It’s a short drive from our campsite at Canyon de Chelly to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, which is said to be one of the most photographed places on earth. It is quite impressive, to be sure. The visitor center is swarming with tourists and features a rather tacky gift shop.
It’s really windy and we’re bad at selfies!
We go down the road to the Navajo Nation visitor center and find a market with vendors selling art made by Navajo and Zuni makers. We had a pleasant conversation with Raymond Valento, a white man married to a Navajo woman-he’s been representing Zuni and Navajo potters, jewelers, sculptors and weavers for over 60 years. We bought some jewelry, of course! Andy picked out a little bear fetish made of jasper as a possible stand in for Buzz Roadkill (nothing can replace him!). These animal carvings have symbolic meanings-in the Zuni tradition the bear guards the West. It is more correct to call these objects carvings rather than fetishes, because they have not been blessed by a shaman.
More car shots as we traveled to our next destination. This is Mexican Hat Rock. Unbelievably beautiful!
We spend the night in a motel in Farmington, NJ. We meet a couple from Hancock, Maine! We encounter people from Maine everywhere we go.
On Monday, our next campsite is a huge state park with several campgrounds and a large marina.
Our campground is Crusher Hole-almost completely empty. There are so many birds here! My Merlin app identifies several species by sound, but they are difficult to sight. We do see ospreys passing overhead with fish in their mouths. This is supposed to be one of the best trout fishing areas in the country. The sunsets are awesome!Monday, we make a day trip to Chaco Culture National Historical Monument. Our tour guide at Canyon de Chelly told us stories of the people who lived here, and we were inspired to visit. In keeping with the theme of our trip, access to this site involves 20 miles of washboard gravel road. I think some of my teeth are getting loose!Chaco Canyon was a cultural center for the Ancestral Pueblo people who lived here from 850 to 1250CE. It served as a hub of trade and ceremony for many peoples who gathered there. This place is central to the origins of several Navajo clans. The great houses of Chaco were constructed during the 800s. They were oriented to solar, lunar, and cardinal directions. Sophisticated astronomical markers, communication features, water control devices, and formal plazas surrounded them. A system of roads connected more than 150 great houses throughout the region. These were not heavily populated villages but may have been used more for ceremony and trading and as impressive examples of “public architecture.” Wood used in their construction would have been hauled by hand from over 50 miles away. Roy took us on a tour of Pueblo Bonita, the largest of the great houses. The public is allowed to follow trails that go around and inside these dwellings. Roy led us through a succession of small doors into small rooms. These corner windows were built to serve as astronomical markers. Two face east and are called solstice windows because they were used to view the sunrise on the winter solstice.
We want to come back to this magical place and spend more time among the ruins and on the numerous hiking trails that we didn’t have time to explore. It’s thought that only about one percent of the dwelling places in this area have been excavated. The Navajo people would prefer that no further excavation be allowed, and I agree. It’s wonderful that we have an opportunity to glimpse a piece of this rich history and fitting that most of it be left undisturbed.
Headed back to Navajo Lake. Every mile is a blessing.
On the Road 