Lyman State Park

I dragged the kids off to Lyman State Park in north eastern Arizona for the weekend. It was pretty nice. The weather was cool, and the area was surrounded by rolling green hills. Blue skies and puffy white clouds. Honestly, I thought I was in another state.
The lake wasn't the highlight of the trip though, it was brown and muddy. I had thought we might go swimming, but for me water has to be blue before I can swim in it!
Lots of petroglyphs, but why else would I go there, right? The park ranger was pretty good, but I about fell over when he actually touched a few of the glyphs. I remember going to the White Tank mountains to see some glyphs once when I saw some guy let his dogs walk over a glyph panel. I went off on him, and he responded with the universal "What's your problem?" response that everyone gives when they're caught defacing a natural treasure. Well, I just gave the park ranger a dirty look.
You see, you have to take a boat across the lake to see the glyphs, and the ranger drives the boat. So if I piss of the ranger, do I have to swim back? I decided not to chance it.
There was another person in the group that kind of set me off. It was a middle aged Hopi woman, walked right over some glyphs on a boulder to take a picture. The ranger objected and asked her to not step on the glyphs, and she gave him the same "What's your problem?" response that the guy with the dogs gave me.
Is it me? Or wouldn't a Native American be a little more senstitive then the rest of us pale faces when it came to things like ancient artifacts? I've been frustrated by my dealings with these folks in the past. Once I wanted to go onto the Gila River Indian Reservation to visit a glyph site, and thought I was being a good citizen by calling the Tribal Government to ask permission first. "No," they told me. "But you are welcome to come visit our casinos!"

On our way to the lake, we went through the Salt River Canyon. Wow, what a beautiful place. I had no idea that I would see such awesome natural beauty on our trip. The colors were just amazing. There just isn't any regular brown earth up there. All the soil is red, with evergreen trees, and rapids running through the bottom of the canyon. Lots of colors and textures we just don't get here in Phoenix. If you ever get the chance, take the trip. Plan a couple of hours just to be lazy around the canyon. At the bottom there's a rest stop where Indians will sell you jewelry and sodas (I bought both!), and there are steps down to the river's edge. There are plenty of places on both sides of the canyon to stop, get out of the car, and stand in awe of the spectacular views.