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I went back to the Grand Canyon last week for the first time in 37 years. It was just as mind boggling, although this time I was only there a day and only hiked a few miles along the South Rim.
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In April 1985 I backpacked in the canyon for about two weeks, zigzagging down to the Colorado River a mile below the rim where I hung out along the sandy shores and enjoyed fern gardens, cool springs and canyon wren calls that can't be experienced from the rim. This is me at the edge of the Colorado in the bottom of the canyon.
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The Grand Canyon is sacred to Native Peoples. For that reason, I was bothered by the commercial hustle and crowds on the rim. On the other hand, my friend and I were contributing to the crowds.
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The Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff has an exhibit about the Grand Canyon and its native people. Here is some of the text:
Our Land
Our teacher is the land. We watch it carefully, and we learn from the water, rocks, winged ones, tree people, and the four-legged ones. We have a deep connection to this place. -- James Uqualla, Jr.
Along with the vast areas of the Coconino Plateau, our territory included lands within the Grand Canyon. In the winter we lived in camps on the plateau. Here we gathered piñon nuts, blazing star seed, yucca fruit, and other wild plants. We hunted rabbits, deer, and antelope. Pinon and juniper wood warmed our homes. We thrived. In the early spring, we left the plateau to grow summer crops in Havasu Canyon.
In 1882 the U.S. Government confined us, year-round, to a 512-acre (2 km) reservation in Havasu Canyon. This halted our migrations and access to game, firewood, and plant foods. The canyon is cold and damp in winter, receiving little sun. It was a hard time for us.
Over several generations, we protested our great loss of land. In 1975 the U.S. Congress heard our voices and returned to us 185,000 acres (749 km) of the Coconino Plateau, the largest amount of land Congress ever returned to any tribe. Additionally, Public Law 93-620 made available, for our traditional use, 93,000 acres (376 km) of Grand Canyon National Park Land.
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When we got back to Flagstaff, about an hour and a half south, we had a delicious Mexican dinner at Salsa Brava, below.
The day before, we stopped in Sedona on our way up to Flagstaff. The magnificent red rocks (actually, orange) punctuated a cloudless blue sky and temperatures were in the low 70s, delightful.
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We had Sonoran breakfast burritos at Creekside at a table outside overlooking the canyon. The Buddha statue greeted those heading back for the view.
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On our way out of town, we stopped at Slide Rock State Park where people were swimming and cooling off in Oak Creek where it cut through the canyon.
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In Sedona with Tom, who I've been dating since November!
We hadn't planned to stop in Sedona, but the Tunnel Fire burning northeast of Flagstaff closed the places we had planned to visit that day. The fire swept through Sunset Crater and made Wupatki National Monument inaccessible. My friend Judy had to evacuate for five days but was finally allowed to return home today. Our hotel housed out-of-state firefighters and evacuated families.
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Look at this cool truck that we passed on the way home! Its curved back reflects the sky and road behind it.
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Have a colorful day
2 comments:
I'm so glad you had a good trip... sorry we didn't get to meet for lunch, but we'll work on the next time you're up!
A family vacation when I was in junior high school included a visit to the Grand Canyon and I indeed remember it as mind boggling. It made a deep impression on my dad, who took in all the info on the indians at the reconstructed tower and spent a long time just gazing out over the terrain. I partly remember this so clearly because I too wanted to spend a lot of time there just drinking it all in but my mother was worried about keeping to our itinerary and we were overstaying our time allotted for this part of the day and started bugging dad about moving on. He gruffly rebuffed her to my delight, saying in effect it was more important to spend time pondering over this ancient bit of land than meeting a timetable. I loved him for that, and the extra time it gave us there. I think he really longed to take one of those donkey trips to the bottom but there definitely wasn't time for that. I've thought I'd like to go back but as you say, it is so much more crowded and commercial now and would probably not afford the kind of personal reflection I'd be looking for.
Have had your Flagstaff friend on my mind, and you too, as I've watched the terrible growth of the forest fires there. Take care, you two.
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