We recently took a five night trip to northern Arizona and southern Utah to see some sights we've not yet been to. After staying at La Posada in Winslow, we drove to the Hopi Mesas. From there we went through Tuba City on Navajo land, to catch U.S. 89, taking the highway through Page (where we stayed overnight) and into Utah, through the town of Kaneb, up to its junction with Utah 12 near Bryce Canyon. This is a beautifully scenic drive but Utah 12 is even better.
Initially you go through the Red Canyon (which is REALLY red), then past Bryce Canyon National Park, which we visited, and on to the small town of Escalante, in the middle of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, where we stayed for the night at the Entrada Escalante Lodge which we highly recommend.
The next morning we drove to the even smaller town of Boulder. On the way Utah 12 goes through some striking canyon lands where you drive with no guardrails and there's even a short stretch when the canyon is on both sides of the road. From Boulder we drove over the 9600 foot Boulder Mountain Pass with its stunning views to the east and south.
After getting to the end of Utah 12 we went to Capitol Reef National Park, another worthwhile place to visit. From there we headed onto Utah 95, encountering at its start a sign reading "No services next 125 miles". They were telling the truth. Making it through 95 we stayed in Bluff. The next morning it was back onto the Navajo lands to the Canyon de Chelly National Monument. We drove the north and south rim roads, and plan to return to take the guided tour into the canyon. Here are some photos:
The Hopi reservation is completely surrounded by the Navajo lands and there is an historical tension between the tribes. The Hopi are a Pueblo people, liked descended from the ancient peoples that long inhabited the Colorado Plateau. The Navajo are late comers to the region, a pastoral and raiding people, whose targets included the Hopi. You can still see this today in little things. The Hopi follow Arizona time, while the Navajo use Mountain Time. The day we left Winslow, we started in AZ time, while traversing the Navajo land there was an hour time difference, but then entering the Hopi lands the time switched back. After leaving the mesas, we reentered Navajo land with an hour time change and then, upon reaching Page we went back to AZ time.
For the Navajo, Kit Carson, of whom I've written before, is considered a villain. Carson commanded the military force which, in 1864, put an end to Navajo raiding by entering the canyon and destroying the peach orchards and corn fields so painstakingly planted and maintained by the tribe, forcing their surrender, and then escorting thousands of Navajo to a miserable reservation in eastern New Mexico. Five years later the Navajo were allowed to return.
However, earlier on our trip we visited the Hopi Cultural Center on Second Mesa (photos not permitted on Hopi land). The Center displayed a very long historical timeline of the Hopi people from about 500AD to today. The entry for the 1860s reads (I'm paraphrasing here), "Kit Carson finally stopped the Navajo from raiding us!".
“A reader of history must be a reader of histories - several on the same topic - and a judge at leisure on the points in conflict.” Jacques Barzun. Somehow, I think it applies to this tale, as to many of the posts you make.
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