Thursday, July 27, 2006

Last Full Day in Arizona

June 1st 2006, the Last Full Day in Arizona with The Parents
On our last full-funfilled day, we decided to go up Oak Creek Canyon, to Walnut Creek Canyon and Slide Rock Canyon. This would be the last full day that we would have in Arizona, so we wanted to make the best of it. The next day would be going back to the airport and flying out kind of early, and getting home late that evening. We had a wedding that we were going to the day after that, and we wanted to be somewhat rested for it.

But for today, we wanted to go to some places that we had not been to yet, including the drive up from Sedona to Flagstaff. The road up is Route 89a and the area is called Oak Creek Canyon. There are tons of hiking trails along the road, and you have to have a state pass when you park along the road. We did not have one, as we really did not stop for very long, but when Sasha and I come here again, we will definitely get one.

I will try to deal with the fact that blogger only allows about 4 pictures for each post, so actually, I am going to try something new, this is from ImageShack.us: a website for people with lots of pictures.


This picture is supposed to be of Snoopy as he is lying down on the dog house. Sasha, of course, said it was something else entirely, but I won't put that into a family oriented post.

Here we are at the beginning of Oak Creek Canyon at the Visitor Center (Dad took the picture, it is Sasha, Laura and Mom in the picture.) There were tons of people here, which is kind of interesting as it was a week day. There were Indians selling jewelry and t-shirts plus other knick-knacks at this stop. It seemed a little weird to me that they would be selling here, but people obviously do it, and they set up and take down every day.

Here is a picture looking down into the canyon, lots of trees and very little water. We were looking over the edge and it was cooler here than in Sedona. We are starting to go up in elevation and that is good, as it gets cooler as we go.

These pictures are hosted by ImageShack.us, and I believe that you can click on the picture and see the full version of it. We shall see.
The red rocks of Sedona as we pass by.


It was interesting that I really did not want to look down too far, because if you went over the edge, no one would even know or come down after you, it was so far down.

I am noticing that the thumbnails on ImageShack are a little smaller than on Blogger, but again, if you click on them, it will show the larger picture.


This picture shows the road, but we first thought it was the creek, but it is too big.


At the overlook, it was very windy. Dad took this picture.


This is the road that we were just on, very curvy and there were quite a few people on the road. But Imagine if it was a weekend? Then there would be lots more. This road strongly suggests that you do not ride your bikes on it, as people have been hit.

We managed to get some one to take our picture after we took theirs. So here we all are at the overlook. It was starting to get crowded, so after this picture, we headed back to the car and kept going up the canyon to the next stop.

Well, I am totally psyched, this ImageShack and Blogger seem to be working well together. I might have to go to a library and see if the wireless system works as easy as this does, because I would rather not change companies and blogging systems if I do not have to. I know, I know, I am a little wishy washy in this regard, I keep trying to figure out what is best, but truly, if you go back to all the posts and pictures, there is quite a lot here, and I do not really want to post somewhere else, because I would have to re-do everything, ug, that would be DAYs of work. And this is supposed to be fun.

Here is Mom and the Map of the Canyon. The signs here are much more worn than in the other places, maybe because this is state run rather than nationally run. I am not sure, I actually could be wrong about that, but these are made of wood and the others are made of plastic or metal, as you will see in earlier and later posts. So don't know, no clue, but it is interesting to ponder.

This is the last picture of the canyon that we took at this overlook, and then we went on to Walnut Creek.

Walnut Creek

Just for the fun of it, I will try to keep all of this day on one post. I have been saving it after every few pictures, and everything seems to be working, but I still get a little worried. But hey, that is the fun of it too, to learn something new on how to do things, right?
Walnut Creek is another Indian Ancient Site (I don't really like to call them history sites as an anthropologist once told me that history was the time that people would write things down and before that is considered prehistory.) So these sites are considered prehistoric, before writing.
The Sinagua Indians at Walnut Canyon NM are talked about in this next picture, and like I stated before, this sign is metal, instead of wood. It is much easier to read and people can not deface it as easy as the wood. (NM means National Monument from the picture above.)Looking over the edge, it is a long way down to the canyon. Back when the Indians lived there full time, the creek did have water, but now there is a dam upriver, so the creek became a dry stream. Another view of the canyon and again the long way down. You can also see the layered rocks from here, where there is different types of geology going on, way back before the Indians arrived here. There are brochures describing the geology of the area, but just for fun, I will put some info here, so you can know about it. (I used to work as a Geologist, seems almost like another lifetime ago.)
Way back - about 277 Million Years Ago, this area was a desert, with sand dunes, along a coast. It became hard after continual deposits of sand dune on sand dune, with some other materials thrown in, and because sandstone. Then there was a thin layer where there was missing time - geologists call this an unconformity (basically, they have no idea what was going on during this time - using a long word makes them look smart!)

Then, above the sandstone and the missing time is limestone, which formed because there was a shallow ocean that existed in this area, and the skeletons of the animals in that sea were from calcium carbonate. The skeletons fell to the floor of the sea and became limestone. Some of the larger creatures, such as animals like clams and sponges, also existed here. This is the layer that was used to make the homes for the Indians later on.



It seems very important to stay on the trail here:

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