Great Horned Owl Chick. Owl Canyon, AZ.
Growing up in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, childhood seemed different. At least that is my perception now! Back then, life in Pennsylvania seemed self-contained, locally focused, and pretty self-absorbed. It may still be. The families I grew up around didn’t travel much, so leaving to fish for salmon in Alaska or a road trip to our western National Parks was an option for only a small few. Outside of the rare TV documentary, most of my friends, me included, had no idea where Alaska was, or anything about the life cycle of a wild salmon. And outside of a news report, an earthquake in India, or an out of state mass shooting (don’t remember many of those?) most probably would not have even registered in our close community nestled in the hills south of town.
Which Way Is Up? Upper Antelope Canyon, AZ.
Before video games or social media, I do recall a greater sense of freedom. In our working-class neighborhood, fathers were truck drivers, police officers, and steel workers. Moms were… well, at that time, mostly full time moms! Almost all were young families and with their first homes… and all seemed to have a million kids. I remember warm hazy summer nights with literally swarms of friends playing ball and running around the streets and through everyone’s yards. Young and free, and parental worries that seemed limited to keeping your job and the car running. And for us kids, a whole world to explore that, at that time, we knew little about.
First Light! Lake Powell, AZ.
For me, freedom came from playing in the woods. Up the hill, at the end of an adjacent street, was my salvation and probably my first experience with wild places. Raspberries, crab apples and poison ivy, but no animals wilder than a bunny or a garter snake… and the ability to walk up that hill every day to my own little utopia.
Last Light! Lake Powell, AZ.
All of this nostalgia came running back during a recent trip to the southwest to visit the slot canyons located on land within the Navajo Nation reservation (see my previous posting Awash in a Sea of Rocks). What would childhood have been like in the desert? No woods, a far different social order on the reservation, rattlesnakes!!!
Monument Valley. AZ.
Each of the canyons visited, Upper and Lower Antelope, X, Owl, Rattlesnake, and Fire, YaYa Fall, Mystery and Wind Pebble (the last four in the Wind Pebble group) were led by Navajo (or Diné, meaning “the people” in the native language) guides. We started with Frank, who passed us to his wife Lorie for our next tour, then to Lorie’s brother Van on the next. I wouldn’t be surprised if our first, much younger guide, Colton, was related? Turns out that ownership of the land where the slots are located depends on historic grazing rights, the reason most of the tours were run by a small group of families.
San Juan River, Goosenecks State Park. UT.
Lorie, Frank, and Van each talked about growing up in the desert. Playing, exploring, and helping the family care for their cattle and horses in the many nearby canyons long before they became magnets for tourism. In each discussion, the word Nizhóní (beautiful) was used to describe the canyons. Like “my” woods in western Pennsylvania, the canyons provided a place to play, get close to nature, and maybe, to get away and build a sense of spiritualism with the world and a love of and respect for nature.
"If the desert is holy, it is because it is a forgotten place that allows us to remember the sacred. Perhaps that is why every pilgrimage to the desert is a pilgrimage to the self. There is no place to hide and so we are found."
Terry Tempest Williams
Colorado River Outside of Page, AZ.
There is true beauty in the desert. Those who grew up there recognize that, and have built their lives, work, and culture around that beauty. I certainly feel it. The dry, clean air, amazing texture and color, the landscapes, and sunsets. Just beautiful. And nowhere is this more visible than deep in the earth, among the spires and labyrinths of the slot canyons. Shadows, sunbeams, color, and texture all combine to create wonderful natural cathedrals of rock and sand in the desert.
Wind Pebbles in Wind Pebble Canyon. AZ.
Nizhóní not only means beautiful, but also something good as the Navajo idea of beauty includes a sense of being, harmony and balance. The native word hózhó (harmony) goes even deeper and is often equated with the Navajo way of life. Both nizhóní and hózhó are perfect words to describe the canyons. Not only are they beautiful, but it is impossible to spend time deep in the canyons without feeling more... closing your eyes, breathing, and tasting the earthy, dusty closeness of the rock, lightly tracing your fingers along the wall, drinking in the colors and shadows around you. It is not hard to share and understand how those who have lived their entire lives here gain a sense of belonging, of balance, and a strong connection to nature in their way of life today.
Storm Building! Valley of the Gods, UT.
Arizona and Pennsylvania, desert and woods, suburbia, and reservation. What a dichotomy of place and culture, but yet so much the same regarding the lessons and values learned, the bond with the wild, with the owls, desert bighorns, and yes, rattlesnakes. And to the understanding of beauty! A clear appreciation of how place and nature enfold and entangle you, linking the place you grew up in and the places that you visit and whose beauty attracts you. Cultures separated by thousands of miles and drastically different history and customs, linked by the awareness and importance of beauty and harmony in our lives.
Valley of the Gods! Cedar Mesa Sandstone, UT.
Endnotes:
· We did some commercial tours with hordes of people, and some private tours were we spent hours nearly alone in the canyon with our cameras. All of the canyons on the reservation require a Navajo guide, and each of our guides were wonderful. Canyon X with Taadidliin Tours, Black Streak Canyon Tours for Owl and Rattlesnake, Antelope Valley Canyon Tours (Ligai si anti Tours) for Wind Pebble, Dixies for Lower Antelope and Antelope Canyon Navajo Tours for Upper Antelope.
· While I prefer to visit the desert in winter, or on the shoulder seasons, this trip was planned to capture as much of the direct sunlight as I could in those narrow, dark chasms. That meant mid-summer and as close to noon as possible to see light and sunbeams. It also meant dealing with the heat. In and out of Las Vegas (where I rented a car) the thermometer hit 113 degrees. Where light was less of a factor, in those canyons open to the sun, we tried to schedule early morning visits before the heat of day (and crowds), and luckily it was a bit cooler in the Arizona desert and even better in several of the more closed slots. Each canyon was different, and beautiful in different ways.
· The Navajo reservation is located primarily in Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico. It is the largest reservation in the US (larger than the state of West Virginia). Monument Valley, and the slot canyons in this article are all on Navajo lands.
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