (a high point rock) located in the east of the Canyon Village along the Desert View. We parked the car in the lot for the

( One of the View point in South Rim of the Canyon - Viggy is discussing with his dad & mom - Karthik stands attentive

visitors who care to drive along the bus service that routinely stop at this point. The Trail Head to the Tanner Trail is located just before the parking lot.Lipon Point shows a wide array of rock and strata ; the Unkar Creek in the inner Canyon.

!956 air disaster involving mid air collision of United Airlines and TWA above the Canyon resulted in the wreckage falling near the confluence of Colorado and Little Colorado rivers, killing 128 passengers and all the crew members aboard.

Federal protection :-  U.S.President Theodore Roosevelt  established the Grand canyon Game Preserve in 1906  and redesignated the Preserve as a U.S. National Monument in 1908. President Woodrow Wilson signed the Act of Congress to reclassify the Monument as (17th)’U.S. National Park’ in 1919.

Canyon Formation :-

Given Enough Time Nothing Is Changeable Than Rocks.

The Massive Rock Formations in Grand Canyon  may Seem Unchanging.

But Everyday Small Changes Slowly Alter The Landscape.

SOLID ROCK CRUMBLES INTO SAND, CLAY AND SOIL

AGENTS OF EROSION SLOWLY TRANSFER THE SCENE

I remember these lines written in one of the pictures which summarises the Canyon formation in an articulate manner.

( View of the Canyon from one of the viewpoints in South Rim )

( Desert View Watchtower located in the South Rim of the Grand Canyon)

The Canyon carved by the Colorado river in the Arizona State is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and attains a depth of  over a mile. Nearly TWO BILLION YEARS of Earth’s geological history have been exposed as the Colorado river and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plate was uplifted . The recent EVIDENCE SUGGESTS THIS HAD HAPPENED 17 MILLION YEARS AGO.

The Desert View is a scenic route on the South Rim for 25 miles to the East of the Canyon Village. There are 6 fully developed Canyon view points and 4 picnic areas and 5 unmarked pull outs are accessible for private vehicles.

Desert View Watchtower is also known as Indian Watchtower at Desert View. It is a stone building four storied and of 70 feet high and located in the South Rim. The interior contains murals. It has resemblance to ancient Pueblo Peoples Watchtower - at the top the space is decked over in large glazed windows. Number of Reflector Scopes (black mirrors) are mounted to provide alternate views of the Canyon to the visitors. We could watch the canyon from the top floor-there were many paintings depicting the natives of that region-we bought calendar (2015 and after) with pictures of the canyon & shot glasses as collectibles. ( It is a practice in our family to collect shot glasses for each of the states or important spots we visit in US. During this trip I had collected as many as 7 shot glasses plus other curios)

As we were having the South Rim View by stopping the vehicle at various viewpoints, it became dark & we hurried to our vehicle when we heard  loud thunder & saw  streaks of lightning - hence our hope of watching the sunset was washed out. We proceeded to Holiday INN Express Hotel where accommodation had been booked. We left for the IMAX Theatre very close to the Holiday Inn to see a film titled ‘ Grand Canyon - The Hidden Secrets’. The film brought out the secrets of Canyon discovery by various groups of explorers some of whom came in search of gold. It also highlighted the life of the Condors ( huge birds) around the Canyon which are at the point of extinction. After the revelation of ‘ hidden secrets’, a state of tranquility prevailed in our minds. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant which had advertised a ‘great vegetarian’ food. The food was not up to our expectation. We retired to bed by 10pm because the next day was a long day for us.

Tomorrow is after all another day and we ( including the Reader(s) ) will continue the exploration in Grand Canyon in Part-3 of our U.S. Diary .

( Part 3  to be Continued )

Natarajan and Parvathy