The Rock Gets Red Glare

I had only seen two other touring cyclists on the road so far, and meeting five at Mather Campground was nice. We were all headed in different directions with different schedules, but it was good to swap stories. Sylvia from Switzerland gave me some good tips on the road ahead of me as she had looped down around the east from Bryce Canyon.

My ride out of Grand Canyon took me along the length of park all the way to the lesser used east entrance, which gave me the opportunity to stop at the great viewpoints along the way. I took advantage of the decent food services and had lunch before heading out into the real wilds again.

Outside the park the road widened and descended almost endlessly into the great dry valley of the Little Colorado. I have entered the lands of the Navajo Nation, the largest semi-autonomous native territory in the USA. The starkness of the landscape is dotted with roadside shacks selling jewelry.

I made it to Cameron by the end of the day, and camped out among a herd of RVs across the street from a trading post. They had no showers but luckily my reservoir water bag was still full (and warm) so I hung it up a tree and took a shower in my shorts within full view of the highway :) An RVer from Oklahoma talked my ear off until late in the evening. He had such a heavy accent and used odd words, I had some difficulty following his rapid rambling. It took me half a minute to realize that by saying he was half "Churkey" he meant Cherokee.

I'm back in the desert again, and the air seems even drier here with the stronger wind. Even standing still I felt my lips dry out. I started off early and got to Tuba City for lunch. It was well over 38˚C (100˚F) by 12:30, so I thought I would hide out in the public library to write and sort out pictures. They closed at 5 pm so I headed off into the hot late afternoon after stocking up on food. There was nothing much for a good 100+ kms to Kayenta and I knew I wasn't going to get there by the time the sun set so I prepared to camp in the wild.

At Red Lake, the first of a few road cyclists passed me and they were each shadowed by a van or two.  Turns out international teams were doing some sort of relay race across the USA. They were causing a bit of nuisance on the two-lane highway because the other vehicles had to pass the vans which were driving partly on the shoulders with hazards on.

I got to a rock formation called Elephant's Feet as the sun was setting so I thought it might be interesting to camp beneath them. I asked some local natives if it was OK and they said yes but they invited me to camp in their church yard instead. It was actually really nice peaceful spot up on a ridge high above the traffic. I set up my tent in their basketball half court and did another of my bag showers. I fell asleep watching the stars through the mesh of the bare tent again.

I was going to camp beneath these "Elephant's Feet"

The small church overlooking the highway

I got a mini lesson in Navajo from using the outhouse

The breaking dawn was spectacular, but breakfast was a meagre ration of Powerbar wafers and water. Kayenta, the next town, was still a good 80 kms away and I promised myself a substantial meal there. This area is really a challenge for bicycle touring, there really isn't much in terms of services and water along the way. It's tougher than what I remember my trip up to the Yukon and Alaska — although that was far more remote, there were a lot of streams I could filter water out of. Also, heat I could easily produce from a stove (or exertion), but getting something cold or cooling down is near impossible on your own in the desert.

At one point, Team India came up to me as I was stoping to rest and drink, and the guy must have been tired because I followed behind the van for a good 30 minutes, keeping pace despite my heavy baggage. They stopped briefly to change riders, and with a fresh guy they soon left me in the dust.

I had lunch in Kayenta and waited out the worst of the afternoon heat in two places, one of them was at a McDonalds where I nursed a large iced coffee for an hour and a half. After futile attempts to call a campground ahead to see if they had spots available, I decided to take a risk and head towards the Utah border on the only narrow shoulderless road into Monument Valley.

Looking a little ragged after two nights of rough camping

The late afternoon light on the Monuments is magical. The rocks take on a fiery red hue, sharply contrasting with the tufts of green scrub on the landscape. I reached Goulding's campsite which is nestled within one of the mesas. I was exhausted but I mustered enough energy to climb up the last steep mile into the campground. To my relief they had tent sites available and I even got a really good one with a view. The sight of the monuments glowing through the gap in the rocks was surreal.

The next day riding into the Monuments was one of the highlights of this trip that I was most excited about. I got up early because I wanted to avoid the traffic to a visitor centre a few miles down. The back lit rocks were impressive grey silhouettes as I approached them. but as I climbed up and went around, the sunlit side showed their full glory. Monument Valley is almost the inverse of the Grand Canyon experience, instead of staring down into an abyss, you look up towards impossible fingers of stone.

Riding away I was reminded by the glimpses on my rear view mirror to stop often to look back. It was a constant climb out of the valley for most of the day. By the time I got to Mexican Hat the temperatures were up to the high 90s and there was a huge climb ahead. I felt I was getting acclimatized to the heat, though, and kept riding through the mid-day.

Mexican Hat is named after this rock

one last view of the Monuments

I finally started to wilt when I got to Bluff. The town looks like an oasis, a green vein among the dry rocks, and for the first time on this trip I actually saw a river running fast with water. It was 3pm and I decided to call it a day since the town had a decent campground (yes, with grass!) and a decent barbecue restaurant :)