The Little Painted Desert

April 19, 2018
The gorgeous pueblo ruins of Wupatki are left behind, and I point Freedom’s nose once again northward on highway 89A.

Cameron is the destination for an overnight, but it ends up only being a small respite because I do not find anywhere that looks like a good spot to camp even for one night. I do find a spot to park, have lunch, and walk the dogs, but this is Navajo Reservation land. I don’t think we will find anything unless a casino pops up. It doesn’t.

I haven’t been looking forward to this part of our journey as it looks pretty dreary on the map, but just beyond Cameron the scenery changes from blah to beautiful in an otherworldly way. We are entering The Little Painted Desert. Small hillocks of gray with colorful bare mountains in the background and it changes every few miles to something else as equally interesting.

The wind begins to kick up and it’s blowing with a furious force. Fortunately it is coming from the south so we have a nice tail wind to help us along. Getting out for photos is another story, but I am perfecting my wind stance. Clear, in-focus shots may be something else and not due to dropping the camera either. That’s a whole ‘nother problem, but I snap away and hope for the best as the wind tries to keep the doors closed on the van.

I call this “Spilled Toffee” as those square pieces of rock look like toffee to me.

We take a little break, I walk the boys beside this totally weird and wondrous landscape, then it’s back in the van to continue on.  Charlie gives the go-ahead, assuring me there are no errant lizards about.

The Chiweenie Brothers and I thank you for tagging along on our adventures. Hugs, Shawna

CURRENT READ:  Dead Mountain by Donnie Eichar. The untold true story of the death of nine hikers in Russia.  The author searches for the reason the young college students died, and the findings are pretty amazing.