By Helen Serras-Herman - 4/28/2023

Ten Canyons on or near Navajoland - Part 2

By Helen Serras-Herman

Wupatki National Monument

The Wupatki National Monument is situated just north of Flagstaff, Arizona, immediately outside the Navajo Reservation, within an area known as The Painted Desert, which displays spectacular zig-zag patterns of colors.

At Wupatki National Monument the ancestors of contemporary Hopi and possibly Zuni Pueblo communities created a bustling center of trade and culture

The magnificent Wupatki Pueblo is a sprawling 100-room village dating approximately from 1100 to 1250

In the early 1100s, during cooler temperatures and wetter seasons, the ancestors of contemporary Hopi and possibly Zuni Pueblo communities created there a bustling center of trade and culture. Among the six pueblos open to the public is the magnificent Wupatki Pueblo, a sprawling 100-room village. Several kivas — the ceremonial spaces for religious rites — dot the landscape. The landscape looks very harsh, but 900 years ago people found a way to live and thrive for multiple generations, a testament to their resilience and adaptability. The key to life at the Wupatki Pueblo lies about 15 miles southwest at the Sunset Crater Volcano.

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

The Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument is located just south of the Wupatki National Monument at 6960 feet elevation. The volcano’s height is 1,000 feet. Sunset Crater was set aside as a National Monument in 1930 by President Hoover.

Around 1064 AD (or 1085) the volcano erupted and sent a massive plume of smoke and ash in this region, which made the soil fertile.

Around 1064 AD (or 1085) the volcano erupted and sent a massive plume of smoke and ash in this region. The Pueblo ancestors must have witnessed it, changing their lives. Cindery ash was thrown up into the air up to 18 miles. All this volcanic material settled on the landscape and acted as a kind of sponge, helping the soil absorb water, and made it possible for this new community to grow food and survive. The site is really amazing, covered by black lava ash, lava bubbles, and volcanic cinder cones; at places pink penstemon flowers pop-up.

The site is really amazing, covered by black lava ash, lava bubbles, and volcanic cinder cones

But, after 100 years or so, the life-giving force that spewed out of the volcano bowels was depleted. The ash degraded to the degree that it wasn’t able to sustain the soil anymore, and the soil lost its fertility. People stopped expanding the Wupatki Pueblo around 1225 AD, and by 1250 people left the area and set up pueblos in nearby locations.  

Glen Canyon Dam, Page

The Glenn Canyon Dam is one of the dams on the Colorado River, located north of Page, Arizona.

The Glen Canyon Dam is located north of Page, Arizona, just south of the Arizona-Utah border. The first blast took place in October 1956 and the dam was finished in September 1966. A concrete bucket, which held 24 tons of damp concrete, is on display. It took 400,000 of them to build the dam. A polished core of the concrete used for the dam is also on display. Concrete materials include gravel, limestone cement, pozzolan (volcanic ash), and fly ash (a concrete admixture).

The dam forms Lake Powell. Today, the lake’s water levels have dropped so low that the turbines at the dam’s hydroelectric plant could stop functioning. The Glen Canyon Dam has been a subject of environmental criticism for decades, even more so now with the extremely low water levels of the Colorado River.

The turbines at the dam’s hydroelectric plant produce electricity. We were lucky to take the tour over and under the dam.

A polished core of the concrete used for the dam is on display.

The Carl Hayden Visitor’s Center features exhibits about historic water use and recreation. We were able to take the tour of the dam, above and below where the turbines are, but unfortunately tours of the dam have been suspended since the pandemic. Boat tours are available on Lake Powell, where the buff to reddish, medium to fine-grained Navajo sandstone that forms the canyon walls is visible.

The Carl Hayden Visitor’s Center features exhibits about historic water use and recreation.

Upper Antelope Canyon, near Page

The Antelope Canyon is located a few miles southeast of Page, Arizona. It is a sandstone slot canyon shaped by millions of years of rushing water and wind erosion, partly to flash-flooding during monsoon rains, hence the Navajo name “where water runs through rocks”. The canyon is named for pronghorn antelope herds that once roamed the area. The Upper Antelope Canyon is ¼ mile long and 130 feet deep. It is accessible only with licensed Navajo tour guides. The walking tour takes visitors through the canyon, and returns the same way.

The Antelope Canyon is a sandstone slot canyon shaped by millions of years of rushing water and wind erosion.

At this breathtaking canyon at mid-day, the colors, wavy formations, the penetrating shafts of light that illuminate the orange and gold sandstone walls, all create a magical experience for the visitor. For tours visit www.navajonationparks.org/guided-tour-operators/antelope-canyon-tour-operators/

At the breathtaking Antelope Canyon at mid-day, the colors, wavy formations, and the penetrating shafts of light, all create a magical experience for the visitor.

The Antelope Canyon is accessible only with licensed Navajo tour guides.

Canyon de Chelly National Monument

The Antelope House at Canyon de Chelly is one of the multi-storied pueblos dating from the 4th century through 1300 A.D.

Canyon de Chelly National Monument was established in 1931 by President Herbert Hoover. It is located at the heart of the Navajo Reservation in northern Arizona, near the town of Chinle. The Navajos generously consented to having the canyon be part of the Federal system of national parks, although it is not federally owned. The name Canyon de Chelly (Canyon de Shay) is a Spanish borrowing of the Navajo word “Tséyi” [Tsé (canyon or rock) + yi (inside) = inside the canyon].

The Navajo guided tour drives on the Canyon de Chelly flooded floor flanked by towering canyon walls.

Petroglyphs of horse riders, hunters, deer, snakes, birds, and handprints cover the Canyon de Chelly walls.

People have lived in these canyons for nearly 5,000 years. The structures range from simple pit houses to multi-storied pueblos dating from the 4th century through 1300 A.D. Ancestral Puebloan structures made use of natural alcoves in the towering sandstone wall, such as the White House Ruin. Petroglyphs of hunters, deer, horses, snakes, birds, handprints and more cover the canyon walls. We took the Navajo guided tour in August during the height of monsoon rainy season and many “roads” and washes were flooded, and we crossed them, often to my amazement!

Petrified Forest National Park

The Petrified Forest National Park is an amazing site with hundreds if not thousands of petrified logs broken into segments

The Petrified Forest National Park is located immediately outside the southern border of the Navajo Reservation, 26 miles east of Holbrook. It was declared a National Monument in 1906 and National park in 1962. The park covers about 346 square miles. A large concentration of petroglyphs with over 650 images known as the Newspaper Rock was created 650 to 2000 years ago.

The Petrified Forest is known for its fossils, especially fallen trees that lived in the Late Triassic Epoch about 225 million years ago. A famous landmark is the Agate Bridge – a 110-foot fossilized tree. Contrary to current National Park Service conservation philosophy that lets the natural forces run the course, in 1911 they erected masonry pillars beneath the log, replaced in 1917 by concrete.

Traces of iron oxide and other substances combined with the silica to create varied colors in the petrified wood.

During the Late Triassic, downed trees accumulated in river channels in what became the park, and were buried periodically by sediment containing volcanic ash. Groundwater dissolved silica (silicon dioxide) from the ash carried it into the logs, where it formed quartz crystals that gradually replaced the organic matter. Traces of iron oxide and other substances combined with the silica to create varied colors in the petrified wood. It is an amazing site with hundreds if not thousands of petrified logs broken into segments, resting on the ground reminiscent of ancient Greek column ruins.

A famous landmark within the Petrified Forest National Park is the Agate Bridge – a 110-foot fossilized tree.

The Petrified Forest is known for its fossils, especially fallen trees that lived in the Late Triassic Epoch about 225 million years ago.

It is strictly forbidden to pick up any petrified wood at the National Park. But, you can satisfy your needs at the nearby Painted Desert Indian Center, where petrified wood from land outside the park is sold by the pound or specimen.

For all National Parks and National Monuments please visit www.nps.org

 

Helen Serras-Herman, a 2003 National Lapidary Hall of Fame inductee, is an acclaimed gem sculptor with 40 years of experience in unique gem sculpture and jewelry art. See her work at www.gemartcenter.com and her business Facebook page at Gem Art Center/Helen Serras-Herman

 

All photos by Helen Serras-Herman & Andrew Herman