Chinle, Arizona.
This week it’s Amy’s turn to host the challenge, and she’s on topic for April’s Earth Day celebrated every year. She writes, “This week, we hope you will join us in sharing earth story through your lens. As we share the beauty of natural world (mountains, sand, rocks, lakes, rivers, sea, plants…), I hope we also share our understanding of our earth.” You can read her entire challenge post here.
This week, Lynn and I are traveling a slightly modified, but otherwise routine route from Arizona back to our home in Fargo, North Dakota. I always enjoy the drive through western New Mexico, the eastern edge of the Rockies near Denver, as well as the high desert plains of eastern Colorado, and the great plains of Nebraska, and South Dakota.
This week, for Amy’s challenge, I picked one of the most beautiful places I’ve visited in Arizona. Canyon de Chelly. It’s in the northeastern part of the state and part of the Navajo Nation near Chinle, Arizona. The opening photo features Spider Rock, featured in many western movies, probably the most well-known is The Treasure of Sierra Madre where Humphrey Bogart… well, I won’t spoil the story.
The canyon has been home to Native Americans for years, and many cliff dwellings are hewn from the high canyon walls, their story still being told to archeologists.
The river that created the canyon is known as the River de Chelly, and it carved the canyon over millennia. The canyon draws many thousands of visitors each year and you can tour several viewpoints from the upper levels or with a guide, visit the lower parts of the canyon.
Feel free to click on any of these images to view them in HD on my Flickr site. In fact, there you will find many more images of the canyon than I posted here. Check out the entire album here.
Next week, I am pleased to host Challenge #193, Birthdays, and Anniversaries… They say it’s my birthday… on Saturday, the day the challenge is published. If you haven’t joined in on the challenge, please consider contributing. You can find what you need to know here.
John Steiner
Flare Legend Adventures
[…] Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #192 – Earth Story — Journeys with Johnbo […]
Well John, you’ve found a place I’d never heard of – and a beautiful one for sure. Perfect for this week’s challenge. Why on earth is the name Spider Rock? It doesn’t look anything at all like a spider!!! Loved the images on your link as well.
Everyone knows of Monument Valley, but miss this beautiful canyon. It is only a short drive (couple of hours, iirc) from those famous images in the John Ford westerns of old. I have no idea why they named that rock as they did!
What a wonderful place to feature, John. I have heard about the canyon, but never visited there. It’s a definite “must-see.” Your photos are beautiful. Spider Rock is breathtaking. No wonder why it’s one of your favorite places to visit. I hope you have a smooth trip back. See you on “the other side.” And happy birthday!
Thank you, Patti! It is truly a must-see!
Thanks! Just started catching up on the messages now that we got home and got most of our errands handled, at least for the rest of the morning.
I’m impressed, John. We’re just coming out of a jet lag fog. 😀😀
I was awed by the Canyon de Chelly when we visited many years ago – thanks for the memories 🙂 I noted in the comments above a query about how Spider Rock got its name. I read and recorded that story for Virtual Tourist, also some years ago, and luckily still have my notes in an old saved file:
According to traditional Navajo beliefs, the taller of the two spires is the home of Spider Woman, who lives at its top. Spider Woman (also known as Spider Grandmother) is the creator of the world in Native American religions and myths. They tell how she made the stars in the sky, by taking a web she had spun, lacing it with dew, and throwing it into the sky, where the dew became the stars.
Thanks for that info, Sarah! It’s a story that should be told in greater detail on my own blog. Gee, if I have a cell phone photo of Spider Rock, maybe I can put together a Cellpic Sunday just on that note alone.
Sounds like a good idea!
Drool-worthy shots, John. We almost made this trip a few years ago, but snow on New Year’s eve in Sedona messed up our trip to these areas then, including my reservation for a photo tour in Antelope canyon. I’ve enjoyed Tony and Anne Hillerman’s books of Navajo detectives whose settings are in this area and have longed to visit. Thanks for sharing!
One of my regrets in the 10 years we wintered in Arizona is that I never did visit Antelope Canyon. Maybe as a tourist, it will get on my list of places to visit. >grin<
So many of your posts make me homesick for the SW. I am not originally from NM, but I lived there and traveled throughout the four corners states. I really enjoy these photos and stories.
Thanks, Karen. I won’t be abandoning the southwest, but with us no longer spending our entire winters there, I will be covering other areas as well. I do love the southwest as well.
I’ve always though parts of Arizona and Utah are gorgeous in their arid way, Your photos just prove it 😀 😀
Thanks, Cee. Until I started traveling in the southwest, I had no real notion of how beautiful the desert could be.
I would never want to live there, but the beauty is something else. 😀
Gorgeous, John – love all canyons and rocks, the arid areas and their colours. Splendid choice and images as ususal.
Thanks, A-C. Canyon de Chelly was one of the first places I thought of when I saw the Earth Story challenge post.
Well done!
Usually I spot your post on the face thing book 😉 but today I’m visiting around the reader trying to catch up after being away awhile, enjoy your posts
Hi, thanks for stopping by and commenting!
First of all, happy birthday on Saturday. I hope you are doing something special, but I’m sure you are. This trip is stunning. I’m adding it to my bucket list. Arizona is certainly a beautiful place with so many adventures, I can’t even begin to count them.
I am doing something special on my birthday… flying down to Mesa alone to pick up my car and drive it back to Fargo. >grin<
LOL, Your Ferrari???
Thanks for the birthday wish!
You’re welcome. Have a wonderful day. See you online on Sat and Sunday.
The US has such a vast expanse of stunning landscapes! Did you use a drone for these photos? There seems to be a lot of blue in the captures. I wonder whether that comes from looking through a lot of atmosphere or whether it just the time of the day that gives it that tinge.
These were taken before I had a drone. Much of the area is viewed from the top of the canyon, so photos give the impression that they are aerial.
I’ve never heard of this place, John. It is beautiful!
It truly is. I plan to visit it again some day.
Great
What a stunning place and images John! Just perfect for the challenge.
Thanks, Anne. I felt almost immediately that Canyon de Chelly would be a good fit for the challenge this week.
😊
What a fascinating series for earth story, John. Thank you for the tour of this special place. The Spider Rock, awesome!
Thanks, Amy, and thanks for the challenge topic. It brought this place to mind almost immediately.
Wow. Beautiful!
It is, indeed a beautiful place.
Where’s this week’s Challenge Johnbo?
It should be live soon. I need to see why it hasn’t posted yet.
K. Thanks. I’ll keep checking your Home page.
Ahhh. It just came in, on the hour. Time zone difference perhaps.
Yup. I posted and scheduled it to publish an hour ago but it was not yet published. I pushed it out manually.
Nice views of the canyon, and you’re right, it reminds of western movies. I can easily imagine you as a sheriff 🙂
Hmmmm. Sheriff John… Only room for one Sheriff John in these parts, pardner… John Wayne. 🙂
You are right, John Wayne deserves our respect..
🙂