Friday - January 16, 1998: Tuba City, AZ to Grand Canyon, AZ
Making Tracks to the Big Canyon...
Brad got some work done in the motel at Tuba City this morning before heading out of town (one stop light, and that was that). On the way towards the Grand Canyon, we stopped just North of the highway to see what were promised to be Dinosaur tracks! Pretty cool, huh? Well, we thought so. And so did Morris, Jr., the unlikely name of our Navajo friend who showed us around this nearly unmarked tourist site where there were a bunch of three-toed dino tracks, and even a fossilized skeleton! All smack dab in the middle of the beautifully multi-colored Painted Desert.

On then to the Grand Canyon, up in elevation, and the temperature plunged even as the sun attempted to break out from behind it's cloud cover. And finally...there it was. In all it's splendor...the Grand Canyon! Brad's first visit here (Desi has been several times, but still enjoys it). It's very very big.

No need to go into too much detail about the Grand Canyon, since most readers here will be familiar with it. But just in case there are some who don't know, a short bit about how the Canyon was formed; It runs 194 miles or so of what is now known as the Colorado River from Lake Powell on the Northeast, down to Lake Mead on the Southwest.

It was formed many centuries ago, when the native Hopi Indians of the territory had taken a large band of Navajo Indians as their slaves. Turns out that the Hopi's had all of their soda in one big fridge near Lake Powell, but they liked to suntan up North near Lake Mead. So they would force the Navajo slaves to make the trek back and forth along the River to get them more soda whenever their glasses got empty. It was very hot near Lake Mead (remember, this was before Air Conditioning) and this made the Hopi's very thirsty and they required much soda. This constant back and forth walking of the Navajo slaves eventually wore down the area around the River, and created what we now call the Grand Canyon.

The striking multi-colored striations in the rock along the Canyon wall, are explained by the fact that the Navajo were very good painters and fastidious decorators. So to pass the time while walking Southwest to get more soda for the Hopi's they would occasionally freshen things up a bit by painting the walls of the then forming "canyon". The brigher colors made the long journey easier to stand. Obviously over the years, they would use different colors as they applied fresh coats and their tastes changed, and thus, the well known multi-colored striations.

We'll be enjoying more of the Canyon tomorrow, and actually staying at a lodge right on the rim! As opposed to the Quality Inn that we're in this evening a few miles south of the parks entrance.