Today started off with a hike down and back up Canyon de Chelly. We wanted to camp here last night but a spectacular thunderstorm put pay to that idea and we spent the night in a hotel instead (safe).
The canyon isn’t the biggest or necessarily the most spectacular but it does have a magical charm about it and once the sun came out the colours were absolutely wonderful. We are starting to get a bit off the beaten track so we pretty much had the place to ourselves apart from a few of the local Indians selling their wares at the various viewpoints (Sarah’s haggling skills are going to need improving) T
Above is a photo of the path we took down the canyon wall, it certainly wouldn’t have passed health and safety inspections in Australia! We wouldn’t have wanted to do it in the wet but it was a pretty fantastic hike down, definitely making it into the top 5.
These are the “White House” ruins built into the canyon walls. When we were at the base of the canyon you could really imagine riding your horse along anticipating the Indian ambush. It’s not surprising that a whole host of western films have used this area as backdrops.