Road Trip: Petrified Forest and Walnut Canyon

So, after I survived New Mexico Road #59 ...

It was a bit rough, but actually better than the way in to Chaco

... I headed to Flagstaff with a goal of stopping at Walnut Canyon National Monument along the way. But, the drive passed by the Painted Desert ...

The colors!

... and Petrified Forest National Park. 

And, more colors!

I had just been there last year, so there wasn’t really any reason to stop, except …

I recently decided that I would feature a photo of a different national park every day on Facebook until I had worked through all the parks for which I had digital photos (with an aim to scan photos in the future of the parks for which I had no digital files – or to go back to those parks). It was then that I discovered that I often visited parks and failed to get any pictures of myself at the park. And, I decided that I would always get a picture of myself in the future. Since Scott had given me a tripod for my birthday, this would become a little bit easier. Petrified Forest was one of those parks for which I had no pictures of myself. Since it is right off the Interstate, I decided to drop in a grab a few pictures ...

Magnificent

... including some of myself ...

Posing

Learning to do selfies

Of course, the “brief” stop prevented me from reaching Walnut Canyon before it closed and actually got me to Flagstaff well after dark. So, I decided to hit Walnut Canyon first thing in the morning, which, unfortunately, was 9 a.m. I mean, NPS people get up early, right? So, why do national monuments open so late? Anyway, I got up early and drove to the lovely high-mountain road that leads to the canyon. It was a snowy pine grove, so different from Chaco and Petrified Forest. I waited in a parking lot for a trail that was littered with the bones of a very large animal. 

 Probably an Elk

I wonder what was responsible. Coyote? Mountain Lion?

Walnut Canyon was one of the national monuments I thought I had visited years ago when I lived in Arizona. But, when I got there, I realized I had never been there. I have been so close so many times; I have no idea why I had never been there.

A snowy trail

Walnut Canyon is a very small national monument that features a large number of 800-year-old cliff dwellings on the sides of the canyon ...

Cliff dwelling

... and on an “island” of rock in the middle if the canyon ...

A few other people were on the trail now

There is a trail along the rim and one that goes down 240 steps and circles the “island” ... 

Nice trail

... with dwellings right along the path ...

You can get very close

It’s a good workout because the elevation at the rim is 6,690 ft. – just a smidge higher than my house.

The people who lived in Walnut Canyon were called the Sinagua, which is Spanish for “without water,” recognizing the high desert environment in which they lived. Before they built their homes there, there were seasonal inhabitants, but the Sinagua were the only people to live there fulltime. The cliff dwellings were built between 1125 and 1250 AD in shallow caves along the canyon walls. 

Overhang

It is not know why the Sinagua left after 100 years in the canyon, but it is believed they were assimilated into the Hopi culture.

Walnut Canyon is interesting not only because of the cliff dwellings, but also because of its diversity of plant life due to elevation and shade in the steep canyon. It combines desert and pine forest.

You can see dwellings all along the edge

I hiked the island trail alone because I was the first person to ascend. 

Selfie!

It was lovely and amazing. I still wonder why I had never been there before!

Trip date: March 7-14, 2015