Monument Valley Arizona/Utah

As far as photography goes this is a tough time of year here in the Rockies. The splendors of winter have faded and left a certain barren landscape whilst we await the wonders of the new life spring will bring.

Monument Valley

So, I'm going back to last winter at this time when I was shooting in Monument Valley which straddles Arizona and Utah. I don't think there is a more colorful desert anywhere. No matter in what direction you look there is some kaleidoscopic something to see and to shoot.

Monument Valley

The sky and the clouds are truly incredible. The sandstone desert is capped by the most intense blue and the clouds are pure, well purity. They are big, boisterous and beautiful. I'm quite partial to the clouds in Montana's Big Sky but there can be no doubt those in the Monument Valley give them a run for the money.


Monument Valley by Kinsey Barnard

There's something else I like a lot about Monument Valley. It's still some what primitive. The valley belongs to the sovereign nation of the Navajo and it is their intention to keep it primitive for as long as they can. I believe that will be indefinitely. If you come with the right kind of vehicle you can travel the desert to your hearts content. Koty and I put in I don't know how many miles just going up and down the dirt roads.You can see for miles and miles and miles .....

Looking Down the Road

As mentioned many times, patterns in nature fascinate me no end and there is no shortage of that kind of thing to see in Monument Valley. As they say, you can't make this stuff up! If you are into this sort of thing the sandstone designs will knock your socks off. Mother Nature just keeps coming up with extraordinary designs. One commenter thought the image below looked like sharks teeth. I think she's right.


Monument Valley Designs by Kinsey Barnard

The main event is the Tribal Park where you will find the biggest, baddest monuments. This area is quite crowded. You can take guided or self guided trips around the loop road. I recommend you take one of the park jitneys unless you have a car you're not too concerned about. Most of the road is just fine but the first quarter mile down into the park or so is a real goat track.

As for accommodations go there are really only two choices. You can go upscale at the relatively new The View hotel which is within the tribal park and sits on a bluff overlooking the valley. Even if you don't stay here you should stop in for "The View".

The other option is Gouldings Lodge. Before The View it was the only accommodation in Monument Valley. It played host to John Wayne and John Huston and is steeped in the history of the valley.


Stagecoach by Kinsey Barnard.

The Lodge is a little frayed around the edges but I think it's part of the charm. The view from here isn't too shabby either. You'll have the opportunity to see some awesome sunsets from your balcony. Even if you don't stay here you might want to stop in to check out the museum.

Whether you are interested in photography or not I can pretty much guarantee you you will have an eye popping time in Monument Valley. It's truly a natural wonder.

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

CAMP VERDE - ANASAZI RUINS

I must admit that being a “snowbird” in Arizona is not for the likes of Koty and I. And, it was never our intention. Our original plan was to photograph the Gulf Coast and up into the Piney Woods region of Texas. But, alack and alas, it was not to be. For a re-cap of how a trip to Arizona came about read Making God Laugh.

Well, we tried to put a good face on it but living like a sardine in a can just isn’t for us. We met many great people who will be friends forever but it’s just not for us. We never would have done it either if I had not been spooked by Park a mangers that told me I had better book fast because there would not be any place to stay. Well, that was simply poppycock. We could have traveled around Arizona just like we always do with no problems about getting a space. Live and learn. I learned!

Enough about that! On March 13th, with great anticipation, we left Apache Junction for Camp Verde. We were not disappointed. The RV Park we chose, Zane Grey, was a breath of fresh air. Situated along a creek, the park was dark and silent at night. Something we hadn’t experienced for four months! The management could not have been more helpful and fellow campers were too.

Camp Verde is a quaint little town maintaining some of its old west flavor.

The photos below are of an old feed and tack shop on the main street. I just love these types of displays. To me they are so colorful and interesting. Make me a little nostalgic.





The area is chock full of Indian ruins. Some are now National Monuments but there are plenty hidden away everywhere. It would take you forever to find and investigate them all. The three main ones are Montezuma Well, Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot.



The above photo is of Montezuma Castle. You'll have to bear with me on the photography. Structures are not my forte and if you arrive at the wrong time of day the lighting can be very difficult. In this image you can see the sun is moving across the ruin. In another half hour I would have been out of luck. But, at least you can get some idea what they look like. If one wanted to get a very nice shot you would want to go late afternoon. At least that would be my take.

Here's a little history on the castle."The last known record of Sinagua occupation for any sites are for Montezuma Castle National Monument around 1425 AD. The reasons for abandonment of their habitation sites are not yet known, but warfare, drought, and clashes with the newly-arrived Yavapai people have been suggested. The five-story stone and mortar dwellings contain 20 rooms and once housed about 50 people. A natural overhang shades the rooms and shelters them from rain. Another part of the cliff wall bears the marks of an even larger dwelling, which has not survived." Wikipedia.

Next we visited Montezuma Well which was a well an irrigation system developed by the Sinagua. There are hundreds of images of the Well you can Google. Below is my rendition which is a little different than what you are likely to find. It's a duck swimming in the wells reflection of the cliff dwelling. Much more interesting to me.



The last ruin we visited was Tuzigoot. This is an out in the open structure rather than a cliff dwelling.



Here's the Wiki "Tuzigoot National Monument, near Cottonwood, Arizona, preserves a 2 to 3 story pueblo ruin on the summit of a limestone and sandstone ridge just east of Clarkdale, Arizona, 120 feet (36 m) above the Verde River floodplain. The National Park Service currently owns 58 acres, within an authorized boundary of 834 acres (3.38 km2) [1].

Tuzigoot is Apache for "crooked water", from nearby Peck's lake, a cutoff meander of the Verde River. Historically, it was built by the Sinagua people between 1125 and 1400 CE. Tuzigoot is the largest and best-preserved of the many Sinagua pueblo ruins in the Verde Valley."

We had a fine time exploring these ruins but exploring back roads is more our cup of tea. That will be coming up next.

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

PS: I frequently get complaints about people having trouble signing up for e-mail notification. I maintain my own notification list to be sure people who want it get notified. If you would like to be on that list please send your e-mail address to kotybear2002@msn.com

SAGUARO NATIONAL PARK

Dow 8952 -82 ----- Gold 858 -17 ----- Oil 49 flat

Saturday we did KP and other house cleaning activities. Sunday it rained most all of the day so I worked in Lightroom. And I published a post at Simply Photos. It's a series of photos taken at Agua Caliente Park, one of the few places you can find water around here.

I also finished reading another novel. This one was kind of fun. It was called Utopia by Lincoln Child. It's about sabotage and and ultra high tech theme park in the Nevada desert. I wish there was such a place. I would love to go there.

There certainly wasn't much to cheer about with the real start of the new year. It kind of depressed me actually. I did find this video that is a humorous look back at 2008. Not that it's really funny but what is one to do? You either gotta laugh or you gotta cry.



Went out to Saguaro West this afternoon and hiked the two-way road you hit on the Bajada Loop. It was a pretty nice afternoon and may have gotten a couple of keepers for the Koty Bear site. I never really know until I process them.

Getting close to pulling up stakes time. Leave for Apache Junction Saturday morning. I've never stayed two months in an RV park before. When you stay that long you seem to make a lot of new friends that you are kind of sorry to leave. So far it has been my experience that people who RV are by in large a very nice bunch. There are the few jerks but those are in every pot and easy to ignore because there are so many nice ones.



Koty at Saguaro National Park West

SAGUARO IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT

Saguaro, I am finding, are stately creatures that do fine on their own without the gimmickry of a fancy sunset.

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

VIEW LARGER IMAGE If you put your cursor in the top right hand side of the photograph you can enlarge it to near original size.

SOLITARY SAGUARO AT SUNSET

©KINSEY BARNARD PHOTOGRAPHY

A solitary saguaro cactus watches the passing of another day in the desert.

*It is not possible to make the photograph any larger at this blogging site, at least I can't figure out how to make them larger. If you would like to see it larger and with higher resolution please CLICK HERE

SAN XAVIER MISSION - TOHONO O'ODHAM TRIBE

We haven't even started our preliminary research into the area let alone started to map out places we would like to try and shoot so we just got in the car and headed south on HWY 19 just for fun.

Not very far down the road we saw off in the distance a gleaming white structure which turned out to be San Xavier Mission on the San Xavier Indian Reservation. We swung onto the exit to take a closer look.



The mission is quite impressive. We didn't go inside because it was too hot to leave the Koty Bear in the car so we just walked the grounds. If you'd like to see a photo of the inside, it's quite beautiful, you can see one here



There is a small hill you can walk up to where a grotto is guarded by two impressive rather regal lions.



Whilst wandering the little hill I got my first up close an personal view of some native plant life. I am so looking forward to photographing the interesting plants here. Everything is so different from what I see in the Rockies. This character is a barrel cactus, I believe of the fish hook variety. I've got a lot of learning to do.



The Indian tribe that inhabits this reservation is called the Tohono O'odham. More about them can be found here. I always find these roadside graves interesting and this one was just along the road on the reservation. If you look real close you will see a little dog figurine. I wondered if it was a dog buried there or a little person who loved a dog.



Cemeteries always intrigued me and I was especially intrigued by this one on the reservation. The graves were all decked out and the American flag was flying, I imagine in honor of Veterans Day. Made me think of the sad story of that brave man Ira Hays. Thanks be to all those who have given so much so we could enjoy a freedom the politicians seem bent on taking away.

Ciao for now,
Koty & Kinsey

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

THANK GAWD FOR GINNIE GPS! OR, GPS'S ARE GREAT BUT YOU GOTTA TURN 'EM ON.

Before heading out from Wickenburg we took a good long morning walk in the lugga. Oh, sorry that's swahili for wash or riverbed. I use it because it reminded me so much of luggas I have tramped in Kenya, stories about which I will one day get to at my Musings and Memories blog.



I couldn't resist a snap of this punk rock cacti I saw in the park. So cute! Anyway, another travel day so not much photography.

Technology is a wonderful thing but one of it's short comings is that if you don't use it, it doesn't help much. Such is the case with my Garmin GPS. I bought the thing on last year's shoot of the Pacific Coast (if you want to look at some photos you can visit my SEASCAPES GALLERY) The GPS is a minor miracle.

The thing has a female voice that gives you verbal directions which is great especially for a solo flyer because reading maps whilst driving can be hazardous to your health. As you know by now I have a penchant for naming everything and the GPS was dubbed Ginnie. Ginnie can do so much. In addition to getting you where you want to go she'll find all the places you need when you get there. When I arrive in a place, that's largest enough, my first two inputs are Costco and Wal-Mart. You just punch in your desire and Ginnie takes you there like you've lived in town all your life. It is so cool!

But, there are a couple of problems. First, in case you haven't guess it, I am the dinosaur and it IS hard to teach old dogs new tricks. After forty plus years of traveling all over this continent, and several others, I'm still mentally geared to paper maps and my innate sense of direction. I am forever forgetting about poor Ginnie. The other problem is that I doubt her. She tells me to do something and I don't believe it's right. And, the girl has attitude. When I don't follow her directions she says in a very put out and exasperated tone "Recalculating!" I usually tell her to stuff it. :) Actually, sometimes ignoring her is a good idea because she is programmed to take you the shortest route to your destination without any regard for your mode of transportation. So, if you're in the boonies driving and RV you might want to consult the old map too. Ginnie doesn't know it but all routes are not created equal.

Today, thank goodness, I got old Ginnie routed in for Tucson and it's a darned good thing I did. I thought the shot south to Tucson would be a no-brainer. All I can say is if Ginnie hadn't been guiding me I would still be wandering the highways trying to find my way around Phoenix. My sense of direction would have been all but useless. The way to Tucson is via Interstate 10 East! Now I defy you to look at any map and tell me Tucson is East of Phoenix. I'm told, the highway does go east but that's after you have driven over a hundred miles south! Anyway, if we hadn't had Ginnie, we would have been like that poor guy beneath the streets of Boston who never returned. Mind you this whole, nerve wracking time, Koty Ko-pilot was sound asleep in the co-pilot's seat. Thank you Koty Bear!

But, we're here and wowser I've never been in an RV park like this one. It's enormous. It's also like a cruise ship, a gazillion activities and schedules. Ain't no kinda place for this country girl. But, as always, we'll make the best of it. I would like to thank hurricane Ike for messing up my plans to shoot the Gulf Coast of Texas. Thank you IKE!


If you're dying for photos you can see all of our trip so far in high resolution at TRIP GALLERY.
Ciao for now,
Koty & Kinsey

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

WATCH OUT FOR THE TIRE SCAM IN KINGMAN, ARIZONA

Today was a travel day so no photos. It's certainly not because there wasn't anything to photograph! The scenery between St. George and the Nevada border was nothing less than breathtaking in the early morning hours.

Our path took me across Hoover Dam and that was quite an experience. It looks like they are in the process of building a by-pass so the road doesn't cross over the damn anymore. Obviously, there are security concerns and every vehicle not a passenger car must stop for a thorough inspection. But, back to the by-pass my goodness what an engineering feat. I do wish I could have photographed it for you because I can't really explain it except to say it's going to be a suspended bridge high above the dam. Check out this link Colorado River Bridge for photos and info on it. It really is going to be an amazing span.

The security guards were very thorough but also very pleasant. Koty even got a cookie. The little tramp! He simply seduces everyone. :)

From Hoover Dam to Kingman, Arizona it's pretty much just a divided road through the desert so we just zoomed right through. When we got to Kingman I pulled into a Chevron station to get diesel. BIG MISTAKE! When I was a kid I used only Chevron. This may have had something to do with my father giving me a Chevron gas card. Of course, in those days a gallon of gas was thirty-five cents! Over the years I started avoiding them because they seemed to be consistently more expensive than anyone else.

Anyway, I go against my better judgment and pull into the one in Kingman. The first thing I notice is the price is $3.45/gal. Since this is my first fill up in Arizona I'm thinking, "Wow, they have high road taxes here.", because in Utah I had paid $2.99. I'm unhappily filling up when a fellow comes around and tells me I have low tire pressure over on the other side. But, he says, if I pull over to their tire store he'll check it for me. I look at the tire and it looks fine to me but I say OK anyway. I pay my outlandish gas bill and pull over to the tire center. Next thing I know the guy is asking how old the rig is cuz this tire looks awful bad. I say it's a 2007 and says yeah but the tire says 2006! Like, a two year old tire is way round the bend. Mind you these are Michelin tires with 13,000 miles on them. He then asks where am I headed and I say Tucson "Oh," he says "I don't think you can make that."

I might not be the brightest bulb in the pack but this wasn't smelling right to me. So, I handed the guy a buck for a nice try and went on my way. Down the street a few blocks I see another tire place and a big motorhome up on blocks with the tires off. Looked like that guy was getting a complete new set. Then just outside of Kingman we pass a gas station on the left that was selling diesel for $2.89! My first thought was to be really mad about getting scammed fifty-five cents a gallon on the diesel but I decided I should be grateful I didn't get scammed on tires too! I advise watching your wallet if you're traveling through Kingman, AZ.

Nevertheless, I held on tighter to the steering wheel all the way to Wickenburg. More photo ops were to be had south of Kingman as we drove Joshua Forest Scenic Drive. The Joshua trees are simply beautiful.

By the time we reached Wickenburg I was pooped. I hadn't picked out an RV park in advance, which I normally do and that was a mistake too. We passed through town without seeing anything enticing and ended up pulling in to the first RV park I saw south of town for fear of missing out altogether. The last pull through had been let just moments before we arrived. When I stay just overnight I don't like to have to detach Shadow and go through all that rigamarole. Well, all they had was a place right in the roadway with nothing but water and power. I took one look at it and thought "Good grief" but I was too tired to fight it and it was only for the night. They actually put orange cones out to keep people from running in to us.

As it turned out this may be one of the friendliest parks we've ever stayed at. I hadn't noticed the name of the place when I pulled in but it's "Horsepitality" and it provides not only RV parking but horse boarding as well. In just a couple of hours we had met more people from Montana that we would in a year of living there. We even met two gals from Kalispell, practically neighbors. Lacking as the accommodation was it was more than made up for by the really cool people.

Oh, and about those tires. When we got parked I was going around looking at the tires, which all looked the same to me, a couple of fellows came up and asked if I was having a problem. I told them my Kingman story. They looked at the tires and said they couldn't see anything wrong with them. I'm sure if we get a flat you'll be hearing about it. So, we'll see what happens.

If you're dying for photos you can see all of our trip so far in high resolution at TRIP GALLERY.

Ciao for now,
Koty & Kinsey

©Kinsey Barnard Photography