The Canyons

    When one looks down at the canyon from the visitor center the view is rather disappointing: where the bridge crosses it, the canyon is barely 30 feet deep. However, the land rises steeply to the North-East, from 5,500 to over 7,000 feet, and at its deepest point the canyon walls are over 1,000 feet high. Canyon the Chelly is actually a system of canyons. About 4 miles from its mouth the canyon divides. While Canyon the Chelly continues toward South-Southwest, Canyon del Muerto, the canyon of the dead, heads in a North-Northwesterly direction. The canyon, supposedly, got its macabre name from two mummies that were found next to the ruins in Mummy Cave. However, my Internet references do not agree when or by whom the mummies were found. Both canyons divide again: from Canyon del Muerto Black Rock Canyon branches off to the East, and from Canyon de Chelly Monument Canyon branches off to the South. Canyon de Chelly is 26 Miles (42 Km) long, Canyon del Muerto 35 Miles (56 Km).
    Canyon de Chelly is not only geologically interesting, it is also a mayor archaeological site. The climate in the protected canyon was more conducive to agriculture than the surrounding arid desert and over 100 ruins tell the stories of previous settlers. Settlers that lived in the canyon BC were hunters and gatherers and left only animal bones and the remains of rock shelters. Later settlers learned how to make baskets from the fibers of the Yucca plant and, therefore, are known as "Basket Makers". Around 750 CE agriculture started to spread and the settlers built large, multi-room dwellings or villages (Spanish "Pueblos"), the remains of which are the spectacular ruins seen today. These settlers are usually known as "Anazasi", a Navajo word, which, supposedly, means "ancient enemies", and their settlements extended to other areas of the South-West (the Navajo did not move into the area until after 1400). The Anazasi phase ended rather suddenly around 1300. The cause for this is under dispute, and it is now believed that an extended dry period was responsible. It is also believed that the Anazasi did not simply disappear but migrated south and west, where they became the ancestors of the Pueblo indians and of the Hopi. Hopi legends talk about a period of migrations which preceded their settling, around 1300, in the area they live in now. The Hopi call the Anazasi, which are likely to be their ancestors, "Hisatsinom", which means "ancient people".

    Elderhostel classes usually alternate classroom lectures with field trips and we had three of those trips to explore the canyon. In a school bus, the usual Elderhostel transportation (it is inexpensive) we toured the south rim of the canyon on Tuesday and the north rim on Thursday. On Friday afternoon we entered the canyons on two four-wheel-drive vehicles with Navajo guides. These "coaches", actually stretched pick-up trucks, are operated by the Thunderbird Lodge, which also uses 6-wheel military trucks if the water level gets very high. Another company uses a Mercedes "UNIMOG", a utility vehicle with 4-wheel drive, to take tourists into the canyon. This vehicle was parked in front of the Holiday Inn.
    After entering the canyon, one sees why a four-wheel-drive vehicle is necessary: the canyon floor is a wide sand flat, partially flooded - and it was going to get worse.
    We turned into the Canyon del Muerto and, after several miles of bumpy ride, stopped at the ruin of the Antelope House, named after some pictographs of the animal, added around 1800 by a Navajo artist. The day before we had had an aerial view of thew ruin from the north rim of the canyon, shown at left. Like most of the structures it was build in a shallow cave in the north wall of the canyon, where it was protected from the sun during the hot summers, but could be warmed by it in winter. A view of the ruins from the canyon level is shown at right. Both photos show unusual circular structures (the one in the foreground at right is concealed by trees in the aerial view). They are believed to be forerunners of the Hopi "Kivas", circular underground chambers which play an important role in the religious rituals of that tribe.
    We continued past the turn-off of Black Rock Canyon. At the separation point is the so-called "Fortress Rock". The photo at left, taken from the canyon rim, does not show that the rock in the foreground is actually separated from the rim of the canyon behind it by a deep fissure. The rock is accessible only from the back with the help of some notched tree trunks. It was used by the Navajo as a last retreat in 1863 when US troops were rounding them up to march them to an assigned reservation area in New Mexico, an event known today as the "Long Walk". The troops waited out the Navajo who, eventually, had to come down because they were running out of water and food. We could actually see, with binoculars, two of the tree trunks which are still in place after almost 140 years. At the foot of the rock the photo shows a field which has not yet been planted.
    We continued in Canyon del Muerto to a ruin known as "standing cow ruin", named after a large pictograph of the animal, which was, most likely, painted by some Navajo artist in the early 1800's. As I have read, the Navajo normally do not like to go into buildings in which people might have died. This is due to some events in the Navajo mythology. For this reason the Anazasi ruins have very rarely been disturbed by the Navajo. The rare exception is the Standing Cow Ruin, where some years ago the foundation of one of the ancient circular buildings was used to construct a stone hogan. As our guide and driver told us, it were his grandparents who build the stone hogan and moved in to attend their fields in the canyon. However, after some time the arm and leg joints of both his grandparents started to swell and hurt. They consulted a "hand trembler", a medicine man specializing in the diagnosis of medical problems. He told them that their medical problems came from violating the Anazasi ruin. They abandoned their stone hogan and, as our guide told us, their medical problems improved and, finally, went away.

    We backtracked our route to the point where the canyons split and then headed left into Canyon de Chelly. About 1-1/2 miles in we came to the White House Ruin, the largest of all ruins in the canyons. It received its name from the center structure, which, after all these centuries, still shows a coating of white plaster. Like all ruins it is located in an alcove in the north wall of the canyon. On Tuesday we had seen it from the South Rim Drive, as shown at left, but the distance had obscured how big the structure was. Only from the canyon floor could one see that there were actually two building complexes, one on the floor and one, higher up, in the alcove. The White House Ruin is the only one that is accessible on foot and without a guide. From the overlook a steep trail leads down into the canyon. In fact, a teacher, who had hiked down with his class, passed out on the way up and Jerry, our leader, used his cell phone to call the park ranger - which turned out to be William Yazzie, on of our lecturers.
    At the White House Ruins, as at all points that are visited by many tourists, a number of enterprising Navajo had set up tables and were hawking Navajo crafts, silver jewelry and rugs. One of them was even offering a staple of the Navajo diet: coffee and Indian fry bread.
    We turned back from this point as it would have been almost 8 miles to reach the landmark of Canyon de Chelly: Spider Rock. We had seen it, a double spire, 800 feet tall, from the canyon rim on Tuesday. Spider Rock is surrounded by many Navajo legends. Spider woman is believed to live there; she was the one who taught the Navajo how to weave. Spider woman also serves as a bogey-woman for Navajo children who don't behave. She is said to take such children to her rock, and the white stones on top are actually the bleached bones of misbehaving children. Now, if that story doesn't get the kids to behave......

Monument Valley

    On Wednesday afternoon no classes or trips were planed, in order to give the Elderhostel students some time for private excursions. However, our coordinators had arranged for a guided tour of Monument Valley, which was to start at the Holiday Inn in Kayenta, about 90 miles to the North. We had driven through Monument Valley some years ago when returning from a visit to Cheryl and her family in Denver. However, at the time there were forest fires in other parts of Arizona and the air was very smoggy. Also, it was in the afternoon and we still had 300 miles to drive. So, we did not even stop. That was the reason why Erich decided to go to Monument Valley this time - why Kathleen planned to take a nap and do some shopping.
   Monument valley, despite its name, is not really a valley, but a flat plateau. About 270 million years ago the area was an ocean floor on which layers of sediment accumulated. The sediment layers, over millions of years, were converted into layers of sandstone, siltstone and shale. Eventually the whole Colorado Plateau was uplifted to its present elevation and was partially folded. Rain and wind eroded the soft sandstone, and what was left behind was a flat area that is populated by bizarre arrangements of many buttes and pinnacles. While the body of the structures is sandstone, which must have been somewhat harder than its surrounding, they often sit on conical pedestals of shale and have a capstone of the same mineral. In the 1930's some movie location scout discovered the area and it has been used ever since as a location for an amazing number of movies, including some classic Westerners like "Stage Coach".
    The most picturesque assembly of buttes is located a few miles off the main highway, opposite of Goulding's trading post. The Navajo have designated it a Tribal Park and charge a fee for driving the circular dirt road leading to some of the landmarks. During our visit, unfortunately, it was overcast and a stiff wind was blowing. The picture on the left shows two buttes, the "Mittens" - named so for obvious reasons - with the dirt road in the foreground. The picture on the right shows the "Totem Pole Spire". At one viewpoint an enterprising Navajo even had a saddled horse for those who wanted a photo taken in front of a classical movie backdrop. Oh, and, of course, Indian fry bread and hot coffee was also available. By the way: the fry bread is very tasty, but its main ingredients, wheat flower and baking powder, were unknown to the Indians before the arrival of the white man. In 1985 I was trekking in the Himalaya with a camping staff of Sherpa. Our cook also made fry bread for us, only he called it "Tibetan fry bread".