A Day in Navajo land – a.k.a. Navajo Nation
After photographing my three kayakers as they departed from their launch point on the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry in Utah, I headed downstream via highway to the Navajo Bridge where I waited for their passage under the bridge. Didn’t have to wait too long. The canyon walls are already beginning to steepen by the time that the kayakers reach the bridge and when they first came into view, they were mere specks on the water. My Flickr image from the bridge can be viewed here. A couple of Navajo women had tables set up at the bridge. They were most pleasant, especially so, given the need to explain to disgruntled travelers that the nearby highway which had been closed many months earlier by a landslide was still awaiting repair and that the routes around this natural disaster would necessitate a few hours of detour.
The sale of Navajo handicrafts is an important source of revenue for the people who live in this area of Arizona but at this time of the year most of the roadside stands are closed. I did stop at a few of the ones that were open and found the “merchants/artisans” who were offering to sell me anything I that wanted at “winter” prices to be most pleasant and very knowledgeable about the surrounding countryside.On this particular day, the wind was really whipping up the sand and dust and continually threatening to drop either rain or snow. The temperature was in the 40’s but with the wind blowing, it was best to hide behind the limited structure of the vendor booths.
 
Since I won’t be around in the summer, it will be impossible to check what the difference is between “winter” and “summer” pricing.
As the light was beginning to dwindle, I stopped at one of the scenic viewpoints on the Little Colorado River and met an individual who not only was quite willing to discuss the jewelry and other handiwork on display but also had many a story to tell about rounding up horses or helping tired tourists to complete their ascent out of the canyon up some of the well trod canyon trails. I had hiked one of the trails that he mentioned so knew what he meant by “tired” tourists. In canyon country, the hike down is always easier than the hike up! His display booth was located by a scenic overlook where the canyon carved by the Little Colorado River is about 1500 feet deep.
In order to form such deep canyons or ravines, the water has eroded the sandstone sedimentary rock one layer . I this particular location the various layers were one to two feet thick.
I was running out of light as I reached the entrance to the park and would soon have to put the camera away for the night. By this time, the temperature had dropped to near the freezing point and the strong winds blowing across the canyon rim made holding a camera steady a rather difficult task especially for anything approaching a long exposure.
The Desert View Watchtower appears to be an ancient structure from the outside but is actually rather modern. It was designed my Mary Colter and is actually rock facade over a steel structure but the individual rocks and construction style used by the talented masons certainly give the impression that the structure has weathered time.
