Hi Everybody,

Here is the latest trip. We headed up to the four corners area (its the corner with Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona). We took off 6/5/03 and camped near Canyon de Chelly. The next day we hiked to the "White House Ruins" for some exercise. The ruins are 600 feet down in the Canyon and are like most of the Anasazi ruins throughout the Southwest. We drove into Durango that evening and checked in with the Rafting Co. The next day they fed us breakfast and put us on a bus to Silvertone. We launched by the bridge over the Animas river in the center of Silverton. The river runs in the same gorge that the Durango to Silverton Steam train uses. After the rafting we went by steam train from the Tacoma power station to Rockwood. It was a real cliff hanger. From the train you look straight down hundreds of feet to the river below. The track is laid on a small ledge that was blasted from the shear cliff walls.

The rafting company got us back to Durango about 4:00pm on Sunday. We were delayed a bit because some of our camping gear was misplaced. As soon as we retrieved it we took off for Chama in New Mexico. Our plan was to ride the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad the next day. Alas, the train did not start running until the following Saturday and I had to be back in Phoenix for an appointment at the VA Friday. We collected lots of information and plan to come back in a couple of weeks when we head up to the Great Lakes area for much of the summer.

Our next destination was Chaco Canyon which is a fantastic site filled with Anasazi ruins. In Chaco Canyon there are thousands of apartment dwellings and Kivas from this period about 800 years ago in the Southwest. We spent the first day on a 4 mile loop hike.

The next morning the person I though I recognized the night before in the camp ground turned out to be Bill Lytle, a friend I had known at Motorola for many years. We spent that Morning with Bill and Judy on the ranger led tour of Pueblo Bonito. Later that day we did the 6 mile hike to Penasco Blanco. On the way back we took the extended detour to the "Supernova Petrogliff"

On our last evening we went to an Astronomy lecture at the visitors center. They had several telescopes for us to look through. There was also a lecture about the astronomical significance of Chaco Canyon. Many of the walls here are laid out on almost perfect North/South and East/West lines. The bottom line, however is that the Chacoan culture had no written language and no one knows for sure what motivated them in these endeavors. The lack of language also makes it difficult to be sure that the Supernova Petrogliff is actually a record of the one that occurred during the time of the Chacoan culture. This event is accurately recorded by the Chinese and other cultures who had written languages. Guess its pretty important to be able to have a written language.

We are presently sitting home waiting for the latest Harry Potter book to show up in the mail box before we take off again,
Henry and Mary

Click on the Thumb Nail to see the full size picture

Toasting our latest getaway! (59K)
To adventures and new places to see! (57K)
The "White House in Canyon de Chelly (24K)
On the way to Silverton (44K)
Heading down the Upper Animas (44K)
3D map of river from Silverton to Needleton (72K)
We were in full wet suites. The river is feed by melting snow (52K)
We just bounced up and down and looked at the great scenery! (48K)
See the Steam Train in the upper right!! (64K)
Closing in on no name rapids. (44K)
We went ashore and scouted the rapids. Its a Class V. (51K)
Here we go!! The guy with the rope is supposed to toss it to us if we fall out. (53K)
Thats Me on the starboard forward and Mary behind me (36K)
The captain said, "Paddle or Die!" (44K)
Just beyond the rapids we stopped to catch our breath. (65K)
A few hours later we stopped and camped near Needleton for the night. See all the wet gear drying (60K)
Map showing the river from Needleton to the Tacoma power plant where we got out. (71K)



Not all the rafts got through without mishaps. See the person in the water!. See the handline                                                                and the Kayak standing by to help (53K)



The Kayaks were vital! One person in the water was unable to hold the handline                                                                and was towed ashore by a Kayak! (53K)



Besides the rafts there were colorul catamarans on the river. (63K)



Click here to see a write up by the Rafting Company we used.




Chaco Canyon a World Heritage Site (66K)
Half way through are first day 4 mile hike we visited Tsin Kletsin [at the left are workers stabilizing the site] (40K)
At the end of the hike we checked out Casa Rinconada. About the biggest Kiva I've ever seen. (60K)
Visiting with Bill and Judy (62K)
The tour of Pueblo Bonito [almost all of the logs had been sampled for tree ring dating] (44K)
More views of Pueble Bonito (55K)
Later in the Day we did the 6 mile hike out to Penasco Blanco. We passed Casa Chiquita (52K)
Thats Penasco Blanco on the ridge just barely visible (48K)
Finally we arrive at Penasco Blanco. It was not as carefully stablized as the more visited sites (61K)
This could be a record of a supernova or it could be just a picture of the moon and a star (44K)
Looking back at the visitor center from Una Vida (58K)


Click here to get to the National Park Service web page for Chaco Canyon




On the way back to Phoenix we stopped at Window Rock and took this picture. (50K)

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