So this afternoon I had a little fun in Window Rock. I got back from class around 2:30 and waited for a brief shower to end to go on a run. I ran about 4.25 miles from campus to the Window Rock Monument, which I found out is right next to the Navajo Nation Council Chamber. It's actually a really small building, smaller than it looks in pictures. It's maybe about the size of a slightly large suburban house.
Anyway, I stopped at a lemonade stand near the rock and wandered around for a bit...
Window Rock
Memorial for Navajo POWs from WWII
Statue immortalizing the role of the Navajo in WWII. After the Japanese had broken every code, the US military created a code based on the Navajo language, an unwritten language. The Japanese never cracked the code. According to the Naval Historical Center, six Navajo code talkers worked around the clock at Iwo Jima, sending over 800 messages with no problem. Major Howard Connor, an officer at Iwo Jima, stated, "Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima."
More Window Rock
Navajo Council Chamber (Took this hidden picture; wasn't sure if I was allowed...all the Navajo government buildings are here.)
Storm coming
Some sort of black and red bug that I keep seeing
Navajo taco and fry bread. Taco comes with ground mutton. Mutton is basically adult lamb and tastes like a leaner version of beef. Fry bread is a greasy sugarless elephant ear...would go well with powdered sugar and honey.
Canyon de Chelly
Desert north of Canyon
On the way from visitors center to Canyon de Chelly, the south arm of the canyon
Canyon de Chelly, Chelly coming from Spanish borrowing of Navajo word for "inside rock"
White House Ruins in distance, 600 ft below rim and 1.5 miles away on rocky trail
On the way down...
...
...
...running down wasn't too bad.
White House Ruins, home of ancient Pueblo. The Navajo referred to the Pueblo (their enemies) as the Anasazi, the same group that settled Mesa Verde, CO. Pueblo lived here roughly 1,000 years ago.
Ceiling above White House Ruins. Native Americans believed the black streaks came from the rain god.
That's where the hike began.
Headed back to the path for...
...the run back...Let's just say I stopped a lot for these pictures...
Canyon del Muerto (Canyon of Death), the north rim of Canyon de Chelly. This cove is Massacre Cave, where Spanish soldiers killed 115 Navajo in 1805. Spanish records claim they killed 90 Navajo warriors, while native sources claim the Spanish only killed women, children, and elderly seeking refuge.
The other side of Massacre Cave
Towards Mummy Cave
The path to get a bit closer...
Yucca Cave, an extremely old Pueblo settlement from at least 1,000 years ago
Close-up of oven at Yucca Cave
Horses 600 ft. down
The ride back through New Mexico
