After leaving our campsite in Ouray, we came out of the mountains and found the entrance to Black Canyon National Park. It was a beautiful day. As I stated before, this park was only a monument like White Sands and Four Corners until Bill Clinton came here and decided it should get more funding and thre should be more land tha should be set aside for preservation. In 1999 he made it a National Park. We spoke to a local who owned a souvenir/gift shop. You’d think he would be thrilled with the prospect of many new tourists but he wasn’t. He liked the small number of visitors that came each year and knew that with the National Park status, that area would change forever. As we drove in, we noticed the difference from the grand canyon. Not as wide but plenty deep.
Pictures can not portray depth of field that well. The walls were not made of the same stone that Grand Canyon as made of it was hard black looking granite. I always get a kick out of science explanation of age of rock. Most signs attributed this canyon to 500 million years ago. I just like to give the Lord the glory and think about how awesome He is and the mighty power He must have to make such a spectacle. Whether it’s due to the Gunnison River or His wondrous ability to carve and mold His greatness is demonstrated in His creation, especially man.
There are several views and vistas such as Gunnison Point, Kneeling Camel, Rim House, Dragon Point, Sunset View, etc. that give different views to the canyon. I snapped some photos.
Notice in the picture above that one side of this part of the canyon is sloping and green and the other side steep and barren. Rangers tell us it is due to the sun. The east side of the basin is exposed to the sun more than the west making it more lush and full of trees. One special formation is the painted wall view. From the surface it looks like someone painted the wall, but it is really different layers of rock from the formation of the canyon wall. If you were to slice through the wall vertically, the look of the painted stripes would take on a new pattern because it is actually a three dimensional strata of rock. The canyon at this point is the deepest in North America. The picture shows what it would look like if the Empire State Building was placed in the canyon. The canyon wall is actually 2300 feet high.
We made it back to the RV and upon leaving stopped to buy some souvenirs. As I was leaving the RV to enter the store, there was a lady smoking a cigarette. She was just finishing and threw the lit remains on the ground. I guess the world as some see it is an ashtray or garbage pit. What irked me was that throughout the park and for the past several days, we had seen Smoky the Bear signs indicating that the chance of forest fires was very very high. When asked to extinguish the cigarette I was told to mind my own business that she was a local. This had a profound effect on me in that I thought about how we take things for granted when we live in an area and forget about our surroundings and how in a moment it could be destroyed by our stupidity. We left and headed for our next destination which will be Arches National Park… in Arizona…again. Because of darkness, we overnighted at a RV park in Fruita Colorado, a small town near the Arizona border.
We then visited the Kodiak and Badger communities. These communities are older from 550AD. It was fascinating to see the transformation from below ground dwellings to pit houses to cliff houses. The guides told us the move to the cliffs was mainly due to weather exposure. The ruins of Kodiak and Badger communities were representative of that time. Notice the Kivas looked very similar for over 1700 years.
We left Mesa Verde and traveled northeast on route 550 to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Not having a map, we had no idea why the GPS said it would take several hours to complete about 60 miles of road. Well we shortly found out why. I took a photo of the topo map for this area.
I asked later why there were no rails. I was told it is due to snow removal. The snow has to be pushed over the ledge. Most of these roads are not plowed between 9pm and 5am. At the peak of the road we stopped at Molas Pass which is 10,788 feet above sea level. Mesa Verde was at about 4000 feet. When we stopped, it was actually cold and rainy. 
We decided to eat dinner there. As we ate, the sun came out and the sky cleared. This is the first time we saw snow since last winter. The San Juan Forest gave us the first real Adirondack like surrounding since leaving Syracuse. Lots of Aspen trees, pine trees and green forests. Lakes as well. It was serene.
We left and began a big decent into Silverton an old mining community tucked away in a valley. 
It looked like a place I’d retire to. Although they do get 190 – 250 inches of snow in the winter. Most folks leave for the winter. It is a ski and snowmobile area however. We stopped to see if it would be a good stopping place in the future and found a 3 day alpine loop you can do with a 4x4 jeep. Another day. We decided to continue to Ouray , another mining community that had hot springs. We thought that would feel great at night. We ascended then descended and negotiated hairpin turns for 30+ miles into Ouray. We found a RV Park, and claimed an open spot. RV etiquette says that if no one is present at the office and you find an open spot, take it and square up in the morning. We went to the hot springs which are outdoor pools of hot water that come from rain seeping deep into the earth and it springing up from the earth’s heat at different places in the country. Ouray happened to be one of those places. In the morning I went to the office. The man is selling his RV campground. He is done, I joked with him, so how much do you want. He told me he won’t sell it as an RV park but to a condo builder. He had been collecting John Deere memorabilia for a long time.
To get to these communities we had to climb down large ladders and walk along ridges. I could not imagine using foot and hand holds. Once there we were treated to an awesome experience. Most of these ruins were rebuilt to some degree based on the knowledge of ancestors and original foundations. When most of these were discovered in the late 1800’s, there was a lot of rubble, but the base structures were preserved giving an outline to the rooms that were once there. One of the major parts of a pueblo community is the Kiva. It has been a part of the Pueblo community since as early as 550BC. Even though the style of building changed, this one structure remained the same. It was a big hole in the ground that was coverd with a mud roof except for a hole in the center for people to climb into and smoke to exit the enclosed room. It was there religious sanctuary so to speak. This is where they’d ask for rain and other necessities that only the Lord could provide, except they attributed to different earth gods. The ancient Pueblo believed they came form the earth so they wanted to be as close to it as possible. The third picture is one without the lid or top.
As the ranger talked, we noticed No15 carved in many of the formations. A famous photographer of the 1800’s who discovered many of these communities left this so all would know he was there. He was Swedish and his name was Nordenskiold. Hence the “No”. The number represented the different spots he took photos of. Many of them were for sale but very expensive. After exiting Balcony house we decided to ride our bicycles to Cliff house trailhead. 
Later that day we hiked into Spruce house on our own and looked around. It was called Spruce House because there was a gigantic spruce tree that grew out of the community pueblo. It did provide easier access to the mesas above. After this we went back to our site, ate dinner and retired shortly after.
We were glad that the Lord put them in this spot at this time, otherwise, I would not had stayed here. Thank you Scott and Pam and God Bless. We took time this morning to read chapter 5 of Nehemiah. Sometimes it is necessary to build at the same time you are combating the enemy. While we are building our family together by focusing on Christ we are also batlling the enemy. It requires prayer, leadership and brethren to help fight the battle with you. We left for monument valley on our way to Mesa Verde, CO. We are still in Arizona at this point but will go through Utah to get to Colorado. As we drove, the formations became alive. Beautiful reds and well cut mesas that resembled fins and tables. 
We came upon a large RV place called Gouldings RV Park. It was a tourist site in the middle of no where. We had to pull in. It was placed right in the Mesas of Monumnet Valley. It would had been a great spot to stay…If we only knew. At this point we were figuring out the Woodall’s campground book we bought. We had to do this beciae the passport America was starting to be no as useful. It looks like during the summer months, not all of the Passport America places honor the ½ off price. We did some shopping then left. As we drove, we saw more unique formations …a cub scout sign and Mexican hat rock.
As we left, we asked a man t take the picture in return for a snow cone for is family. He started to leave when I reminded him. As it turns out, he had used his last penny literally to get his family into the monument and a snow cone was what they desired but did not have anyway to buy it. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord provides. I gave him our testimony and as it turns out they were believers coming from a non-denominational church. We shared in the Lord for a good ½ hour and he told us of a Christian book he was writing to help kids to learn to ski, it started as a song about Noah’s Ark and how animals would help the kids learn to ski. He sang it for us. Cool! We added them to tour prayer list because he had a son that he was denied pateral rights to and was looking to gain custody. As usual, I snapped a picture of this happy family (Kevin and Alice, kids:Alex, Rachael and Jacob). We then headed for Mesa Verde National Park.
We made the steep climb to our campground which was 4 miles in, set up camp and had dinner. Tonight was corn on the cob, BBQ chicken and a salad. We bought tickets for 2 ranger guided tours tomorrow of Cliff and Balcony Palace Pueblos. This way we could go down inside the structures. At this point I had no idea what we were even looking at. There are 2 major loops in Mesa Verde the Chapin Mesa and the Wetheril Mesa. We were camping at Morefield Village.
We had time for one last stop at Grand Canyon. As we looked at the map we chose to visit the desert view where there is a national landmark called the watchtower which was built as a place to view the canyon and still stands today as a landmark at the Grand Canyon. As we were driving, we hoped to see wildlife, but much of the area was burned by fire. We did see some strange signs like the following:
We left desert view and drove to Monument Valley our next major attraction. Monument Valley is a stretch of highway where mesas have been carved by erosion into formations that jet out of the ground into the sky. They are sandstone and have unique features. The famous Ford’s rock is here and it is where many old westerns have been filmed (John Wayne era). On the way, we saw where the Grand Canyon started. It looked like a crack in the earth.
So we ate breakfast and then everyone wanted to go. We got down to the trail head at about 11am. Upon entering the Grand Canyon trail, there was a sign that caught my attention. 
A lady marathoner had lost her life due to dehydration. Needless to say we had water but I was concerned about enough water. As it turns out, if you made it to the 1 mile down point, there was running water to help you get out. They have a saying what goes down, must come up. Boy was this appropriate. We all had a leisurely stroll down and if not conscience to the up hill climb, back out, could had made it all the way to the bottom. At a point in the trail, Jim, Val and my wife wanted to turn around. The boys wanted to go on so I went with them. It was very hot and at noon, the heat was intense. It was a nice walk down and I got many pictures. Once at the 1 mile point, we saw the ranger. He was getting every one wet. In fact, we wet our T-shirts and hats to keep us cool on the trip up. We also filled our water sacks and bottles, used the composting toilet and then started up.
As we ascended, we took advantage of the shade by slowing down and sometimes stopping, and made time in the sun. At one point, Isaiah, my daring son, saw that there was a rock climb that would eliminate the switchback and it was constantly in the shade, but straight up. He asked me if he could climb it…I hesitated then gave him permission. The rest followed…including me.
We did this several times, I think three times. Then it was onward and upward. We eventually made it back to the top and met up with the rest of the gang at Blue Angel lodge. We told Val of Daniels daring climb and she did not kill me. Thank you Lord. We did some souvenir shopping and then went back to eat early so we could catch the sunset later. We were concerned about getting a sunset because the clouds had moved in. We went out to Grand Point View (check on map) and sat on a rock while we waited for the sunset. The clouds were thick in the distance but we waited anyway. As the sun went down, we met an older couple. We struck up a conversation while waiting. They professed to be Spirit filled Christians. We gave our testimony and how the Lord was using us to share the good news. Smiles grew larger on their faces. They seemed shocked that we would be so bold yet happy to meet fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. This seemed to be the norm as we met people across this grand country with a few exceptions as we have noted. When the sunset did come, it turned out to be beautiful. I snapped many pictures.
After this we drove back to camp and started a campfire. We all sat around and made smores. As the night ended, Mary Therese, Isaiah, Ethan and Val retired to the motorhome and Jim, Daniel and me to the tent. Tomorrow the Meads would leave us and we would drive to Mesa Verde National Park. This trip was not planned but came about after talking to Philip in New Orleans. He recommended it highly.