I had planned on spending the day casually nursing my post-volleyball muscles back into working condition. However, my roommate, Corinne, wanted to take a little road trip to Window Rock on the Navajo reservation, and I couldn't pass that up.
We drove east out of the Hopi reservation, and into Navajo territory. The Hopi definitely have an edge on scenery. The drive was pretty flat until just before the site. But we did get to see some Navajo political signs, which was a unique twist on an old classic.
The entry to Window Rock has a monument honoring the Navajo Code Talkers.
I'm sure that most of you remember learning about them in history class, but they were a group of less than 200 Marines and Soldiers that used variations of their native language to convey messages ("potato" meant bomb, "tortoise" meant tank, etc.). It was extremely effective, since less than 30 Non-Navajo people knew the language at the time, and the sounds were completely unintelligible to people that didn't grow up around it. The signal officer stationed at Iwo Jima said that US troops wouldn't have been able to storm the beach without them. And although the Navajos got most of the glory, several other Native American tribes were involved in the effort, including the Hopi, Cherokee and the Choctaw.
P.S. Notice the shoes that I'm wearing. That will become signifiant in just a moment.
The park is a collection of dramatic red rock spires, with the signature feature being the "Window Rock" in the background of the last photo. We knew that it was possible to climb to the top of the arch, but we weren't quite sure how. And as you can tell by my shoes, we were hardly prepared for a hike.
We saw a small trail heading around the back of the cliff, so we followed it to see if it went anywhere. With every step, we were less sure that it was the right way to go, but we couldn't see any other option. The trail dead ended at a canyon wall, but we saw a little rock pile that looked promising, so we climbed it out of the canyon. We landed on a ledge about twenty percent of the way from the top, so we still had plenty of climbing to do, but there didn't seem to be an obvious way up. And to make matters worse, getting back down wasn't an option.
Remember, I was wearing flip-flops, and my only survival gear was a digital camera and $3.55 in cash. (Afterwards, Corinne confessed that she had seriously considered calling the fire department.)
After sitting on the ledge for a few minutes, we heard some people coming our way. It was glorious. The new arrivals turned out to be a Navajo couple in their thirties that used to climb the canyon to hide out after ditching school. But when they climbed up to where we were sitting, one of them asked where the rope was.
"What rope?!"
So, without a rope--or a way down--we shimmied up a very steep cliff. At the time, it was moderately scary, but looking back at the photos, we should have been absolutely terrified.
Mom, you probably shouldn't look at this.
This was the cliff face that we climbed up. For scale, see that spec of a person in the top right? That's me!
But as always, the views were spectacular.
There was a group of Japanese tourists sharing the rock with us. Clearly, they found the right way up.
The tribal headquarters is at the base of Window Rock. Some of the buildings blended in nicely, but putting the tribal body shop at the base of a world-class natural structure was an interesting decision.
The area surrounding Window Rock has a few fast food restaurants, so we pulled over for a quick milk shake on the way home. When you've spent the last two weeks eating Trader Joe's boxed dinners, McDonald's doesn't seem quite as unappealing. I'm not proud.
And it's back to "work" tomorrow!
-M
