Arizona continued...

Meteor crater



The cost





Window rock Navajo Nation








Canyon de chelley

Arizona the story......

So last I left off on page 4 I was in Flagstaff and had finally split with the rider from Moab I had joined up with. The relief and sense of freedom from being alone again was reviving. I really can’t explain it but I’ve learned to accept that I’m just better off alone. I decided to slab it to Window Rock, AZ where I would meet up with 2 guys I had ran into in Arches/Moab. They were into rock climbing and had offered me a place to crash for a few days if I made it down that way. They also had told me about Canyon De chelly which wasn’t far from Window Rock and the old native cliff dwellings which really interested me. I rode East on I-40 straight towards the Arizona/ New mexico border. The ride was boring and when I saw a sign for Meteor crater I decided to take a detour and check it out.

I had seen pictures of the crater before and had read about it and being into cosmology I was siked to see an actual meteor impact crater. As my experience at Mammoth caves back in Kentucky should have taught me anything that requires a ridiculous fee or a tour should be skipped at all costs. This will be road rule # 4 in my book. I rode up to the entrance and was surprised by how small the crater actually was. From the pics it looked like a small town could be built at the bottom but this was not the case at all. Second shock was how much they were charging for a person to go look at a big hole on the ground. $25 dollars if I remember correctly and I was very hesitant to shed out over 75% of my daily budget on this hole. I haggled with the attendant for a while trying to get a senior or junior discount but she said my beard was too long and not white enough. Turns out some clever guy had bought the hole back in the day and decided to make his living out of charging people to look at it. Reluctantly I decided to bite the bullet and pay the stupid fee since I was already there. As soon as I walked in the regret washed over me. The crater wasn’t too impressive, they had built the tourist rails/stand to where you had to stay on and you only got one point of view of the crater. No walking around or exploring and definitely no going to the bottom. I took a few shots to make the best of it, used the bathroom, filled up my camelback and was probably out of there in under 20 min. Lesson learned or not.

Heading east back on 40 with a bad taste in my mouth I saw another sign for the petrified forest, thinking back now this might have been a better detour but i passed it and just throttled on. Eventually I veered north towards window rock right before the border. Stopped for gas at a small station and noticed I was in Native territory and the atmosphere had quickly changed. I had seen a dirt road on my map that would save me some time and asked the attendant about it. She said it wasn’t bad and I’d have no problems on it on my loaded bike. After gassing up I headed north on 191 and looked for any signs of the dirt road. Saw a bunch of dirt roads with no signs and spent some time exploring a few of them which all led to dead ends. It was getting late so I decided to just slab it up 191 and take it all the way to window rock.

Window rock caught me by surprise to say the least. I had heard of the poor conditions natives lived in but was not ready for the shock of how westernized the people had become. I had no cel service and decided to pull into a Mcdonalds for some wifi to let these guys know I was there. There were native teens dressed in skinny jeans with gauged ears, tats and slick girls hair playing on their iphones. Tons of natives munching on mcdeath food. Drunks stumbling about in the parking lot asking for money and looking shady. Finally I noticed I was the only “white” guy hanging aroundI wasn’t uncomfortable at all. But the sights were getting to me and I was eager to get on my way to somewhere fast.

Finally I hooked up with the two guys and we shoot over to their house to drop off the bike and my crap. They both worked for the Navajo nation, freaking lawyers but environmental lawyers so not so bad. They lived inside a gated sort of community with really nice prefabbed homes, a far luxury compared to the standards the native people were living in outside. We hopped In the car and they took me to see the window rock. It was a pretty cool looking place with crazy rock formations but there were buildings all around it so it wasn’t pristine by any sense. We did a bit of bouldering around and I got to take some shots and learn a bit of history about the place. After a bit of talk they decided to drive to canyon de chelley to go check out the cliff dwellings and do a bit of climbing. We shot up route 7 straight to the canyon and made it there just passed sun down. I hadn’t packed my tripod but managed to get a respectable low light shot of the canyon anyways. Hung out there for an hour or so talking and learning more about the Navajo. The place had a pretty magic feel to it at night and reminded me of being in the middle of the everglades at night watching stars. We split a room in the nearby town and grabbed a quick dinner and a few brews. In the morning we were to hit the canyon around sunrise to do a bit of hiking and climbing.

Cannyon de chelley looked completely different and had a very different vibe during the day. I hadn’t imagined the scope of the place at night and even coming from Grand canyon the previous week this place just had a magic of it’s own. I don’t have many pics of the guys or that day and the reason is I really don’t like taking pictures of people. Maybe it’s because I don’t like pictures of myself being taken but I just feel awkward and rude taking pics of people so I simply don’t. We spent the day hiking around doing a bit bouldering and a couple of climbs. To say I was instantly hooked to climbing and a natural would be an understatement. We headed back to window rock later that night and I spent another night there learning, sharing and eating. I had a great time with these guys and they had gotten me hooked on a new vice climbing. They had also introduced me for better or worse into the reality of what the American system has done to the original people of this land. The next day I packed my crap said my goodbyes and hit the road. The Antelope canyons and my most horrible experience while in the Navajo nation were up next...