Grand Canyon or Bust!

We left Arches and drove south towards Arizona to see the Grand Canyon. The drive took us past some interesting rock formations, through canyons, and across miles and miles of baron desert. We drove right through the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation. It was a strange experience. The Navajo Nation is self governing under the U.S. government. The area seemed impoverished and lawless. The long ride gave us plenty of time to research the current state of Native American populations, which is a sad state indeed. Crossing the border into Utah I saw a dog on the side of the road sniffing around what I swore were human remains. We banged a U turn to check out the situation and sure enough, we found a dog, skin and bones, and almost too weak to walk in the 100 degree desert. 

We gave it food and water while Rachael called an animal rescue center. As soon as they found out we were on a reservation we were told "those rez dogs are trouble" and were advised to leave it behind. The "human remains" by the way ended up being an entire horse skeleton. 

Both crying, we got in the car and left the dog to fend for himself in the desert heat. 

The phrase "those rez dogs are a real problem" really stuck in my head. Some quick googling brought up countless articles of the over population of stray dogs on the reservations. The dogs can travel in packs of up to 70 and will take down anything they can find including livestock and people. We felt SO lucky that we weren't bit by the dog and agreed, no more picking up strays!

As we got closer to the Grand Canyon we stopped at horseshoe bend:

And then finally, the Grand Canyon!