Sand Canyon

Currently we are parked in our winter holiday home of Sun City Arizona.  As we enjoy our time here visiting with Shilo in Sun City West, we will let our pictures and adventures captured earlier this year up the road catch up to us on the blog. The mission for this day was to hike a trail called Sand Canyon which was west of Cortez, Colorado in the Canyon of the Ancients National Monument.  On the way back home there is a little family winery named Guy Drew Vineyards that we stopped into for a little treat at the end of the hike.  We didn't take any pictures while we were at the winery, but have a few stories from that visit.  I will share one here.  Guy ran the outdoor operation, and his wife Ruth Drew ran the tasting operation which was in their beautiful home, right in the magnificent kitchen.  We tasted a half dozen or so of their wines.  While we were there visiting and tasting with Ruth, she explained that they had about 200 acres and that there were several ancient ruins just on their property alone.  She explained that living with ruins in this area was just a way of life.  We found that to be just amazing, as we find ruins to be so very interesting.

The shot below is a picture of the trail head from the parking area.  A group of large and interesting rocks set the stage.

Looking back on Romeo and the other vehicles parked in the smallish parking area.

Gari leads the way up toward the rocks.  The ground she is walking on below is one giant rock.  It started in the parking area, where all the vehicles were parked on the same large rock.

We spot a trail leading up into the rocks.

Through the large rocks on the backside, the landscape opens up to a desert terrain.  We can see a few more large rocky structures and mountains in the distance.

Looking back toward the road and parking area we can see the large mountains that were across the road to the distant south.

Gari loves the desert landscape.

Steve found a trail marker with his nickname on it "Spur"

Desert scenery

Desert staircase

Interesting chimney rocks with caps.

Steve leads the way to the next small mesa.

We spied a big lizard on the way.  This rascal was every bit of 18 inches long.  we are used to seeing them about 4 or 5 inches in length.

Yet another mesa along the trail.

Upon approach it appears that there is an arch forming and perhaps a cave in there.

As we got closer we realized that there was an ancient ruin built in the protective overhang of that natural arch.

Signs requested visitors remain at a distance and Gari complies as she observes the relic without disturbance.

The shot below is looking into a canyon confluence of two dry rivers coming together.

Gari thinks that it is a beautiful day for a stroll through the natural earth.

Interesting terrain along the hiking trail.

A wider angle of the canyon confluence.

Mushroom caps surround a keyhole.  Do you see it?

Closer in shot of the keyhole.

Almost back to the trail head.  The large greeting rocks ahead.  Almost time for a little wining.

A surprise at the end of the hike; Gari found another ruin site.  Steve poses for a hero shot.

See you at Guy Drew's Vineyard!  http://www.guydrewvineyards.com/