More Travels 4-Apartment Living

Apartment Living in the Desert

Kayenta has grown. From a one-horse speck on the map in 1975, it has expanded to a seemingly thriving town. Andy and I talked about when we last stayed in this Arizona Navajo community. We even saw the diner where we ate, but otherwise the growth has been amazing. Then again, it's been more years than we figured, and the character remains Western. A couple horses still grazed outside the barbed wire fence by the roadside on the way into town as cars sped past.
As the road climbed outside of Kayenta, the temperature dropped down to 46 degrees.  Two pronghorn antelopes dashed across in front of us as we headed in to the ruins at Navajo National Monument.

Early on a chilly morning we wrap our jackets tight and
hike the Sandal Trail to Betatakin Canyon Overlook.

"Leg stretcher," announced Andy. "It's only a couple of easy overlooks. We've never been here at the right times for guided walks into the ruins."

Only limited travel into Talastima is
allowed in order to preserve this ancient
pueblo community.

Tsegi Overlook at 7,300 feet allowed us an early morning view of Betatakin Canyon. A chilly 45-degree wind swept across the rock outcropping. We could pick out the layers of sandstone across the canyon: reddish Navajo sandstone near the top, buff-colored Kayenta formation under it, 210-million-year-old Wingate layer under that. A dinosaur foot print embedded in Wingate sandstone was on display outside the Visitor Center.
The Visitor Center was closed, but we hiked the three main trails: Sandal Trail, a 1.3-mile hike out and back to Betatakin Overlook; Aspen Trail, a .8-mile 700-foot steep climb down to Aspen Forest Overlook and back; and Canyon View Trail, a .8-mile walk along the rim to the Historic Ranger Station and back.
The first one, the overlook at Betatakin--Navajo for Ledge House--Canyon provided a spectacular cross-canyon view of the ancient Puebloan village that the Hopi called "Talastima" or "Place of the blue corn tassels."  Very well preserved under the protected sandstone cliff, the village and canyon probably housed 20-25 family groups or perhaps 100-125 people. They thrived here and utilized every nook of the canyon until about 1300 A.D. when 20 years of drought drove them in search of water to better sustain the community. Rainfall was scarce then, as well, but usually there was enough to sustain the drought-adapted crops. And wide-ranging trade brought items like cotton, turquoise, sea shells and parrot feathers.

With Talastima nestled in the cliff behind him on the other
side of Betatakin Canyon, Andy scales the Sandal Trail. 

Archaeologists say these people believed they lived at the center of the spiritual world, and the extended drought was a warning that gods wanted them to look for a new spiritual center. They even left provisions behind--sealed doors shut with stones and mortar--so they could return.

Aspen quake in the breeze and Douglas
fir stand tall near the bottom of
Betatakin Canyon along the Aspen Trail.

Aspen Trail descended in switch backs and steps to the tops of Douglas fir trees that grow on the canyon floor. The canyon is considered a remnant environment of what existed 10,000-20,000 years ago. It holds the moisture better than any surrounding land area so consequently can support very different plants and animals.
The Historic Ranger Station, built in 1939, was originally a cook house for employees. In 1941, Ranger Seth Thomas Bigman, his wife Helen and infant son Patrick moved in to welcome visitors to the monument. Protected by the Antiquities Act of 1906, which was signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt, the Navajo National Monument was set aside in 1909 to incorporate and protect Keet Seel settlement and later the Betatakin and Inscription House communities.

Anchored on a bed of sandstone,
the walls of Lomaki Ruins have
weathered more than 900 years. 

Wupatki National Monument, located near Sunset Crater Volcano, was home to Ancestral Puebloans around 1150 A.D. They farmed small fields in the fissures that developed in the limestone, because those cracks retained moisture for the dry-land crops of corn and squash. Powdery ash spewed from the volcano also helped to hold moisture for farming.

Nalakihu Ruins nestle in the crook
of a protected canyon fissure.

Lomaki Pueblo Ruin and Nalakihu Pueblo Ruin are two of the eight clusters of homes that can be identified from the top of the Citadel. Both of them contain two-story sections of sandstone laid down with mortar and a few occasional pieces of black cinder spewed from Sunset Crater nearby. Both were home to small groups of Ancestral Puebloans, ancestors of the Hopi and Zuni, and representing various clans.
Not far and high above on the rim of the limestone sink, the Citadel Ruin seemed to function as a lookout or ceremonial area more than a home. Built of sandstone slabs and huge black cinder chunks, Citadel Ruin still clings to the rim of the cinder cone area. It was a feat of engineering for those ancient builders just to stabilize the walls.

High above the surrounding landscape
towers the Citadel. Accented by huge black
cinder blocks, its purpose is unknown. 

From cinder-covered Doney Peak, the San Francisco peaks,
now showing streaks of mid-September snow, rise in the distance.

Doney Peak, named after a Civil War veteran from Flagstaff, towered over the surrounding landscape. A .5-mile trail led to the top of each of the two cinder cones where Doney prospected for the "lost mine of the padres" in the late 1800's. In the 1100's Ancestral Puebloan farmers used terraced cinder fields to grow crops, in addition to planting corn, squash and beans in the lower valley. High up on the cinder cone are ruins of field houses, two-room protections where the ancients stored their tools or stayed overnight in the summer.

Huge and extensive, Wupatki ruins could have housed
hundreds of people in ancient times.

Wupatki Pueblo must have been the hub of cultural, ceremonial and economic life in the mid-1200's.
Located at the crossroads of cultures, Wupatki contained remnants of trade from everywhere and found everywhere in the ruins--macaw and parrot feathers, turquoise, abalone shells.
For the first time on this trip of any previous reading, we learned that the Hopi suggest the communities were abandoned because of claims of decadence. Hopi legends say the ancient peoples were punished by the gods and told to leave because of their evil ways. Perhaps that is how they explained the 20-year drought and failure of their crops. It sounds a little like an Adam and Eve story. A more logical explanation is soil depletion, which they didn't understand, and the lack of available fire wood for cooking and warmth because of the denuding of the land.

Much more child-friendly, Wukoki ruins sit on top of the mesa.

Wukoki rises from the mesa three stories high. With a south facing flat rock surface, this location on top of the mesa offered home to two or three families with three-story housing built around the patio where children could have played.
The ranger at Wupatki told us that doorways were probably the result of European influence later. He said most pueblos of the 1100's were entered via ladders through the roof. I thought ladders applied mostly to kivas. That also contradicted what we had read in earlier years about the T-shaped doorways that were larger on top to accommodate a torso and smaller at the bottom to shield the room against drafts with a blanket.
I guess interpretation is who you talk to. Andy and I agreed we would love to be flies on the wall at Wupatki to observe what life would be like for a pueblo man and woman--but we'd only like it for a day. We are pretty happy as we are!