Canyon de Chelly, Butler wash ruins and Golden Spike trail run

[alia176]

Couple of friends came to my place near ABQ (two drove and one flew) from Chicago to explore some parts of AZ and UT before ending up in Moab for the annual Cruise Moab Rally (CM'08). Since I travel for work, the honey do list was quite long and the fellas helped me with couple of them. The leaky Coy pond was swapped quickly with the extra help and I had a very happy wife.

First day started out camping near Chinle, AZ, not too far from hwy 191. We found some open land and pulled over to setup camp. Next day we hired an Indian guide at the Visitor center of Canyon de Chelly and went into the canyon for about eight hours. IMHO, this is the only way to experience the C de C. The guide takes you in as far as you'd like to go and explain the pictographs and the ruins. You can see some of the ruins from doing your own canyon rim tour up top but you won't be able to drive into the canyon rim. I learned that you can camp in the canyon as well for over nights. We saw one group of ladies camping at one of the camp sites, owned by a local residence. The guides can take you in their vehicles or they can jump into yours. Our tour guide, Donna spoke on the CB while she rode with me. She was an excellent guide and highly recommend her. Please PM me for her contact info.

Canyon de Chelly is an active Navajo community and has a single point of entry/exit. The local residence drive the creek like we did and know where the hard and soft spots are. W/o the Indian guide, you won't know where the soft sandy spots are under the water and you'll be stuck. We saw the tip of a vehicle that's been buried for couple of years. Donna told us how to avoid the soft spots while we drove in and out of the creek all day. One more thing, dogs are not allowed inside the C de C so you'll need to find a sitter. Visitor center has more info on dog sitters near by.

The next day we fueled up in Bluff, UT and met up with Onur who was waiting for us at the gas station. The plan was to hit Monument Valley NP but the sand storm was just too knarly to hang out so we checked out Valley of the gods. After eating lunch and doing the V of G loop, we ended up at the South end of Butler wash (off of 95). This trail is scenic but the hidden gem is the Anasazi ruins that you have to hike up to to find them. The hike felt great after sitting in the vehicle for some time and we were rewarded by the ruins.

That night we headed to the Comb wash campground where the Wasatch Land Cruiser club was hosting the over night stay and led the official CM'08 runs on Arch canyon and Hotel rock trails the following day. After a great Spaghetti meal, thanks to Chef Ray and some Captain/Coke, thanks to bartender Rob, we turned in for the night. After the official CM'08 group headed out to the trails, we ran the Arch canyon trail on the following morning. This is a nice, mellow trail where you cross the creek/wash many, many times. A very nice camping/picnic spot is at the end of the trail as well as a nice hike to see the arch. That night, Thursday, we ended up at the Slickrock campground where we had our first shower since departing my place on Monday.

Thursday night we said hello to bunch of our IH8MUD friends and turned in for the night. A very nice meal was had at the Moab Brewery before turning in for the night.

On Friday, I gave the Chicago boys a good taste of Moab by taking them through the Golden Spike trail. We were joined by two Toms - one drove a UZJ100 and the other FZJ80. After about ten hours, we finally exited the trail and aired up before heading to the campground.

On Saturday, after a hearty breakfast at the Moab diner, we all parted ways and headed home. All in all, a great trip, good weather, great food and awesome company. I can't wait for next year!

Pics & videos are at Linky

[Gumby]

Originally Posted by alia176

The leaky Coy pond was swapped quickly with the extra help and I had a very happy wife.

Koi pond? giant goldfish/carp things?


or is your pond shy?

linky no worky

[alia176]

Fixed linky

[PhilC64]

Very nice trip Alia! You could qualify as a tour guide yourself. I'd nominate Gumby as a guide but the only tour we'd get is the exit of his garage.

[archie]

Thanks for sharing the adventure with pics.

[alia176]

It's easy to be a guide when you let the landscape do the talking for you. This area is truly awesome and I hope some of you can experience it during your lifetime. This is why I moved the family out here from Chiacgo two years ago.

[anthonycds]

Those are some great pics, and ever better vids. Looks real nice out there! Sometimes wish chi-city was built out there, then again, ain't nothin like what have here "winter & construction!"