El Malpais Summer Solstice

June 19, 2010 -- Following our epic hike to Keet Seel, we jumped back into the car and cruised our way from Kayenta, Arizona across the Navajo Nation to the BLM campground at El Malpais, NM. The goal was simply to catch a few hours of sleep and then awake for a solstice observing party at an unpublicized petroglyph at the crest of a mesa top at the south end of El Malpais.

Meeting our group at 4:30AM we hiked to the spot where we thought we had the best chance of observing the sun making shadows across petroglyphs at sunrise. Summer solstice is actually Monday June 20th but there is a window of a couple of days which the same effects can be seen.

To our observation there wasn't a shadow on the petroglyphs we had originally thought but around the corner my dad was first to witness the shadow illuminating the corner of a spiral glyph and in tandem with marking another glyph in sync.

It was exciting to see just how the ancients could mark time and dream of their technologies and purposes.

After the morning sunrise we ascended to the top of the mesa to an undisclosed ruin of a large Pueblo ruin.

While many supposed that this ruin with as many as 80 rooms was never occupied my dad and I found a number of artifacts and pottery shards which raises evidence that this was occupied.

Following our exploration of the ruins we traveled with our new friends across the canyon to another impressive petroglyph site with more impressive petroglyphs or pictographs.

There was a small cemetery which welcomed us to the site and we all thought we were dead too when our friend placed his backpack next to rattlesnake which coiled and hissed.

Another excellent way to great the day in the Southwest!

Keet Seel

June 18, 2010 -- As one of, if not the most, well preserved and remote cliff dwellings in the Southwest, visiting Keet Seel was the culmination of many of my ambitions this past year.

The site is located 8.5 miles from the Navajo National Monument Visitor Center and can only be accessed after obtaining a back country hiking permit and by appointment. It was awesome to complete the 17 mile hike in a day with my dad. We were the only ones on the trail that day and literally had the entire canyon to ourselves.

We arrived at National Monument at 9:00PM the night before and set camp in the great camping facilities adjacent to the visitor center.

At 8:00 AM sharp we were being introduced to the terrain we would be traversing in the required orientation. The ranger gave a presentation about what we should expect to encounter, e.g. quicksand, 1000 foot vertical decent, roaming cattle, snakes, etc... We were able to hit the trail by 8:30 AM and soon found ourselves at Tsegi Canyon Overlook which gave commanding views of the entire region.

Then the trail quickly drops 1000 feet from the canyon rim to the canyon floor on rocky then sandy switchbacks which we knew we would hate to climb at the end of the day.

Once on the canyon floor the trail is marked by white posts approximately every one half to one mile along the route and although incredibly beautiful the region is indeed very remote.

We found ourselves hiking along, then across, then through the shallow stream that leads to the alcove of Keet Seel. For nearly 6+ miles we navigated the waters. At first we tried to keep our feet wet but by mile 4 we were between bare foot and soaking tennis shoes.

Upon arrival at Keet Seel we met Max our Ranger guide who lives for periods at a time in a small cabin outside the ruin. He gave us time to snarf down some trail mix and water and then led us through the incredible cliff dwelling. Since we were the only visitors for the past two days, Max was very talkative and engaging and was more than gracious in answering endless questions.

According to wikipedia, "Kiet Siel (commonly spelled Keet Seel), stands for "broken pottery" in Navajo. The site was first occupied around AD 1250, during a time in which a large number of people were believed to be aggregating in sites such as this in this part of the American Southwest. There was a construction boom at Kiet Siel between AD 1272 and 1275, with construction then slowly tapering off and halting completely at AD 1286. Once construction halted in AD 1286, there was no evidence of structures being built until its subsequent abandonment some 20 years later. At its peak, its believed that up to 150 people inhabited this site at one time."

There are all sorts of beautiful and iconic artifacts indicative of ancestral puebloan culture at Keet Seel, such as jacal walls, symbolic petroglyphs, pottery, kivas, T-shaped doorways, etc...

 

We spent nearly two hours simply exploring the site and discussing theories.

 Finally, having filled our minds with images view get to experience we said goodbye to our Navajo guide and began our return 8.5 mile trip. We decided to walk most of the return bare foot or in our Vibram Five Fingers only to put back on our shoes back on before the final ascent.

 We reached my Montero at about 6PM and quickly made our way to Kayenta for Burger King and Gatorade. It was a long day in the hot sun but our epic hiking adventure will forever be remembered as Father and son wandered the back country in a remote corner of the Navajo Nation to see a site few have experienced. Admittedly, boy are we sore!