Sept. 1-2, 2013

At 2:00 PM we met the Navajo guides and drove to a place to leave our vehicles overnight.  We transferred to Suburbans outfitted with large tires and 4 wheel drive.  Even though Hunts Mesa is about 20 miles straight north of the Visitor Center, we made a rather looping journey almost back to Kayenta before we started on the gravel, sand, and rock ledge roads.  Expert back road driving skills are needed for these roads, but I have been on worse ones.  After we arrived at our photo stop, the guides continued to another place to set up camp and cook dinner.  We had good light for awhile, but a cloud bank obscured the sun about a half hour before sunset.  The Mesa is probably 500-800 feet above the valley floor and the view is to the north.  If you can recognize the rock formations, you can find the well known ones way off in the distance.  After dark we took photos of the Milky Way stars, as they were very brilliant in the dark sky.  After camping overnight, we got up in time for the sunrise at a different photo location.  Again clouds on the horizon lessened the full effect of the sunrise, but it was beautiful nevertheless.