Watchtower - Grand Canyon

The Watchtower at Desert View is quite an interesting place to visit and holds some spectacular views of Grand Canyon and the Colorado River.

The Watchtower was built in 1932 primarily as an observation station and convenient rest stop. It was also built with the intention to help others understand the American Indian and his life in the past and present better. It was built by the Fred Harvey Company and Santa Fe Railroad, with Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter as the architect. I found that it having a female architect in the 1930s to be quite impressive. It was built as a re-creation of the strange prehistoric towers that were found scattered over large areas of the Southwest.

Once you enter the Watchtower,  the large circular View Room you first enter represents the Kiva (Sacred Ceremonial Chamber) that was often built with ancient towers. Inside the Watchtower and the Kiva is a beautiful record of Indian art that was collected from various sources.

The walls and even the ceilings were decorated, multiple levels.

The views from the observation room were amazing. They even provided binoculars so you could get an even better view of the surrounding area and the Colorado River.

View from the window

Great view!

The Watchtower was a nice stop for us, exposing the kids to even more amazing views of Grand Canyon and the Colorado River, as well as exposure to some more Indian culture and the history of the area.

Tusayan Ruin - Grand Canyon

If you are at the Grand Canyon, it is nice to pop over to the Tusayan Ruin and Museum to get a sense of the past peoples living here.

People have lived on the Colorado Plateau for thousands of years. This particular ruin of the Tusayan is one of more than 4000 archaeological sites recorded within Grand Canyon National Park. It is estimated that people began construction of the Tusayan Pueblo around 1185. It was a small community, and it is estimated that at any one time about 16 to 20 people likely lived here. It is a dry climate, so it is hard to say what attracted people to live here. They ate wild foods and game, and also had to cultivate their own corn, beans, and squash.

Where some rooms were

Location of Large Kiva - a ceremonial chamber

This stop is a great place to get a sense of some of the cultures that have inhabited Grand Canyon. It was good that our kids could experience not only the overwhelming geology of this area, but some of the cultures as well.

Walnut Canyon Cliff Dwellings

While in Arizona, we visited the Walnut Canyon National Monument and its cliff dwellings. This was a special treat on our way to Grand Canyon.

From the visitor center, we walked down 240 steps (185 feet) from the rim to get to the trail of cliff dwellings that we were allowed to look at. The trail we were on took us by 25 of the cliff dwelling rooms. However, from the trail you could look around the canyon and see many more pockets of dwellings all throughout the cliff areas, more than 300 rooms.

Walnut Canyon

Cliff Dwellings

 These dwellings were built under overhanging cliffs. Walnut Canyon's only permanent inhabitants built these more than 800 years ago. Inside the canyon and throughout the forests the Sinagua people made this their homeland for a little more than 100 years. They lived here by farming, hunting deer and small game, gathering useful plants, and trading. It is not clear why the people decided to move on, but it is generally believed that they moved to new villages and assimilated with the Hopi culture.

Checking out part of a room (minus some walls)

Walking around the ridge of the trail was a bit nerve-racking for me, as I held the hand of my four year old. I imagine these people were very sure-footed and comfortable with heights, as well as very resourceful. The rooms they built were not just for sleeping and living, but for storage as well. They had to make large pots to store water for the drier seasons. They also had to make their farmlands on the rims.

The black on the walls is from the fires they would burn in these rooms.

A renovated wall, but it gives you an idea of what these rooms were like.

The door is below, and the hole above is the venting system for their fires.

It is amazing to think of people's resourcefulness. This was a good lesson for the boys, to see how different people live and how creative we can be with what we have available to us. Perhaps they may not live on the sides of cliffs, but it is important to be wise with what they have available to them.

Getting their Junior Ranger badges

Petrified Forest and Painted Desert

We spent a wonderful day at the Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert in Arizona. It's amazing to see the geologic creations around us and appreciate God's power and creativity.

Checking out a tepee near the entrance

 Our journey through the Petrified Forest started at the Rainbow Forest Museum. The boys started their Junior Ranger workbook here as well. The museum had some exhibits of petrified wood, fossils, and displays of prehistoric animals. We were also introduced to a film orienting us to the land's history. It's amazing to imagine how much petrified wood was here before people started taking it. It is illegal to collect or remove any petrified wood from the park now, although unfortunately some people still do.

Starting their Junior Ranger workbooks

Giant Logs Trail

Checking out the petrified logs

The petrified wood had remarkable colors. The many colors of petrified wood came from the minerals in the silica-saturated waters that were in this area. Iron, carbon, manganese, and sometimes cobalt and chromium produced patterns and blends of yellow, red, black, blue, brown, white, and pink. We were impressed by all these colors we saw in the logs.

Amazing colors

"Old Faithful" - almost ten feet across the base

Imagine how many logs were here before people started taking them.

We took a walk and checked out the Crystal Forest Trail. The trail had many beautiful pieces of petrified logs with crystals hiding inside. There used to be logs here containing glassy amethyst and quartz crystals, but people had removed them from the logs.

At the Crystal Forest Trail

The Jasper Forest contained bluffs which once had much petrified wood but now only had some wood strewn across the valley forest. Erosion of the high rocky bluffs left hundreds of petrified logs. You can still see logs stuck in the bluffs.

At the Jasper Forest

The Tepees looked amazing with their layers of colors. They are layered with blues, purples, and grays that were created by iron, carbon, manganese, and other minerals.

The Tepees

Newspaper Rock was a great spot to see hundreds of petroglyphs etched into the stone. Unfortunately, the area is closed below the cliff due to rock instability and defacement. But it is still quite a site to see.

Newspaper Rock

Petroglyphs

We visited Puerco Puebla, which is a large archaeological site that was occupied over 600 years ago. We were able to see the partially excavated pueblo and a few of the room foundations. It is neat to think of the past when people lived here, though it is not a welcoming environment, so I can see why they moved on.

Puerco Puebla

Partially excavated pueblo

More petroglyphs

We finally arrived at the Painted Desert Rim. There are actually many picturesce overlooks along the road providing spectacular panoramic views. Photos don't do it justice, although we tried to capture some of the beauty. The hills and their layered colors are much more beautiful in person.

Painted Desert

At the Painted Desert Inn the boys completed their Junior Ranger badges.

Taking the Junior Ranger oath

The boys with their first Junior Ranger badges.

This was a great trip for us. We learned a great deal about the geology and history of the land, as well as the ancient peoples and animals. For a visual learner, this is a great field trip. We'd recommend doing the Junior Ranger program as well, which gave our kids that extra push to learn and notice more than they may have without it.