Category: National Parks

Saguaro National Park East

Tucson AZ

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein
-Psalm 24:1

Having never seen a single saguaro cactus in person prior to this trip, this park was amazing to me! Saguaro National Park is both on the east and the west side of Tucson. This park is on the east.

Petrified Forest National Park AZ

This National Park, just east of Holbrook AZ, is an unusual place. There is the painted desert which is very colorful landscape, ancient pueblos with petroglyphs, rock formations with more petroglyphs, and then fields of petrified wood of various colorations.

Painted desert viewpoints
Historic Painted Desert Inn
Route 66 monument

The village on the Rio Puerco (Puerco Pueblo) is a prehistoric settlement built of shaped sandstone blocks by ancestral Puebloan people. It was inhabited between 1250 and 1380 AD. At its peak the pueblo had over 100 rooms, with a possible population of 200 people. During the village’s occupation, fields of corn, beans, and squash sustained by the summer rains would have filled the river’s floodplain.

Kiva, a large room that is used for spiritual ceremonies and a place of worship.
Puebloan ruins.
Summer solstice marker. Prehistoric peoples used solar calendars to plan their lives around the changing season. Solstice days also marked important days for annual ceremonial cycles. The rising summer solstice Sun flows down the cleft in the boulder, creating light and shadows on the spiral petroglyph, changing daily until the light touches the center of the spiral.
Petroglyphs.
More elaborate petroglyphs.
More Puebloan ruins.
Newspaper rocks, with a plethora of petroglyphs.
Notice the hand picture on the left.
The Tepees
Another Tepee.
A petrified tree, called the Agate Bridge.
A petrified tree.
Petrified logs.
Beautiful colors.
All of these log segments are petrified wood.

Grand Canyon

Arizona

In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.
-Psalm 95:4-5

It is hard to give a sense of the size of the Grand Canyon in pictures. You must see it in person to understand how huge it is. Nonetheless, here are some pictures to show small glimpses of the beauty of the Grand Canyon.
This is called Duck on a Rock.

Mesa Verde National Park

Mancos CO

Mesa Verde is home to many cliff dwellings, pueblos and pit houses. This region was home to about 40,000 people as late at the 1200s AD. Current tribes who trace their ancestors to this area include the Pueblo, Hopi, Ute, Navajo and Apache. Many still consider this a sacred place and return to make pilgrimages to reconnect with their ancestors, share knowledge and gather medicines.
Point Lookout
Pit house, circa 595 AD.
Navajo Canyon.
Navajo Canyon.
Square Tower House, circa 1200-1300 AD.
Pit Houses and Pueblos, circa 700-950 AD.
Pit Houses and Pueblos, circa 700-950 AD.
Pit Houses and Pueblos, circa 700-950 AD.
Pit Houses and Pueblos, circa 700-950 AD.
Pit Houses and Pueblos, circa 700-950 AD.
This large, deep, and impressive kiva, built about 1074 AD, is part of the last village built at this site.
Sun Point Pueblo, circa 1200s AD.
Sun Point View. This is the Sunset House.
Oak Tree House, a fifteen room cliff dwelling.
New Fire House, twenty-two room cliff dwelling.
Fire Temple, circa 1250 AD.
Sun Temple, circa 1250 AD.
Sun Temple.
Sun Temple.
Cliff Palace. This is the star of the park. With park rangers, visitors can climb down and up ladders to see and walk through some of the rooms. We saw the palace from across the canyon.
Close up of the left side.
Close up of the right side.