Day 8: Sunday 20th June 2010: Grand Canyon to Farmington, New Mexico (Miles to Date: 1818)

We decided to get up and make a return visit to the Grand Canyon early in the morning, for several reasons. Firstly the light for viewing the Canyon is great (long shadows), there are less crowds, the temperature is much cooler and, lastly, we had a long way to travel. All these proved to be a great reasons! Our plan was to park-up at the Canyon Lodge and take the free bus out towards the Hermits Rest, which is some 8 ½ miles away from the Lodge. The bus route follows the Canyon's south rim, and there are several stops along the way. We decided to get off at a couple of stops on the way up and walk between the stops following the Canyon rim. The walk is flat, and the trail is fairly good. Whilst you remain a fair distance, well at least five or six feet from the edge, it does require a reasonably good head for heights – which Mark and Emily don't really have! We manage to walk a good two miles on the way to the Hermits Rest, and are thankful for the early start as the temperature is very comfortable. Finally we arrive at the Hermits Rest, which is a gift shop, café and Ranger's station. It is very handsome, rustic structure built into the side of the Canyon, with great views and, most importantly, a toilet. We decided to catch the bus back towards the Lodge, but get off at a stop about two miles from the end and walk the rest. Again this was an easy hike, following the rim trail, and was mostly downhill. By the time we arrived back at the first bus stop, the queues were very long, and we estimated nearly an hours wait for the bus. It was Father's Day and school vacation time, which probably explained the large crowds. From the Grand Canyon we headed out east, following the southern rim, to the point where the Canyon narrows. This is deep into Navajo Nation land, and the signs of poverty are clear to see, with ramshackle modular homes set amongst a barren, litter-strewn landscape. It is so sad to see, and despite the fact we have seen this desperate scene a number of times it is still shocking. Just before crossing the dried up Little Colorado we stopped at the Cameron Trading Post for some lunch, and it was most surprising. The dining room of the Trading Post is delightful, with fabulous decorations on the walls, but the most amazing feature was the shiny tin ceiling which covered its entirety. The speciality of the restaurant is fried Navajo bread, which is something like Yorkshire Pudding but if anything less healthy as it is fried rather than baked. The huge Navajo bread we chose is filled with chilli, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. Very tasty! Now full, we continued on towards New Mexico. We crossed more desert and even more desert. Along the route we passed close to Four Corners and Monument valley, but there was no time for making these detours (and we had already seen them on our previous trip). We did get to see the impressive “Ship Rock”, an impressive formation which rises up sharply out of the flat, desert floor. This rock is sacred to the Navajo and is known to them as “Rocks With Wings”. There is also a city known as Ship Rock, which might easily be renamed “Ship Wreck”, it is not a memorable place. Shortly after we departed Ship Rock we left the Navajo Nation and immediately everything changed, there were green lawns, rust free cars and tidy, neat homes. Finally we reach the home of Lindy Poole, our hostess for the night. Mark had not told the rest of the crew where we were staying, and they were somewhat surprised when we pulled-up outside a average house on a normal street. We were greeted by the bubbly Lindy who gave us the low down on where we staying. What Mark had booked for the night was “Kokopelli's Cave”, one of the most unusual bed and breakfasts in the World. To get there we had to drive out of town, and turn on to a dirt road which we followed a miles or so, climbing up on to a limestone mesa. Eventually we scrambled the car over some rocks and pulled up on the edge of a 150 foot cliff. To get to our accommodation we had to follow a rustic path hewn out of the side of the cliff, down 70 feet to our “apartment's” entry door. The path is rocky and there was a big steel door to negotiate, which is primarily to put off unwanted visitors. The most challenging section is the narrow slot, literally carved through a rock. This is truly an amazing place to stay. Kokopelli's Cave was constructed by a man called Bruce Black, an ex-naval officer and geologist, who literally blasted his way into the limestone cliffs. The Cave is extremely spacious and well appointed, with a large living area, a separate dining room, a kitchen, full bathroom and a large bedroom. The bathroom in particular was fabulous with a waterfall-style shower, which tumbles over a rock wall into a rock bath, complete with jacuzzi jets. Amazing stuff! The walls and ceiling are unashamed, natural rock as they were after the blasting took place. It took us sometime just to take in where we were actually going to spend the night and how marvellous the setting was. Lindy spent a good half an hour to show us around the Cave and how everything worked, she even bought Mark a Father's Day card, some meat to make up some burgers on the grill out on the patio and a bottle of wine. Even after a short few minutes we were feeling totally at home. Off the bedroom was a balcony with westerly views across the desert panorama, which gave us awonderful view of the setting sun. The drama of this was further increased by smoke filling the air from a forest fire way off in Flagstaff. We decided to spend a quiet night in, enjoying our Cave. One nice feature was the replica Kiva ( a room used by ancient Puebloans for religious rituals), which had a small fire place. Although it was warm outside, inside the Cave it was cool, so lighting the fire made it very cosy, especially when we lit some candles around the walls of the kiva. Of course we had to take the opportunity to use the bath.