Canyon de Chelly is the most beautiful canyon I’ve seen. I love the smooth rock, golden yellows and roses in some places grey in others. I love looking down to the bottom of the canyon and seeing a flat bottom, farmland, a river running through. It’s a stark contrast to the desert landscape where I stand looking in. Photos, of course.
First the massive straight walls, then the flat farmland below.
The bit of yellow is a string of trees in fall foliage.
An Indian woman retreats to a shady place to make the beaded jewelry she sells to tourists. When I asked if I could take her picture, she giggled. "I'm just doing beads." she told me.
The wind carves out strange holes in the rocks and stripes the walls of the canyon.
Window Rock is the native headquarters. You can see this hole in the rock for miles and miles. I asked a woman selling bead jewelry to tell me something about the place. She told me that a long, long time ago, when the sea covered this valley, the rock became soft. When the sea receded, a snake climbed through the rock leaving a hole. The hole was then the subject of wind driven sand and rain, and more wind until it became very large. I like the story. If you look carefully, you can see a small tree inside the hole. That tree is about the size of a man.
Window Rock. You can see how it got its name.
There is also a memorial wall for all the Indian men and women who died in the service of their country. Included are the names of the Navajo Code Talkers who confounded the enemy in WWII, by sending messages in the Navajo language.
A memorial for fallen service people.
