Monday, April 30, 2007

Bryce Canyon

The "Hoodoos" in Bryce Amphitheater
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I am learning that quirks of fate have played a large hand in naming some of our most famous national parks. Death Valley, for example, got its name after one (and only one!) lost fortune-seeker died here, while trying to find the gold fields in 1849.

Here's another one that confused me...Bryce Canyon.

can·yon: noun
a deep valley with steep sides, often with a stream flowing through it.

Bryce, Ebenezer (1830-1913)
Mormon convert who came to America c. 1847. Helped complete a seven-mile irrigation ditch from Paria Creek. Built a road to make timber more accessible. People started to call the amphitheater where the road terminated, “Bryce’s Canyon.” Bryce lived in the area only five years, then spent his remaining 23 years in Arizona.

Having now seen Bryce Canyon, I can tell you that neither of the words in its name describes it whatsover. It is not like any canyon I've ever seen, and this fellow Bryce's connection to it is just a coincidence.

There is, however, a very descriptive and accurate name for this beautiful national park. It suffers from just one shortfall: being unpronouncable, at least to me. That name, in Paiute, is Agka-ku-wass-a-wits, meaning, "red-rocks, many-standing-in-holes." Think of this name, and you will have some idea of what Bryce really is.




Sunrise Point, Bryce Canyon National Park
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Next: Zion Canyon

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

With Apologies, Capitol Reef

West of Hanksville, Utah


Yesterday I mentioned that the Colorado Plateau has a higher concentration of parklands than anywhere else in North America.

Well, at this point in the trip there was a moment when I had this thought: "Yet another National Park?" It was getting late, and we'd already been--in one day--through Monument Valley, Goosenecks State Park, the Moki Dugway, and Natural Bridges National Monument...great places all. So, when Capitol Reef National Park came within range...we just kept driving.

Capitol what? Capitol Reef. Perhaps the biggest national park that you've never heard of. And--sad to say--I'm not going to do anything to change that.

At least I snapped a few pictures while we drove through Capitol Reef on our way to the night's rest stop in the small town of Torrey...



Monday, April 23, 2007

Colorado Plateau

The middle of the Colorado Plateau, near Kayenta, Arizona
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Q: What region has the highest concentration of parklands in North America?

A: The Colorado Plateau, with nine national parks, 16 national monuments, one national historic park, many state parks, millions of acres of national forest, and many other protected lands.


















The Colorado Plateau is a physiographic province in the western United States covering an area of 130,000 square miles. Not one single plateau, it is in fact a huge basin ringed by highlands and filled with plateaus. What makes it unique? Well, compared with the regions that surround it, the Colorado Plateau has been remarkably stable. While the Rocky Mountains to the east and the basin and range country to the west were being thrust, stretched, and fractured into existence, the Colorado Plateau earned a name for itself by the simple device of remaining structurally intact.

All of my posts from Flagstaff to Zion Canyon (upcoming) are set against the backdrop of this sprawling region. Here are some photos I took of typical plants one sees in the Colorado Plateau...

Piñon Pine. This often stunted tree has many uses. The seeds (nuts) are a rich source of protein, riboflavin, niacin and potassium. There is as much protein in a pound of pinyon pine nuts as an equal amount of beef. The pitch mixed with red clay and mutton tallow made a salve similar to Vaseline and was used to treat skin irritations. Pitch was also used to fasten arrowheads and knives to wooden shafts, to waterproof baskets, cement turquoise stones to silverwork, repair sandals or pottery and as a source of chewing gum. Warmed pitch was used to remove splinters. The rotted wood was ground into a talcum powder and boiled leaves were used to control diarrhea. The easily carved wood was used for ceremonial objects.






The Datil Yucca. Indians used just about every part of the yucca plant. The fleshy fruit was eaten green or dried for winter meals. Baked, it tastes like a potato. Mixed with berries, the pulp was made into a cake. The young stalks were eaten like asparagus. As an ingredient in root beer the plant creates the foamy, white head.









Utah Juniper. Juniper logs were used as roof beams in ancient dwellings and store houses. The wood was used for fence posts and implements like digging sticks. Shredded bark could be used as tinder, diaper pads, and braided into rope. A brew made from juniper was used as a laxative.









Rabbit brush. This plant was used to treat coughs, cold and headaches. The mature blossoms make a yellow dye. The seeds can be ground and baked into a bread or mush. The branches were used for baskets, mats and arrows. Root concentrates were used for internal injuries.









Mormon Tea. These have a variety of medicinal uses and have been used by many cultures for centuries. The pioneers brewed a tea-like beverage from the stems as a diuretic and for bladder and kidney problems. Dried and ground, Mormon Tea is made into a bitter-tasting bread.










Prickly Pear cactus. Spineless prickly pear pads were used to stop bleeding. The fruit can be eaten dried, fresh or cooked with dried peaches and used in stews. Rolling the fruit in sand or singeing it in hot ashes removes the spines.



Thanks to the National Park Service for their descriptions of traditional plant uses.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Utah Highway 95

Looking toward the Henry Mountains along Hwy 95 in southeast Utah

Utah Highway 95 was my single favorite stretch of road on the entire trip. The scenery created by nearby rock formations and faraway mountains was awesome. This is the Colorado Plateau at its finest.

We joined the road about 10 miles north of the Moki Dugway, and followed it in a northwesterly direction all the way to Hanksville, a distance of about 100 miles. In this whole stretch we saw just a handful of cars, and not a single house!

Here are some photos I took along the way...

Sipapu Bridge in White Canyon. See the arch in the center?...that's the bridge.
Natural Bridges National Monument
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The Hawa Mahal in Jaipur, India...


...and its Utah cousin?
(OK, I admit the resemblance is not as close as I thought it would be.)


Where Hwy 95 crosses the Colorado River


Finding gas in unusal places. Hanksville, Utah


The place to be in the Beehive State


Next: The Colorado Plateau

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Moki Dugway

Where this was about to take us?

The term "moki" is derived from the Spanish word moqui, which was a general term used by the 18th century Spanish explorers and settlers in the region to describe the Pueblo Indians they encountered.

What is the Moki Dugway? To me, it is an experience, one of performing the impossible.

Actually, it is just a road, or part of one (Hwy 261)...but a very steep (10% grade) and winding road. It was built by a mining company (Texas Zinc) in 1958 to transport uranium ore to Mexican Hat for processing. Three miles of unpaved switchbacks take you 1100 feet up to the top of Cedar Mesa. That's what you see in the distance in the photo below.

Cedar Mesa rises 1,100 feet above the plain.
Unbelievably, we were about to ascend it.
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We began the ascent.

After several hundred feet the asphalt pavement disappeared, replaced by dusty gravel. We could never see very far ahead, and several times I thought we were nearing the end, only to be surprised again at the next turn. The views looking down on the tableland below became more and more interesting.



















Looking back at where we came from, but still 200 feet from the top

Reaching the top of the mesa (6,418 feet above sea level) the air was cooler and there was much more vegetation. Trees! Our trip was entering a new phase...Welcome to Utah.

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Next: Utah Hwy 95: A Great Scenic Road

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Goosenecks of the San Juan River

The B.E.E.M.IN.T.WORLD at Goosenecks State Park

Soon after crossing the Utah state line driving north from Arizona, we crossed the San Juan River at a small town called Mexican Hat. I think you're wondering, so I'll just tell you and get it out of the way: this settlement got its name from a rock formation called Mexican Hat Rock just north of town.

How Mexican Hat, Utah got its name
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It turns out that the San Juan near here is no ordinary river. Read on...

We exited the main road, and took a four-mile detour from our route to see the Goosenecks.

Google Earth imagery of Goosenecks

The San Juan here flows 1,011 feet below the level of the surrounding plateau, and is so contorted that in the span of a mile it actually flows five miles!

If I might digress for just a moment, I am constantly reminded of the fact that people in the 1800s didn't spend a lot of time driving cars or in supermarkets and online. I know this because the place names they hit upon have little in common with a suburban lifestyle. They were intimately familiar with real animals. All I know about geese, for example, (secondhand, of course) is that they are force-fed through tubes to make fois gras. Instead of Goosenecks, someone of my generation might have named this place "Newly Factory-Produced Twizzler".

Getting back on track...Why is the river like this?

Geologists have named the phenomenon an entrenched meander. Originating in southwest Colorado, the San Juan is a tributary of the Colorado River, joining it not far from here at Lake Powell. Several million years ago, the river established this pattern when it was running (meandering if you will) in a flat plain, like the Mississippi River does today. It became entrenched when the entire plateau was slowly uplifted, a process which is still ongoing. Cutting downward, the river followed its initial pattern, which led to creation of the canyon.

One last thing to point out to any of you who decide to go there...
Rather than trying to irrigate the channel a thousand feet down, I would advise any males to use the restroom thoughtfully provided by the Utah Division of Parks and Recreation. The wind blowing off the rim of the canyon is extremely strong!

I almost forgot: B.E.E.M.IN.T. WORLD means "Best Example (of an) Entrenched Meander in the World." (I made that up, but it's quite possibly true.)

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Next: The Moki Dugway

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Monument Valley and the Colossus of Memnon

Mesas became McDonalds...
Hopi blurred to Hampton Inn...
Kachina turned to Kayenta....

This last one is the name of the northeastern Arizona town where we spent the night after taking our leave of the Hopi reservation. Firmly in the grip of American consumerism, Kayenta (from what I saw) could have been any town between Reno and Raleigh. Once my mind submitted to that reality, I was able to enjoy a fine rest and full breakfast at our hotel (a name at the beginning of this post--you guess which one).

We got a late start the next morning, due to a great deal of unpacking and searching for the one indispensable item in our possession: the car key, without which we would be extending our stay here by several days until a spare could be flown in from California. It was a tense situation until the key was found in a grocery sack. Too bad we had already called a towing company to open up the car...

An inconvenient truth: we had no idea where to find the key

When we finally left town, some spectacular scenery greeted us as we drove north on Hwy 163... Monument Valley. The Navajo who live here call this Tsé Bii' Ndzisgaii (I'll let you pronounce it, but it means Valley of the Rocks). Monument Valley is not at all what I consider a valley, but instead a scattering of buttes and mesas rising in splendid isolation hundreds of feet above the floor of the desert.

Every guidebook you look at will tell you that this location has been the backdrop for many a Western, but even such films as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Forrest Gump include scenes shot here.


So many formations and angles that it's hard to keep track of them. The top photo is centered on a spot called Mitchell's Butte, and the bottom one is--I believe--looking at Monument Pass.

No wonder this place is an icon. Stare at these rocks long enough, and the mind will start to see things and make associations. Some of the names on the map include words like Stagecoach, Saddleback, Elephant... One rock I saw reminded me of a place I had visited in Egypt several years ago. Don't tell me that you can't see a resemblance:

This spot in Monument Valley...
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...reminds me of this 3,400-year-old statue near Luxor, Egypt.
N25.72055 E32.61055

The map calls this Owl's Rock, but I'm calling it
The Colossus of Memnon
. You heard it here first.

Next: Goosenecks of the San Juan

Monday, April 16, 2007

First Mesa (Part 3: Hopi Culture)















Left: Hopi canteen (Stanford Museum). Right: basketware from the village of Oraibi

Note: Scroll down to start with First Mesa-Part 1 if you haven't read those posts yet.


Because it is a sacred place for the Hopi, outsiders are admitted to Walpi only by guided tour. The Hopi are a very spiritual people, and within its small area Walpi has a number of kivas, rooms which are used for religious and civic purposes. Most of the year the kivas are open only to men, but women are admitted at the time of the solstice festival.

Our guide was happy to explain Hopi beliefs and customs, but she sometimes had to stop and consider what was appropriate to tell visitors, and what should remain within the tribe. One important fact is that the Hopi are one of the few traditionally matrilineal societies, where inheritance and social status is determined by the female. A man will become part of his wife's clan upon marriage.

Read on to see what the World Culture Encyclopedia says about Hopi religious beliefs:

The Hopi universe consists of earth, metaphorically spoken of as "our mother," the upper world, and the under world from which the Hopi came and to which their spirits go after death. Although the concept of original creation is unclear, there are various accounts of the Emergence into this present world from three preceding ones, the place of emergence, or the sipapu, being located in the Grand Canyon. Each of the preceding worlds came to an end because of some evil done by witches, and the present world will someday come to an end also. In order to forestall this and to keep the world in harmony, ceremonies are performed by ceremonial societies and by kiva members. The universe is balanced between a feminine principle, the earth, and a masculine one, manifested in the fructifying but dangerous powers of sun, rain, and lightning. Evil is caused by the deliberate actions of witches, called "two-hearts" because they have bargained away their hearts for personal gain and must steal another's heart to prolong their own lives. When a ceremonial leader is believed to "steal" the heart of a relative to ensure that the ceremony will be successful, there is an element of magical human sacrifice in this belief.

In Hopi cosmology Dawa, the Sun-Spirit, created the Four Worlds.


There are three major classes of supernatural. The most individualized are the gods and goddesses, each having his or her special area of concern. Figures or impersonations of these deities are used in ceremonial activity.

A few of the kachinas are individuals, but most of them are classes of beings each with its different character and appearance. In kachina dances the dancers wear the costume appropriate to the kachina type they portray. Some types are more popular than others; new ones are invented and old ones drop out of use.

Kachina dolls from 19th c. to present. Artists unknown.
These are given to girls to teach them about the over 300 kachina spirits.

Finally, there are the generalized spirits of natural objects and life-forms, who will be offended if one of their earthly representatives is treated improperly. Thus, when a game animal is killed, its spirit, and the generalized spirits of that animal type, must be placated.

The Hopi follow a ceremonial calendar determined by solar and stellar positions. The ceremonial year begins with Wuwtsim, the Emergence ceremony, in November. Soyal, occurring at the time of winter solstice, is conducted by the village chief, and its officers are the men holding the leading ceremonial positions in the village. It is at this time that ceremonial arrangements for the coming year are planned. Powamuya, in February, is a planting festival in which beans are sprouted in the kivas in anticipation of the agricultural season. This is a great kachina festival, with many types being represented. Kachina dances begin after Soyal and continue until July, when Niman or Home Dance is held. This celebrates the return of the kachinas to their unearthly homes in the mountain peaks and the under world.

Snake dance at Walpi


Snake-Antelope and Flute Dances alternate biennially in August, the first emphasizing war and the destructive element and the second emphasizing the continuity of life after death. In September, Mamrawt, or the principal women's ceremony, is held. This contains many elements found in Wuwtsim. The other women's societies hold their ceremonies in October. Along with these ceremonies, there are some that are held only from time to time and others that have been defunct for many years. In addition, there are many small rituals. Accounts of the late nineteenth century indicate that hardly a day passed without some ritual activity taking place somewhere in each village. While ceremonies have specific purposes, all are in some way thought to bring rain, which is valued both for itself and as a symbol of abundance and prosperity. The kachinas, especially, are rain-givers. Kachina dances are joyous public events, consisting of carefully choreographed dance sets interspersed with comical performances of clowns. The clowns, like ignorant children, mock everything and understand nothing. Social deviants are shamed by the clowns' mockery.

1899 photo of Hopi snake priest (with snake in mouth!)
(Library of Congress)


Next post: Monument Valley and the Colossus of Memnon

Saturday, April 14, 2007

First Mesa (Part 2: Walpi)

"Picturesque Walpi, perched on the point of a rocky island in a sea of sand, is an irregular, rambling community-house, built without design, added to in haphazard fashion as need arose; yet it constitutes a perfectly satisfying artistic whole."
Edward S. Curtis, The North American Indian (1907)

Approach to Walpi a century ago. It looks much the same today.

Walpi is the oldest village on First Mesa. It was established in 1690 when a Hopi village at the foot of the mesa was abandoned out of fear of Spanish reprisals for the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Terraced onto a narrow rock table, Walpi is the most pristine and enchanting of the Hopi villages. (Oraibi [N35.87613 W110.63957], on Third Mesa, is older--going back to around 1100.)

This is a living village, not an abandoned ruin. But these days only a handful of elderly people stay here year-round. Because there is no electricity or running water in Walpi, residents now walk a few dozen yards to neighboring Sichomovi for bathing. In former times women hauled water up to the mesa from the plain below. There are no visible signs of commerce here, or any activity whatsover save the few villagers offering handmade kachina dolls or pottery for sale and the dogs that eagerly joined our tour.

Walpi street scene

Views from the windswept mesa are awesome. Stairways cut into the side of the rock lead to agricultural fields and cow pasture on the plain below. The constant going up and down, often with heavy loads, must have kept the Hopi in excellent shape in the past. Now, our guide said, "You can always recognize a Hopi because we are short ... and chubby!"

The impression I received of the Hopi was of a generous and peaceful people. All the people we met were extremely courteous and welcoming. They asked only that we respect their traditions and not take photographs. Photos shown here were taken by Edward S. Curtis in 1906. Northwestern University Library, Edward S. Curtis's "The North American Indian," 2003.



























Left: Stairway leading down from the mesa. Right: Young Hopi women

The plaza at Walpi



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Next: Part 3 (Hopi Culture)