Canyon del Muerto, January 2006

In January I discovered Canyon del Muerto, a side canyon of Canyon de Chelly National Monument. My guide, Howard Smith (email:spiderrock@earthlink.net) took me into the canyon after I told him I was interested in seeing some of the sights. There are over 100 ancient cliff dwelling sites in the canyon complex and many of the rock walls are decorated with pictographs (paintings) and petroglyphs (etchings or carvings). Howard warned me that I was not to take pictures of the Navajo people who still live in the canyon or their property, dwellings, etc. Howard himself grew up in Canyon de Chelly and runs a campground on the south side of the canyon. January was a perfect time to explore. The sun was out, the weather temperate and conditions were perfect for photography. As we traveled into the canyon, Howard's 4X4 pick-up struggled through the deep sandy creek bottom at the entrance. When we approached the junction of the two canyons, Howard pointed out the ancient ruin on the cliff wall above us and said this was known as Junction Ruin.



As we drove deeper into the canyon the road became rougher and the walls soared above us on either side. All along the way we saw pictographs that had been left by the ancient dwellers. Howard pointed out many dwelling sites that were nestled into the alcoves in the cliff faces. The sandstone walls were stained with 'varnish', the mineral deposits that are leeched out of the rock and stain the walls as they drip down the faces of the cliffs.











We stopped at Antelope House to eat lunch and Howard helped out a couple who were having car trouble on their way out of the canyon. I busied myself photographing the ruins of Antelope House and after lunch when we were ready to continue our journey, Howard pointed out the pictographs on the canyon wall above the Antelope House Ruin. I asked to climb into his pick-up bed with my camera so that I could get a picture of the amazing rock surface with the paintings of deer and antelope and other markings. If Howard hadn't pointed it out I would have never seen this amazing sight.


The road became even more treacherous as we continued deeper into the canyon. We had to cross the stream several times and the little water that was there was of course frozen. (It was January, after all). After climbing a very steep hill we came into a valley that led us to a magnificent wall with two caves or alcoves in the rock. Within these alcoves you could see ancient stone buildings.





This, Howard told me, was Mummy Cave, where many mummified remains of ancient indians had been found in the early 1900's. It was a fantastic site with the sun going in and out of the clouds and illuminating the rock face with dappled light. I tried to work quickly to make a couple of exposures as the sun was going below the cliff face and leaving the valley where we were in shadow. This, Howard told me, was how the canyon became known as the Canyon del Muerto or Canyon of Death.