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#Nature
Luckily I had the directions to Coal Mine this time, because there is no sign, it’s on private property and you can’t see it from the road. Between mileposts 363 and 364 you turn off onto someone’s property and aim between a two-storey house and a windmill. It’s okay, they’re about half a kilometre apart.
I pulled up beside a photogenic ruin and grabbed my gear. As I stood up, the attraction of Coal Mine became clear. It was everything I’d hoped for and more. The reality of it was simply that it was the finest canyon I’d ever seen.
Sure, it’s not as deep as the Grand Canyon, doesn’t have as many hoodoos as Bryce, doesn’t quite have the sheerness of Zion and has no more colour than Cottonwood Canyon Road; but, it has everything; all of those features crammed into one of the earth’s most magnificent compact canyons. Why it’s not a major attraction I don’t quite understand; perhaps it’s where it is that causes people to miss it. This would be backed up by the fact that other nearby canyons are rarely visited also. Perhaps it’s because this is distinctly Indian country, as was the Square Butte earlier. All along the main routes you see stalls selling jewellery. I couldn’t help but think if they got a bit entrepreneurial they could make an absolute killing by developing some of the sites.
Still, I was more interested in this washed out hole in the ground. It’s on the edge of the 120 mile wide Painted Desert. The colours were the like of which I’d never seen before in one geological place. I moved around to parts where you could get out to; couldn’t stop shaking my head at what was there in front of me. Weird shapes, the layer of coal that used to be mined almost on top, the patterns in the rocks; I didn’t know where to look first.
After I’d spent over an hour poking in here and there I worked my way further south until I came across the benches that someone has put there. However, to my despair, I noticed there’s also a rope-supported trail to the bottom just a bit further on. Physically, I hadn’t enough left in me to go down but, know when you go that it’s an option. If you want to get to this point first you should drive to the side where the windmill is.
I’ve read another report since on another site that indicates you can drive to two other access points as well, further down the road, but I was unaware of those at the time. Also, you’ll read that you are on Indian land and, from every bit of information I could glean, it’s Navajo up the top and Hopi down the bottom. I’d boldly suggest you do just what myself and most people do; just go there. I tried to contact the Hopi re a trip to Blue Canyon but ran up a dead end, so I gave up after that.
So, if you’re looking for a café and accommodation beside a major attraction, you’ve come to the wrong place. However, if it’s solitude and a wonderful natural experience that fits the bill, then look no further.

Photo by Ian Smith

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