Rick Samco Photography

Rick Samco Photography

Canyon de Chelly

in February 2020, Martha and I had spent a delightful day at Canyon de Chelly (gallery link). But we only had time to drive the rim roads and peer down into the beautiful canyon, so I promised myself to hire a Navajo guide to experience the floor at the next opportunity. So, early upon arriving on this trip, we arranged for a next day tour. In the meantime, we spent a fruitful time exploring the rim's overlooks and shooting the sunrise from the Spyder Rock Overlook. We found Canyon de Chelly's autumn color to be better than Zion's – only about 1/4 of the trees brown due to freezing. And the next day we spent about 6 hours with Ben in his jeep driving a good portion of the canyon's dirt roads, marveling at the canyon walls, rock art, and colorful trees.

Afterwards we realized that the Southwest's Cottonwood color was finished for the year and that it was time to focus on something else. Since the workshop started in only a few days in Page, we had to focus on activities near the Arizona-Utah border. Since Andy hadn't been to Monument Valley, we decided to spend the next couple of days there...

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