US 160 - Tuba City: Week II

We've returned from our second excursion to the Navajo Nation to finish the field work on US-160. On this trip, we were locating the section corners that had been set between the late 1980's and 2006. These can be a bit of a challenge to find on the reservation because the Navajo do not divide their land according to the U.S. Public Land System in this area. It gave us a great opportunity to explore this interesting landscape a bit more thoroughly, as well as interact with the locals, who were extremely friendly and helpful to us.

The BLM sets a uniquely designed monument on the Navajo Reservation.


We found an exposed slice of petrified sand dune. The white lines of wind blown sand are actually solid rock.


Section Corner near standing rock hoo-doo's.


The monsoon rain had all the washes running with chocolate milk colored water.


We couldn't help but take some time to wander a bit.



The Moenkopi Wash Valley.




This was a fun hike.


Google Earth Lat/Long: 36°06'40.21"N,111°17'53.86"W

AZ SR 74 - Lake Pleasant

Since 2005 we have been surveying a 12 mile section of Arizona State Route 74, also known as the Carefree Highway. I had a chance to snap a few pictures in the early morning light of the nearby mountains and a bit of the flora featured here in the Sonoran desert surrounding Phoenix.






Google Earth Lat/Long: 33°49'45.77"N,112°21'32.25"W

US 160 - Tuba City

We began surveying the right of way of a five mile stretch of US 160 near Tuba City, Arizona. Tuba City is on the Navajo Reservation just East of Grand Canyon National Park. This job involves our standard procedure of locating the highway right of way monuments as well as the PLSS Cadastral Survey corners in the area.

The landscape here is extremely unique and has the feel of working on Mars. Very little grows here and the ground is composed of sand and loosely bonded sand.


The swift erosion of the ground here creates large washes and adventurous hiking to get to the survey monuments and often we found the monuments could no longer grasp the crumbling stone.



This area is rich in prehistoric remnants including real fossilized dinosaur tracks and marine life.

While searching for a survey monument, we came across this stone which has an exposed fossil of what appears to be a sort of star fish. The fossil impression is about three inches across. I was ecstatic to have found such a specimen.

It is also monsoon season in Arizona and the constant rumble of nearby thunderstorms was ever present. Here you can see one approaching the Grand Canyon with the North Rim still sun lit in the middle right of the picture.



Google Earth Lat/Long: 36°06'40.21"N,111°17'53.86"W