The difference between ascending a mountain and probing a canyon...

After driving through Monument Valley (that we did not find that impressive), we headed to Page, AZ, the city of the overly famous Antelope Canyon. Since the canyon is located on the Navajo Tribal Park, you have to be accompanied by a guide. It is supposed to be one of the most beautiful canyon, but it is also very short. After looking at the prices (we were looking at over $130 for all of us for an hour and a half tour!), the decision was easy to make. We had seen amazing canyons for free in the last couple of months and could not stomach that price. JF did some Googling and found a great neighboring canyon that we could partly probe unaccompanied for a mere $10 for the permit. The navajo sandstone is different from the other types of sandstone we had seen so far and contrary to Antelope canyon, who sees over 100 visitors a day in high season, we were totally alone in Water Holes Canyon.

:: Monument Valley, AZ ::

:: Horseshoe Bend, near Page, AZ ::

:: Entering Water Holes Canyon, near Page, AZ::

:: Going down into Water Holes Canyon, near Page, AZ ::

Kathy and Craig Copeland (Utah Canyon country) say that "the difference between ascending a mountain and probing a canyon is the difference between the ego and the id. Attaining a summit is celebratory. "Wahoo!" you say, "We made it!" Standing in the recesses of a canyon is meditative. "Whoa" you whisper, "This is cool." The experience mirors the topography, of course. Mountains are the earth's extroverts. Canyons are their opposite, the introverts. (...) Mountains talk, canyons listen." 

 

A weekend of quiet...

 **Désolée à mes lecteurs francophones, mais je n'ai pas envie de tout traduire ce soir... 

The sun was almost setting when we left Cortez, Colorado, on Friday night, after another great day of mountain biking at Phil’s World. We had been through a big week of work and had slept in parking lots most nights since it was the only place we could get half-decent Internet connexion to work at night. You really have to be Canadians to think that the Walmart parking lot will be a good option on a Thanksgiving night since everybody and its neighbor is stuffing himself with turkey and gravy and it shouldn’t be packed with truck drivers that let their engine turn all night (like the first night we were in Cortez...). But we forgot about the Black Friday sales… until the parking lot started to fill at 9 pm… for the sales beginning at 10 pm…
So on that Friday night, heading towards Arizona, we were really looking forward to a weekend without Internet connexion and electricity in the middle of the desert, as far as possible from obnoxious night-time deal finders. I was hoping to go to the Four Corners National Monument, the only place where 4 states touches, to play a game of state twister (right foot in New Mexico, left foot in Arizona, left hand in Utah and right hand in Colorado), but it was already closed when we drove by. We cranked the radio and sang loudly as the night was falling over us. We were a crazy happy bunch!

:: Amazing mountain biking at Phil's Word, Cortez, Colorado ::

We had no specific plans of where to camp, but we shooting for the area of Bluff, Utah, where we would easily find a desert back road to stop for the night. It was getting late and we were getting hungry and there were no pull-outs in sight… When we finally found a spot that could work, it was pitch black. Parking a 30 feet long trailer in complete darkness is not a fun game… not after a long week, with short nights and a bunch of hungry kids on the back seat… The giddy atmosphere quickly turned sour as JF was trying to park and I was trying to light the way with a stupid cell phone flashlight… I never know how to give him direction when it is as bright as day, so in the dark? Forget it. We had a nasty exchange and finally parked the trailer. Once inside, I opened the fridge to start dinner and a chickpea salad bowl fell on the ground and the content started rolling EVERYWHERE. I lost it (you have to know that every time I open either the fridge or any cupboard something falls off. Every. Freaking. Time.). I had a good cry on my bed over our lost evening (yes, it was the first day of my period too…). And I realized something pretty important: as a child, when my parents fought, I never knew what was going on. I was left with harsh words, slamming doors and a knot in my stomach. I know they did not feel like I should be part of it even more by explaining to me more that what I witnessed, but my imagination led me to places that were probably much worse.

This is why I told the girls I wanted to explain something to them. I told them about the big week we had and the dinner that we didn’t have and the stress of backing a trailer in a dark alley. And we talked about stress and yelling and love. And they totally got it and I could see how they relaxed after that. And I totally did too.

It is utopic to think we will never argue in front of them anymore. But it is realistic to think that we will deal with these situations by not over-dramatizing and explaining them simply what happened. And then, we played cards all together a little too late... and they slept their way into the Valley of the Gods and up the Moki Dugway switchbacks until we reached beautiful Muley Point where we had lunch.



We then found a great (and free!) campsite (with picnic table, an amazing view, a fire pit and toilets!). We had a wonderful evening, roasting potatoes and cinnamon and raisins filled apples over the fire, celebrating our blissful and joyful life!

:: Muley Point Overlook ::

:: Muley Point Overlook ::

:: Amazing cryptobiotic soil crust on Road Canyon hiking trail. Cryptobiotic organisms allow the sand to stick together for plants to grow by retaining water and preventing erosion. This is why the Utah desert is very different from the Sahara, for instance. It can take up to 200 years for cryptobiotic soil to look like this, so you want to be very careful not to step on it. ::

:: The best campsite ever at Goosenecks State Park, with Muley Point just above the girls in the background ::

 :: Engraving in sandstone pieces at Goosenecks State Park ::

:: Roasting potatoes and apples, alone in the middle of the desert. A perfect evening. ::

:: Can you see the stars? This was shot in complete darkness, but the moon was so big and bright that it looked like day (exposure of 15 s, the exposure I usually use to shoot stars)! ::

:: A car drove by at Goosenecks State Park ::

:: Another moonlit night shot at Goosenecks State Park ::

:: Goosenecks State Park ::

And a little video of our last couple of weeks!

Cortez, Colorado: skate park photo shoot

I had to take some photos for my online photo class and since JF had to work all day at the Cortez library, I spent the day at the Rec center with the girls (a warm shower AND access to a super nice warm pool with a lazy river, a (scary!) water slide and a super fun park in the pool for $2,50: I am all for it!) and we hit the skate park after lunch since Mathilde wanted to ride her scooter.

Je devais prendre des photos pour mon cours de photo en ligne et étant donné que JF devait travailler toute la journée à la bibliothèque de Cortez, j'ai passé la journée au centre récréatif avec les filles (une douche chaude ET un accès à une super belle piscine chaude avec une rivière, une glissade d'eau (pas mal intense, par contre!) et un super parc dans l'eau, le tout pour 2,50$ : je suis partante!). Puis, nous sommes allées au skate park après dîner comme Mathilde voulait faire de la trottinette.


She was really bugged that there were lots of teenagers going fast and being loud, but after watching for a good half hour, she decided to go and she was so cute to see among those big kids! My brave little girl!

Ça la dérangeait pas mal qu'il y ait plein d'adolescents qui allaient vite et qui étaient bruyants, mais après les avoir regardé une bonne demie-heure, elle a décidé d'y aller. Elle était tellement mignonne parmi tous ces grands! Ma brave petite fille!

For this week class, we had many different things to practice: overexposing to blow out the background, shooting blurred shots in manual focus, playing with negative space and shooting through objects. I am telling you, this class is a blast! For more details on each photo, visit my Flickr account.

Pour le cours de cette semaine, nous avions différentes choses à pratiquer : surexposer pour faire disparaître l'arrière-plan, faire des photos floues en focus manuel, jouer avec l'espace vide dans les photos, et prendre des photos à travers des objets. Je vous jure, ce cours de photo est génial! Pour plus de détails sur chacune des photos, visitez mon compte Flickr

Mesa Verde NP, Colorado

We decided to do a little loop in Southwest Colorado to see Mesa Verde NP, a UNESCO World Heritage site that is the richest archeological preserve of cliff dwellings build by Ancestral Puebloan people.

Nous avons décidé de faire un petit détour dans le sud-ouest du Colorado pour visiter le PN Mesa Verde, un site classé patrimoine mondial par l'UNESCO qui contient les plus importants sites archéologiques de bâtiments troglodytiques construits par les Pueblos.

To go visit The Spruce Tree House (where about 60 to 80 persons lived for about 75 to 100 years), the best preserved cliff dwellings in the Park, we had to be accompanied by a guide. For everything Ranger Jon lacked in human psychology, Ranger Janis made up for it in loving-kindness. It was a really interesting visit where we learned how the Puebloans used juniper tree bark to make rope and baby diapers, as well as yucca pointy leaves as needles to sew and their grinded root as soap. We found out they moved from the top mesa (plateau) to the cliffs to be protected from the elements and that girls were mothers by 13 and that we would be elders at 35 (when they usually died because of teeth infection caused by the complete wear of their teeth because of all the sand they would consume in their cornmeal that they grounded with sandstone...).

Pour aller visiter Spruce Tree House (où environ 60 à 80 personnes ont vécu pendant 75 à 100 ans), les bâtiments troglodytiques les mieux conservés dans le parc, nous devions être accompagnés par un guide. Pour tout ce que Ranger Jon ne possédait pas en psychologie humaine, Ranger Janis compensait en bienveillance. Ce fut vraiment une visite intéressante pendant laquelle nous avons appris comment les Pueblos utilisaient l'écorce de genévrier pour faire de la corde et des couches pour bébés, ainsi que la pointe des feuilles de yucca comme aiguille à coudre et les racines moulues de cette même plante comme savon. Nous avons appris qu'ils ont déménagé du plateau (mesa) dans les falaises pour se protéger des éléments et que les filles étaient mères à environ 13 ans et que nous serions grands-parents à 35 ans (âge auquel ils mourraient habituellement d'infection dentaire causée par l'usure complète de leur dent à cause de tout le sable qu'ils mangeaient dans leur semoule de maïs qu'il moulait avec du grès...).

The ancestral Puebloans were very spiritual people and gathered in kivas, some underground ceremonial chambers. The dwelling contains 114 rooms and 8 kivas. The Puebloans vanished from the place at once and it is still not clear today why they left everything behind. Was it because a drought left them with not enough food?

Les Pueblos ancestraux étaient très spirituels et se rassemblaient dans des kivas, des salles de cérémonies souterraines. Ces bâtiments troglodytiques contiennent 114 chambres et 8 kivas. Les Pueblos sont disparus de cet endroit de façon subite et il n'est pas encore clair aujourd'hui pourquoi ils ont tout laissé derrière. Ont-ils manqué de nourriture à cause d'une sécheresse?

:: A Kiva ::

:: A Kiva ::

:: Mathilde entering a Kiva/Mathilde entre dans la Kiva ::

The sun was setting as we were leaving Spruce Tree House and all I could think of was how busy this place once was. I could see the children running among turkeys (they were pets, they did not eat them), women cooking at the back of the dwellings (the back cliffs are darkened by soot), the elders sewing... As my friend Heather Davis wrote about this place: Being in the ruins, I felt the history of mankind in a more sensual way, I could feel the floors and touch the walls and, imagining myself seven hundred years into the past, I wondered at our ancestors' skills, how they had managed to feed and clothe themselves. I imagined giving birth and raising a child without hospitals, grocery stores, or electricity, with spirits instead of scientists, stories instead of newscasts, and songs instead of crossed fingers.

Le soleil se couchait quand on a quitté Spruce Tree House et je ne pouvais m'empêcher de penser à toute l'activité qu'il y avait déjà eu ici. Je pouvais voir les enfants courir parmi les dindons (c'était des animaux de compagnie, ils ne les mangeaient pas), les femmes qui cuisinaient à l'arrière des chambres (la falaise du fond est noircie de suie), les plus vieux qui cousaient... Comme ma copine Heather Davis a écrit au sujet de cet endroit : Dans ces ruines, je ressentais l'histoire de l'humanité avec tous mes sens, je pouvais sentir les planchers et toucher les murs et m'imaginer il y a 700 ans. Je m'interrogeais sur les aptitudes de nos ancêtres, comment ils faisaient pour se vêtir et se nourrir. Je m'imaginais donner naissance à un enfant et l'élever sans hôpitaux, sans épiceries ou électricité, avec des esprits au lieu des scientifiques, des histoires au lieu des bulletins de nouvelles et des chants qu'on entonne au lieu de se croiser les doigts.

:: And since we are talking about old rocks and ruins: JF and I, at 21, on top of Mt Jacques-Cartier, the highest summit in Quebec (well, while this photo is not 700 years old, it's still quite old...!)/Et comme on parle de vieilles roches et de ruines : JF et moi, à 21 ans, au sommet du Mont Jacques-Cartier, le plus haut sommet du Québec (bon, même si cette photo ne date pas de 700 ans, elle a quand même de l'âge!) ::