February, 28, 2026

We have  been here in Gallup, NM for a week now. Beautiful weather close to 70 each day with lows in the lower 30's. We have not had any neighbors on either side of us the entire week which makes it handy for parking and working around the rig.

Early in the week we headed out to Canyon de Chelly (pronounced d'Shay). It was 1 hour and 40 minutes from the campground and we did not know what to expect other than it was a National Monument. We stopped at the visitors center to get my National Parks Passport stamped. Hard to find a spot as most of my pages for this area of the states is filled. But I managed to find enough room.

Its a 12 mile trip through the park with stops along the way to view the majestic scenery. Inside the canyon there is a free standing spire that is 800 feet tall. People have lived in this canyon continuously for 5000 years. We talked to one of the natives and his wife, who makes beautiful painting on canvas and stone. And yes we did buy two pieces. They still live on the canyon floor. Pictures don't do it justice but at each stop we marveled at the beauty. 

This is on the path to the valley below, you must pass through this tunnel. Really cool.

 

There are several houses on the valley floor. There was a trail in the valley but we did not have time to check it out.

interesting rock formation. 

The spire in the center is 800 feet tall.

We left there about 3 o'clock and headed home until Diane discovered another attraction in Window Rock, a small town on our route back to the campground. We are glad we stopped.  It was a Navajo Tribal Park & Veterans Memorial. The backdrop was this huge window (arch) in the mountain behind the park. The park was establish around 1936. The arch is a sacred location for Navajo medicine men and integral to the Waterway Ceremony, a ritual used to call for rain. It is also a monument to the Navajo Code Talkers, and the important part they played in World War II.

 

Yesterday we headed to El Morro another National Park about an hour south from Gallop. On the drive we went through the Zuni Reservation part of  Navajo Nation. We both commented that it was the cleanest reservation we have ever driven through. In fact there was a crew working on cleaning up garbage from along the roadside. Something we have never seen on a reservation or in New Mexico, which is the dirtiest state we drive through. 

At El Morro we had two choices a 3/4 miles hike or a 2 mile hike. With good intentions we started on the 3/4 mile path. The leaflet I purchased at the visitors center proved valuable as there were about 25 stops along the path and Diane read the related info. 

 The first record of anyone visiting this site was 1583 by Antonio de Espejo's, and marked the start of 2 hundred years of Spanish travelers. Names are carved into the wall of the mountain and the earliest we found was from 1605, that 400 years ago and hard to imagine it is still legible. Both men and women have left their mark on the mountain, including a 12 year old girl. There are more than 2000 inscriptions and petroglyphs on what they call Inscription Rock. 

As we completed that short path, we decided to continue on, not sure which one of us made that decision but we pushed on. The problem was we now had to ascend that Rock which rises 240 feet with multiple switchbacks along the side of the rock. Needless to say we had many stops along the way. The other issue we faced is that the elevation is at roughly 7500 feet above sea level. We were out of breath often. 

Once we got to the top, however, it was beautiful and you could see forever. We climbed over and down the rocky surface. Buddy was with us and he did quite well and helped pull me up the mountain. We ended with 2.85 miles and roughly 7000 steps, we were exhausted. 

 

  Tomorrow we pull up stakes and head to Page, Arizona where we spend the next month, hiking and off road Jeeping.