Travel with Manfred

Travelogues from around the world

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document without a fee, provided that the person conspicuously and appropriately publishes on each copy the appropriate copyright notice and these terms and conditions for copying, distribution, and modifications. Changing this document or charging a fee for distribution or using this document for a financial profit is not allowed. Including this document in a publication that is for sale is not permitted.

This document solely expresses the author's current opinions. It in no way expresses the opinion of any other legal entity. This document does not claim to be correct, complete, or factual. Reading it is at your own risk.

Copyright © 1994, 2001 by Manfred P.. All rights reserved.

October 1, 1994

Kaibito Creek

Exploring Navajo Country

by

Manfred P.

Keywords: USA, Arizona, Kaibito Creek, Slot Canyons, tourist, travel trip report, travel log, travelogue.

This report was actually lost. One day when coping files back and forth this file ended up destroyed and with it the original trip report is lost forever. Unfortuantely.

All I can remember now is that it was a rather hot weekend. Surprisingly warm for October. I was coming up to Kaibito from the south, from Phoenix. Shortly before getting to Kaibito I stopped and pulled with the car off the main road. Not far, I just drove 5 or at most 10 minutes to be a bit away from the main road. It was a rest stop. I got out some sandwiches and sat down on a rock. I got very relaxed, very calm. I just chewed on my simple sandwich and sipped some water from the bottle. Something happened, I don't know what, but something did happen. I got unusually relaxed. Happiness filled my soul. A desert surrounded me, yellowish and light brown rocks everywhere. A dry landscape. Something like during a meditation happened to me. The landscape, the warm sunshine on my face, being away from people and traffic, all this together had this calming and satisfying effect on me. Like the whole area around Kaibito this was already Indian land; part of the Navajo Indian Reservation. Maybe my imagination of Indian spirits has something to do with it. I felt like a good Indian spirit had touched me. Whatever it was it made me feel good.

Kaibito is a small village. There is a general store there where you can buy food, hot coffee and other basics. But there is little more. The whole population of Kaibito is only 650 people. Less than 200 families live here. It is a dry and harsh land. There are no jobs and I don't think it is easy to live of the land here. Dust and rocks do not make for a rich harvest. The houses of the Indians are spread wide apart. There are few or hardly any paved roads. Only unsigned dirt roads lead to their homes. You can imagine that it is easy to get lost in these ever-forking dirt roads. Most Indians have a pickup truck and some horses.

Like everyone who visits Kaibito, I stopped at the general store. When I was there the door had the classic bells that rang every time someone entered or left. Kaibito and the general store are very close to the intersection of the two main roads, also the only two paved roads: 98 (or also labeled BIA22) is a small highway that runs east-west. BIA6331 is the main road that runs north-south.

I parked the car close to the intersection of 98 and BIA6331 and started walking. From here on I did everything on foot. I didn't really have a plan or any specific goal. I just wanted to explore the vicinity, nothing less, nothing more. I knew that nearby are creeks and canyons, including some of the famous Kaibito Creek and Slot Canyons. If I were to find them, great. If not, it didn't matter much either. Without a goal, without a plan, without a destination I "stumbled" through the countryside.

Just yards north of the 98 highway and not much west of the intersection of 98 and BIA6331 I found something that appeared to be a dry waterfall. A tiny little trickle of water was available now. Everything was dry so it is hard to imagine that this is a waterfall, but I was certain it is. Everything indicated it. The water, on the few days a year it was available, had to run from south to north. I followed a dry riverbed. Again the riverbed was small and not very distinguishable, but once you are in it is difficult to lose sight of it. The dry riverbed ran in a northeasterly direction. I followed it, for hours. The altitude was about 1750 feet and since I was following the dry river bed downhill the altitude slowly declined.

After walking and walking in the heat, in a wilderness of rocks and nothing else but rocks I reached a point where another dry riverbed joined the riverbed I was in. I kept on walking and a while later again another riverbed joined the one I was walking in, which apparently was the main riverbed. While following the riverbed I also found some canyon-like area. The canyon was not as deep or as long as the famous Kaibito Creek or Slot Canyons that are sometimes seen in movies or in nature books. Neither were they as narrow and steep as these "picture-book" canyons. Still the canyon I found was about 30 feet deep. After walking for hours this was at least something. Something is better than nothing. It was not impressive but it was a positive event, giving me some sense of accomplishment.

Thereafter I don't remember exactly what I did. Following the dry riverbed didn't look very promising. As far as I could see with my plain eyes there were no canyons in sight. Since I was on the ground I didn't have good visibility, so I could be wrong. In any case I decided to leave the riverbed behind. Here my memory draws a blank again. The next I remember was that I spotted something tall in the distances. Something stood out in the horizon. I got curious and wanted to know what it was. It took me a while to get close; it could have been close to an hour until I finally reached it. It was an old windmill. It was of the type one sees in the Wild West movies. Apparently it was used to pump water out of the ground. It was not in terrible shape. It could have used not too many years ago. Who knows?

It was getting late and it was definitely time to head back, I had a lot of distance to cover to get back to the 98 highway and to my car. It was a great weekend. Simple, a bit of adventure by which I refer to the part of exploring the unknown, and good physical exercise. Everything was just to my liking. I knew I had to come back.

Footnote by the Author:
As planned a second trip to the same region followed. This trip report is entitled On Search for Slot Canyons at the Upper Kaibito Creek. When I did the two Kaibito trips in 1994 I didn't plan anything and I went there without goals and without expectations. The above report was written in 2001 from my memories. It is quite amazing how well humans can remember things they liked and enjoyed. It was a great weekend for me and even 7 years later I had no problem remembering it and writing about it.

Were I to do Kaibito again, however, I would prepare better. I would carefully study topological maps of the area and possibly even read about the Slot Canyons in books. Armed with the topological maps and maybe even a GPS (remember there are no signs there whatsoever) one could plan and map out a very specific route to increase the chances to find interesting canyons. If you want to try that you can find Kaibito as follows: Kaibito is positioned 36.58 degrees north of the equator and 111.11 degrees west of the prime meridian. (Latitude 36.58ºN, Longitude 111.11ºW; lat=36.58, lon=-111.11). Good luck!