November 2024 – OsteoPraxis on the road

Flagstaff part 2. The Mother Road Episode 26

The road from Sunset Crater up through Wupatki National Monument is not dissimilar to the road through the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert, one follows on from the other.

The first Pueblo, Wukoki Pueblo, is off down a side road….we were following a map provided by the visitor centre. As we turned into the little parking area it was quite a WOW moment seeing this incredible ancient building about a km from the parking.

It was a moment to hydrate, pull on the sunhat and stroll at a leisurely pace over to the Pueblo.

By this point in the day it was so hot, an older couple who had pulled in at the same time as us were debating whether they should walk out there at all.

It’s like an enormous ship marooned out in the middle of this desert landscape….no other man-made structure as far as you can see

Next stop is the Wupatki Visitor Centre…..with access to the largest Pueblo structures in the park through the visitor centre building

As you walk out the back of the building its another big WOW moment. This place is truly extraordinary

There are stairs down to the structures and a trail around them …and did I mention that it was sweltering hot…!!!

This site has blowholes and fissures where the air moves (as I understand it ) relative to the changes in the magma at the earths core. In traditional lore its Where Mother Earth’s breath is felt

Time to leap back into the truck…crank the air conditioning and suck back yet another bottle of water….onward to the next pueblo.…Citadel.

Perhaps not as imposing as Wuptaki or Wukoki, but still quite impressive in its own right with 360 deg stunning views from the top

Our last stop for the day was Box Canyon... Another little development but this one showing more signs of the agriculture ….all very interesting.

By now we were late enough in the day that it was time to find shade. Phewff…

The last bit of Flagstaff was my slow roll drive down the main drag after dusk as my faithful blogtographer leapt in and out of the truck at intervals.

Flagstaff Neon.

Once we made it all the way into town, we discovered that we had landed in the middle of an art crawl evening. It made for a lovely stroll in the old downtown of Flagstaff.

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Walking on the moon. The Mother Road Episode 25.

It’s difficult to comprehend (for me anyway) that Holbrook AZ is at an elevation of 1548m (5079 ft) above sea level, then continuing west on route 66 the road climbs another 558m (1830ft) to Flagstaff at 2106m (6909ft) above sea level.

The upside of this much up is that it also keeps the temps a little more livable which, as we were heading into the July 4th weekend….seemed important. Prepping for July 4th weekend in the US was a bit stressful……anticipating fully booked campgrounds and much Independence Day revelry, I was relieved to score a site at the somewhat dubiously named…Black Barts . There had been a great deal of emailing and phone calling to many campgrounds in the area, so it was a bit of a concern….thankfully it turned out to be just fine….(and they gave me a nice shady spot…..!!)

As we drove into Flagstaff, we passed a sign for Walnut Canyon …..Hmmmm…Interesting…I looked it up as we drove and it turned out to be yet another National Monument.

Walnut Canyon National Monument

From the visitor center (where they strongly advise everyone to carry water…and to drink said water…!!) there is a staircase down to a loop trail that takes you around the cliff dwellings that are estimated to be around 1200 years old.

It’s a long way down….and all the time you are acutely aware that 1. it’s blistering hot…..and 2. it’s a loooong way back up again…..LOL…

The trail is one way only…..and not very wide, so you really would not want to be passing anyone.

But it is an incredible little window into a time past…..

…as well as being a geological marvel…..

On the walls of the caves you can still see the smoke streaks from the fires used to keep warm in winter.

It was sufficiently fascinating to distract from looking over to the right where the drop off down the canyon was……..daunting…..

The path back up was not as bad as anticipated…..it was pretty brutally hot down there tho…the increase in elevation putting us ever closer to the surface of the sun

Totally worth the visit……those ever so helpful rangers pointed us in the direction of Sunset Crater and the Wupatki Pueblo as well……so…..off we went….

Sunset Crater National Monument

Here we find ourselves in another lava field. Maybe its just me , but I think these places are mesmerizing. 1000 years later the landscape has barely changed.

As the road winds through the park, there are designated parking areas for some short, marked trails. Much of the park is restricted access in an attempt to reduce erosion of the landscape.

Just about the time that it’s occurring to you that this is like a moonscape……the confirmation appears in front of you. Yes !!… this is the area that was used for training astronauts for their first steps on the moon’s surface.

….then we found lots of these little guys running around. You can only spot them when they move….they blend so well with their background.

The bigger trail up to the crater was closed following wildfire damage….so the closest we could get was this boardwalk trail. Probably a good thing…it was warm for hiking…!!!

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The Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. The Mother Road Episode 24

After the fun little trips around here, the day was ripe for the National Park extravaganza. The Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert..two National Parks separated by Route 66. The weather was cooperating…having had a day of rain and coolness the day before, we figured an early start for the drive up through the parks was in order.

We headed for the south gate of the Petrified Forest. (There is only one road up through the parks.)It was the second National Monument designated by Roosevelt …and was switched to National Park status in 1961, a truly extraordinary place.

As you enter the park gate, almost immediately there are large chunks of tree trunk…..except they are agate and jasper.

The visitor centre is a lovely little vintage construction that really has not changed a whole lot since it was built in 1931.

I suspect that this is yet another of these places that the pictures just can’t convey just how incredible this landscape is.

They reckon these trees are 216 million years old……..now does that not just give you pause for thought…For context…..T-Rex is about 66 million years old.

When you stand next to these massive tree trunks, the bark, the knots, the rings in the cross-section don’t require any imagination to see them.

That and they are just …..beautiful…!!!

As we drove from the south gate north, there are designated lookout spots and walkways to allow you to grasp some concept of the landscape while minimising the erosion damage from the tourism that helps to support the parks.

…but looking beyond these incredible relics…..the vistas are breathtaking…

With the amount of iron rich rock laying on the surface I am astonished that the area was not stripped of minerals in the late 1800s when they were building the railroads……

Each lookout is yet another extraordinary vista which…if the signage is to be believed…has not changed much despite us humans…..!!

The shade structures at most of the lookout points were very welcome. This was not the hottest of days……it was only 34 Celsius (93F) but it’s so exposed that the sun is quite relentless.

This one was set up for viewing an agate bridge, a tree bridging the creek….it had been shored up by concrete to try and preserve it in the early 1900’s

The Blue Mesa Trail…this was a steep walk/climb down following a paved trail….it was like a moonscape down there…..and the heat was oppressive. I’m glad it was only 34C….!!! This badlands area is striped purple…. and it really is purple.

Newspaper rock..….an ancient spot for petroglyphs…..these pictures were taken with the long lens as you can’t get close to them for fear of vandalism.

The Peurco pueblo is a 1200 year old village remnant which demonstrates a very sophisticated social and agricultural structure in the area at that time.

With a solstice marker….

…and some very cool petroglyphs….

I just love the little goats……. 😁

…and if the day was not full enough…..we cross the I-44 (the modern route following old 66)

……. and now we have the Painted Desert National Park.

The crows were well used to the tourist audience…….I had to share a little trail mix…they asked so politely…!!!

Painted desert inn….what an interesting place. This 1920’s inn is the only piece of route 66 inside a National Park. The building and the furniture inside it was constructed largely by Franklin Roosevelts Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC was a brainchild of Roosevelt to provide employment and skills training to young men in the post depression era. I had never heard of this organisation before….it was quite the project….

What a great place to stop for a most welcome ice cream…..

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Standing on the Corner. The Mother Road episode 23.

We had a great time in Milan. A tiny, unassuming little town (with two local craft brewers..!!) and great access to some phenomenal natural experiences.

We were a little sad to leave…mostly because of the big shade tree over the trailer…!!…..but the road was calling, and the temperature in Arizona and California was rising. I kept looking ahead at the weather maps and was dreading what was coming. If 39 deg C is unbearably hot…..what could 49 be…!!!

The last New Mexico Route 66 stop was Gallup. Our plan was a stop at the visitor centre and use their parking lot for a lunch stop, which was partly foiled as it was closed for the holiday weekend (July 4 Independence Day).

We were still able to park and have a wander back up the main drag for some of the old motels and signs.

Gallup was a little different to many of these small towns, many of the classic motels were still in operation if a little run down……

….and the more famous, El Rancho, looked to be in fine shape…though we did not go in….

There were many small galleries, native craft makers and suppliers…. apparently, something else Gallup is famed for

Back on the road….It is very obvious when you cross into Arizona. There is a dramatic change in the landscape, a terrific grand-ness to the scenery bordering the highway……incredible red rock cliffs. (pictures with my phone do it no justice)

Our target destination today was Holbrook, Arizona…the closest town to the twin National Parks of the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. Route 66 passes right through the middle of these two…….and very handily close to Winslow, so we unhooked the trailer at the Holbrook KOA and booted it over there……you just gotta go there…. 😁

…and now you are all singing it…..LOL……

It has to be one of the best set up and maintained ‘attractions’ we have seen so far…..that and you are singing that song in your head for days…before and after….but it was very cool.

Winslow is not a big town as there was nothing remarkable about it other than the tourist traffic stopping for the selfie on the corner……us included.

From Winslow we followed ol’ 66 back as far as we could…through Joseph City and found some marvelously photogenic dereliction and these very curious tipis everywhere.

Another oddity of this area is that a lot of the land is native reserve. They don’t observe daylight savings on reserves in AZ…so consequently the time keeps flipping back and forward as you drive down the road…..very confusing when you are not from there….

Holbrook itself has a little collection of old motels and this absolute classic still in operation…….the very amazing Wig Wam hotel.……. Every room/wigwam was decked out with classic cars……

..it was such an experience …we had to come back and see it lit up at night.

We were almost totally distracted from some of the other stuff on Holbrooks main drag…..

That was a lot for one day…….and more excitement to come with the National Parks to visit tomorrow…whoooeee…!!!!

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Hemingway was here. The Mother Road Episode 22.

Having had a quite fabulous time investigating the New Mexico landscape….. the official Route 66 attractions from this section of the road were beckoning. It was another backtracking trip……but one where the road (old highway 66) was actually in fairly good condition.

We drove all the way back to Casa Blanca, New Mexico for the Budville Trading Co. . It sounds very grand…but in reality it’s remote, desolate and, as with much of the 66 ‘attractions’….derelict.

Bud Rice and his wife opened the service station in 1928…Bud was the only towing service for many miles….and also became the Justice of the Peace. Apparently, he had a reputation for issuing hefty fines for minor infractions by unsuspecting travelers…….Ultimately, he was shot and killed in a robbery in 1968. Sounds like just the sort of colourful character and behavior you’d expect out here in the wild west.

Budville yielded a little collection of crumbling buildings and signs.

Next town on the return drive west was Villa de Cubero….another unexpected little gem of history.

This was a great little trading post/’tourist court’… (motel and convenience store..!!)…built in 1937 when the route was realigned and paved……still in operation. We scored some locally milled blue corn flour here…. 😁. But the history of this place was more impressive than that…

This place is also a little motel….

…..and reputed to be where Hemingway stayed while he wrote “The Old Man and the Sea”. If one wanted solitude to write this is the place, no busier now than it would have been then.

There were a few stops along the road for old signage often buried in trees……

…and some spectacular landscape vistas.

Among the attractions listed in the 66 route guide are the old pueblos in Acoma, but with a request/warning not to photograph them. It was our first encounter with some of these quite ancient dwellings. The construction is quite simple but still has that “grown out of the earth’ feel that is so much New Mexico.

We took a drive up to the Santa Maria Mission…(where we were allowed to photograph)…..the view from here down the valley was breathtaking…and impossible to photograph the scale.

Our journey brought us back down through Grants, where the entire town is a veritable neon sign/motel graveyard in its own right.

Scott had lots of fun leaping out of the truck and wandering round some of these (very sketchy) sites. Grants is a place which really exemplifies the short history of Route 66 from humble beginings, to hey day and in short order to what you see here.