Monsoon Season Double Rainbow Near Many Farms! ~ Navajo Nation

​After doing a trip to Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah, taking the road less traveled back to Arizona seemed like a good choice.  I never traveled on Highway 191 through the vast Navajo Nation in the past, so I kept the camera handy in case I ran across some interesting sights along the way. As is turned out, Highway 191 first goes through some Arizona high desert terrain and there are a few picturesque mesas and rock outcrops. After passing through the community of Many Farms in Apache County, vast agricultural areas can be seen along this highway going south near Chinle. Riding through the lush green Navajo farmland shortly after going through the barren desert expanse up by Kayenta actually is a captivating thing to do! The green surroundings seem so odd after looking at nothing but sand, rocks and sagebrush all day long. The summer monsoon season rain storms contribute to the lush green effect and these slow moving storms offer few surprises along the way.  

One such monsoon season storm was passing through the Many Farms region in the Navajo Nation while driving south on Highway 191 and it left plenty of light misty rain along its path. Misty rain on a bright sunny day in the desert is practically guaranteed to result in one of the prettiest optical phenomenon of them all, which is bright shining full rainbow!

After pulling off the road, I kept looking in the direction of the storm with the hopes of watching a rainbow start to form. All of a sudden it was as if somebody turned on a light switch, because a full arching rainbow took shape within a matter of seconds over the farmland. The rainbow was so big that I actually could not squeeze it into the picture frame when snapping the photos. Then the big bright rainbow went double, which is a very rare sight to see! 

Interest in Navajo Tourism has grown in recent years for many good reasons. With the increase in popularity more tourists are driving on the old two lane highways in the vast Navajo Nation. Every road that goes through the homeland of the Navajo is guaranteed to be a memorable scenic drive and stopping to smell the roses along the way will make the experience all the better. For this reason, pulling off on the side of the road in a place deep in Navajo farm country to look at a beautiful monsoon season rainbow is a great thing to do. Scenic views like this surely will provide peaceful memories that last a lifetime!