RETIREMENT TRIP #6

     MAKING IT TO THE WHITE HOUSE    

             September 2015              

Just a speck in the early
morning, Mummy Cave
hides in the shadows.

The tiny lunchbox-size Toyota Yaris has certain advantages.  When we calculated yesterday's mileage and bought gas, we realized this compact vehicle is getting 42.5 miles per gallon.  Even though prices are somewhat higher on the Navajo Reservation, that's a real savings in travel costs.

"You're a good Indian," said a middle-aged Navajo man to Andy this morning as we headed to Burger King for a highly unusual fast food breakfast.  We had already tried the motel cafeteria that served only oatmeal and biscuits and gravy for Saturday morning breakfast.

"You're a good Indian," he repeated, as Andy held the door for me.  Again uncharacteristically, I was talking to Tara on the cell phone.  "Your woman follows you.  She follows behind."

We all laughed, and he nodded his head politely when I wrinkled my nose!

The sun is already high as we hike down into the canyon.

And so we set out in good time to check out the North Rim Overlooks, higher in elevation with ruins more visible in the morning light.  Other tourists from Australia and Germany had similar ideas.

Antelope House Overlook off North Rim Drive allowed us to see Ledge ruins and Antelope House ruins far across the canyon.
From Massacre Cave Overlook we picked out Yucca Cave ruins.  History tells of a Navajo fight with the Spanish here in the 1700's.  Legend records a struggle between a Navajo woman and a Spanish soldier.  The cliff name "Two Fell Here" explains their demise when she took him over the edge, refusing to let go in the life and death struggle.

Andy waits patiently for
Sue to catch up.

A speck from the overlook, White House
ruins is actually a whole village.

Mummy Cave or House Under the Rock, called Tseuaa Kini by the Navajo, was so named because an archaeological expedition found two well-preserved mummies here.  This cave, hidden in shadows at 10:30 a.m., is the longest occupied cave in Canyon de Chelly.  Anasazi lived here 1,000 years ago.
At 11 a.m. we returned to White House Overlook parking area for our hike down into the canyon. With hats for protection, plenty of water to drink, and slathered with suntan lotion SPF 70, we headed down the switchbacks.

Protected by location and
now by fencing, the White
House ruins hold cultural
clues to the past.
 

The ruins on the ground and in the cleft
of the rock ledge hold mysteries
of Anasazi life in the canyon.

Signs at every overlook had warned to lock all valuables out of sight in the cars.  The area must be notorious for crime.  We were well prepared for that too; we left everything back at the motel or carried it in our packs.  And so we set out on the 1.25 mile trek down the cliff side into Canyon de Chelly.

The White House that gives this ruins its
name is partly visible under the cliff
overhang behind the forward rooms. 

Bathed in sunlight, the canyon floor was not as we remembered it from 1975. Andy  has a phenomenal memory, and he was surprised to see so much vegetation, the manmade dyke and the deep gullies created by the Chinle Wash.

The lush valley floor offers refuge
and peace from the world outside.

A couple Native Americans politely greeted us and offered their handicrafts; a jeep tour stopped, allowed passengers out for pictures and then left; and eight or ten other tourists joined our ruins-viewing party at the bottom: a half hour of quiet and tranquility, gentle breezes, swaying grasses and hints of another world.

The Anasazi village is
dwarfed by the immense
sandstone wall and its
black varnish.

Our voices and those of the past bounced off the canyon walls and echoed softly and repeatedly.

As we climb higher up the cliff face
to leave the past behind, the canyon
takes on a different perspective. 

Then came the hard part: the 1.25-mile climb back up to the top.  We took it slowly, stopped for shade and were back at Midget Red in the parking lot by 1:30 p.m. 

A welcome rest stop awaits as others
trek down past us.



Climbing back up the
trail demands endurance.

"I want to get one more look at Spider Rock," said Andy, heading back to the Spider Rock Overlook.

Legend says the white cap on Spider Rock
is evidence of the Spider Woman's web.

A tour bus unloaded passengers just ahead of us.  It was a good few minutes to check pictures and read about how Navajo mothers threatened misbehaving children with stories about the Spider Woman who lived at the top of Spider Rock.  She would cast down a thread, catch those who didn't mind their parents and eat them.

Few Navajos live outside Chinle, and
the badlands topography suggests why.

When we did walk out to the viewpoint, there were few tourists there and no Spider Woman.
In the late afternoon we made a driving loop from Chinle through reservation territory.  Some land seemed fertile and green, but other areas, badlands of clay, had no value or potential.  No wonder the Navajo Nation struggles. Andy said, "It looks like the moon."