day seven: hiking in canyon de chelly and breakfast afterwards

we were up early in the morning to hike down into the canyon. we decided not to bother with breakfast, but just to supply ourselves with water. at 7:20 am we pulled into the white house parking lot (the trail head is a couple of miles from the visitor center) and began our walk down. hiking down was extremely pleasant as it was still the cool morning and much of the walk was in the shade. hiking back up at around 8:30 am was a bit different. i have another pic of greg and chanda on this same bench and we weren't as cheery looking. 

the destination for this hike was the white house, a cliff dwelling and pueblo on the canyon floor. tree ring dates from the logs used in the construction show that building began around 1060 AD, with additions being added as late as 1275. the people who lived there planted crops and gathered fruit and nuts from wild plants. they hunted for deer and rabbit and some plants for fiber to make cords, baskets and mats. plants were also used for medicinal purposes.

the navajo word for the park is tséyi, which is pronounced "shay" and somehow got translated into a seemingly french spelling (and which means canyon in the navajo language, or "inside the rock").

piñon pine . . 

there's a little lizard in the midst of this picture that chanda took . . 

any pics that i'm in are courtesy of chanda . . 

this was where you first reach the canyon floor. there's a hogan on the right that i think people are currently living in, though we didn't see anyone . . maybe they were still sleeping!

walking in the shade from the cliff walls felt very strange to me . . . it felt strange just being on the canyon floor with the walls rising so high around us.

this is such a beautiful flower. we saw it also at asilomar. it's called sacred thorn apple and is part of the nightshade family, datura wrightii. (i'm using a website that lists flowers from canyon de chelly, found here.)

(chanda's pic)

i think this is a type of sowthistle which is related to dandelion and in the sunflower family.

silver leaved nightshade, solanum elaeagnifolium

crossing the bridge over the wash that leads to the white house. we're almost there now. when you turn left off the bridge it's right ahead . .

as you can see here. if you look close, you may be able to see the women setting up their tables. i first thought a group of people having a large picnic or party . . so early in the morning! i was wondering to myself, were they here all night? is this breakfast for them?

i think this is called whipple cholla, cylindropuntia whipplei, of the cactus family.

a lot of the trees here are cottonwood . . 

the pueblo once had top floors reaching up to the cliff dwelling. the navajo phrase for the house is kinii' ni gai or "white house in between." 

chanda loved how this tunnel had a cool fresh stone aroma to it . . nothing like our fetid nyc tunnels!

part of the grass family, alkali sacaton, sporobolus airoides.

i took this pic to show how narrow and steep some parts of the hike were. greg crouched in the small opening on the right to let the people pass him, i was already on the inside path and they had to go around me.

it was definitely hot work and hard work going back up. in this little video you can hear a bird chirping (i wondered what kind it was) and also my heavy breathing. i sound like darth vader. i was waiting for chanda to come round the bend.

slow and steady wins the race! by the end of the hike my hair was tied back in a pony tail, my hat was on my head, and my water bottle never left my hand.

a view of the white house ruins from on top of the canyon. at the bottom we met two navajo women and their children and grandchildren. they were selling their jewelry and they enjoyed hearing about where we were from, and that we had driven across. they told us about a family of about twenty people who had visited earlier in the summer. they were traveling together from florida and were having a great time. i bought several bracelets from them for the girls for christmas.

finally back at the top. when going down we met a woman and her daughter returning to the top. when coming up ourselves we passed about six or seven groups of people heading down.

here we're having our breakfast at thunderbird lodge cafeteria. chanda and i wanted to try their blue corn pancakes. we had heard how good they were and we weren't disappointed. we also shared an onion and green pepper omelette, made fresh and also very good! 

also, grapefruit slices . .

and navajo tea, or greenthread tea, thelesperma simplicifolium, made by yanabah tea company. the hopi call it hopi tea.

chanda and i visited the lodge's gift ship where she picked out two bracelets for the girls she babysits at home (and a pair of earrings for herself for her birthday in november).

then it was time to pack up the car and get on the road. the next stop would be the grand canyon!

good-bye horses . . 

and good-bye chinle . .