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Canyon de Chelly, Arizona

I started in Aztek, NM in the morning. From there I drove to Four Corners, then on to Valley of the Gods, then Mexican Hat (where I almost died in quick sand) then to Monument Valley where I spent two wonderful, but all too short hours before continuing on to Canyon de Chelley. I was able to hike to the bottom and back in 45 minutes, but that was pretty much without stopping since I knew before I headed down that there was a massive thunderstorm headed my way. So I quite literally hiked down at a good clip, got to the bottom, walked another few minutes to the "White House", took the photos here and then hiked back up very quickly. I took another photo or two from the rim, got in my car just as the first thick drops of rain started pounding my car and then drove more or less non-stop to Albuquerque. If I were to do it again, I am sure that I would allocate at least a day for Canyon de Chelley, but that's just me. NS. 12/20/2005

View from the rim...

That's me. I have no idea how I took this self-portrait. Did I set the timer, throw the camera up in the air and get lucky. Nah. Must have been a nice flat rock somewhere...

I'm heading down, but turned back for a moment to take this photo. You can tell the scale by the people. It's a pleasantly sheer drop, but not dangerous.

Look at the trail switchbacking... Reminds me of going into Carlsbad Caverns.

Ditto...

Almost at the bottom.

It's called The White House. Ansel Adams made it famous, at least to me.

It's really dramatic. It must have been something else to live with billions(?) of tons or rock above one's head.

It's about 600 feet up to the rim. Nothing huge, but still dramatic.

Detail of the White House.

I assume those are iron ore deposits that appear to be the wash down the cliff face.

Here is the view back from the top of the rim where I returned to in record time.

Photos of Canyon de Chelly, AZ. Copyright 1997. Photo by Narayan Sengupta.

Narayan Sengupta