Four Corners, AZ, UT, CO, NM

Yesterday, we left Cortez and began the journey to Canyon de Chelly. We decided to stop at Four Corners since it was on the way. Not too much to see there except for the survey marker that indicates that there are four states touching at that point. It's a nice exhibit, and everyone is milling around to have a picture taken with feet in all states at once. It was funny to see some people squat down and put a foot and a hand in a different state. They have so many people taking pictures that they built a stand so you can look down and see the entire monument. Only 2 people on the stand at once for picture taking, which meant that once it was your turn, you called your subject's name and everyone watched. It made it more sociable and there was a lot of laughing as pictures were taken.

There were a lot of Native American vendors on the site, so we did some shopping before getting back on the road. The scenery began to change again to the more desert like landscape, although there were a number of farms. At one point, the RV that was in front of us stopped and we couldn't see why, thought maybe there was an accident or something. No, it was only sheep in the road...

You can see a little dog trying to herd them, but I think the goat in the background was the instigator! Two of the sheep had crossed the road. Since there was no traffic, I got out of the car and shooed them back across with the others. It was pretty funny!

We took a back road to Chinle so that we could stop at the North Rim overlooks for Canyon de Chelly. We went to Mummy Cave and Massacre Cave overlooks. They are spectacular from above, and it was exciting to think that we would be seeing them from the canyon floor when we did the tour. When we got out of the car at Mummy Cave, a cute black and white dog came up to the car. He was really friendly, but looked like he needed some water. As Dave was pouring some water into a small indentation in parking lot, another little tan colored dog came up too. There was a woman getting out of a car and I thought maybe they were her dogs, so I asked her. She replied that they were wild and we should be careful. They really needed water, so we found a spot and poured what was left from a gallon jug for them, and continued down the trail. Another larger dog joined them in drinking, and the small tan dog followed us to the overlook, where he proceeded to jump up on the wall and lay under the information display. It made me nervous because there was a straight drop to the canyon from there. I think it was a small amount of shade for him. As we moved to the next display on the trail, he came along which made me happier. We ran into two locals selling petrified wood, and I mentioned the dogs. He said that they had been reported to the park service many times, but they don't do anything about them. It was sad to see them.

On to Chinle... We checked into our hotel and went to the Visitor Center to find out about the canyon tours. The ranger gave us a list of tours in the area. We went to Thunderbird Lodge to find out about a group tour. We wanted to do the full day tour because it went into both canyons - Canyon de Chelly and Canyon del Muerto. We were the first names on the list for the next day, but they needed at least six people for the tour to go. If there weren't enough for the full day, we could go on the half-day tour. Oh well, keep your fingers crossed!

We went to have some food, and to look around Chinle. It's kind of a dismal town. I think the only thing going for it, is the park. I was amazed to see so much livestock roaming around - horses, cattle, and lots of dogs. Surprising that we didn't see any dead animals along the road, but I guess people slow down because they know they could be there.

After eating, we checked back to see if anyone else had signed up for the tour. Not yet! The woman taking reservations told us that they have a lot of walk-ins for the tour and the one for that day had filled up to over twenty people in the morning. So we're hopeful.