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Canyon DeChilley – Wednesday October 1 , 2014

We left Monument Valley with the next major stop of the Very Large Array in New Mexico.

On the way we stopped at Four Corners of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.  This is where my phone says The Four Corners is with an elevation of 4900 feet.   I was standing a little off the the side of the exact spot.

Campsite at Navajo campground right next to the Canyon DeChelley National Monument visitor’s center.
Hank would not leave the paved ground.  He could smell the green plants you can see on the ground which are covered with small sharp burrs.  Very time I went in the motorhome I had to pull several out of my sandals.

Lees Ferry National Monument – Saturday September 27, 2014

We have a new campsite.
Yes, I’m one of those people who will ask people who are leaving a GREAT site if I can have it when they leave.  This is one of the two end sites over looking the river.
We have had thunder storms off and on all day.  I did get out to take these two pictures.
Here is one of the river.
This guy and a girl used the site next to us to pack their boat yesterday.  They are going to be on the river for 21 days.  Between now and the end of October they are going to see a lot of weather changes.  We have been in rain storm for the last hour and I see no end in sight and it is still 83 degrees.

Lees Ferry National Monument – Friday September 26, 2014

We left Jacob Lake early because it was a Friday and I wanted to get to the campground early in the day.  It turned out to be the right thing to do.  We have been here twice before and this campground is usually empty, us and three or four other groups.  This year the place is 3/4 full.  Some people are here for a condor release on Saturday however most of the people just seem to be passing through.
We usually have one of the two campsites that directly over look the Colorado River, no such luck this year.

Here is the campsite with the traveling flamingos, in the tree.

We took the car and drove back out to Hwy 89 to take pictures of the Vermilion Cliffs and some of the rock that have fallen down off the cliffs.

I think these a over 2000 feet high.
This is a rock that rolled down from the cliffs a long time ago and the ground around it has eroded away.  The pickup belongs to a lady who is using the rock for shade to sell her jewelry.
This is a house which was built under one of these large rocks, great place to stay cool.

Grand Canyon, North side, – Thursday September 25, 2014

We spent two nights at Jacob Lake Campground and most of the day on Thursday at Grand Canyon.  It is still a 55 mile drive from Jacob Lake to the canyon rim.

I took a lot of pictures and Hank learned the fine art of getting in and out of the car at every view point.

At 9000 feet I could really tell the elevation in my when we walked out to the view points.
This is the classical view of the window and the walk it 0.6 miles out to the end from the parking lot.  No dogs were allowed on the walk way so I hurried out and back so Jean didn’t have to wait to long.

The aspen has already started to turn.  This side of the canyon closes on October 15th of each year.  It was a fun day.

Zion Natl Park – Tuesday September 23, 2014

Our current plan is to leave Zion on Wednesday 9/24/2014 and go to Jacob Lake, Az for a couple of nights.  This is on the north side of the Grand Canyon and I have driven by this forest service campground many times and always was interested in stopping.  This is up in the mountains and we will not have internet or cellphone.  From there we will go to Lees Ferry National Recreational Area for a couple of days.  After that we will need to decide a direction to travel.
 
(Monday evening 9/22/2014,  Know you could not tell however I am setting out by the river typing on my iPad.  Had to stop for a while to take care of Hank, several deer are on the other side of the river and he believes he should go play with them.  He thinks if he barks loud enough or long enough they will want to come to this side of the river and play. )
 
I do want to be some place that is going to be dark on October 7-8 for the red blood full moon.  We may also head towards the “very large array” in New Mexico.  They have guided tours on the first Saturday of the month and that maybe neat to attend.

Zion Natl Park – Sunday September 21, 2014

We had rain yesterday afternoon and most of the night.  A lot of people came back to the campground wet.  The park has had a lot of rain over the last 3 weeks.  The rain storm from hurricane Norbert brought the 7th highest quantity of rain to Zion in a 24 hour period in the 86 years they have been keeping track of rain fall. The Virgin River went from 40 cfs (cubic feet per second) to 2500 cfs.  The storm in 2010 which wash out some of the road peaked at 8000 cfs and was one of the largest volumes since the 1960’s.

The rain stopped at about 9:00 a.m. and it has been is nice all day.  I did get to follow the Seahawk’s game on NFL game center.