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It was a dark and windy day at the bottom of the canyon. We were traveling along in an old half track that must have been surplus after the war, following along the canyon’s floor and the river bed. We tried not to slip into the river because the water was just starting to flow with the beginning of the spring melt and there were pockets of deep water that could trap the half track, even though our Navajo guide and driver assured us if that did happen we’d be found in a day or so. It hardly ever did he said, most of the time another vehicle might come along and if it didn’t get stuck too, they’d pull us out in no time. With that assurance and two bottles of water and a candy bar we weren’t worried in the slightest.

For those of you who have been into Canyon De Chelly you know the canyon starts out fairly wide then begins to narrow. The canyon walls reach heights of nearly a thousand feet so you can be between the light of day and nights darkness in a matter of yards. In the spring the canyon floor is still littered with old snow drifts and it can storm again in a moments notice.

One of the things you begin to notice immediately is it begins to get quiet almost as soon as you get into the canyon. When our driver turned the half track off the silence was like a physical presence. The wind would blow along the canyon walls and often there would be the call of raven gliding past the red stone high above but mostly it was quiet. These sounds seemed to augment the silence rather than break it. They were so natural that they barely registered as sounds but more as a lessening of the silence.

As a photographer you can not look fast enough or close enough to take in everything around you. The stone walls look the same for as far as the eye can see but every inch is unique. I found myself having to restrict my shooting or else I would still be down there in the first quarter-mile, shooting. Each panel in the rippling structure that made up the walls was like an abstract painting that you actually liked and understood. How could you move on when there was this unending collection of spectacular images. You moved on because the driver would start the half track and begin driving away. He’d seen this before and knew exactly how to convince you to rejoin the party. As patient as he was and he was beyond patient, enough was enough.

As we progressed further into the canyon we came to a fork in the river and had to decide did we want to go down the left hand canyon or the right hand canyon. Our decision was made for us by a big obstruction part way down the left hand canyon that made it dangerous to enter. This canyon is named Canyon del Muerto, with Muerto being the operative word here. If the obstruction, which was made up of debris carried down the river forming a temporary dam would let loose, we would become one with the half track, the debris, the sand, and the occasional Red Bull can I noticed. We chose the right hand canyon.

It was the correct choice because soon we came to one of the highlights of the entire journey, the White House. It’s called the white house because the Navajo name “Kiníí’ Na’ígai” roughly translates to “house with white streak across”. It is also home to the “Yé’ii” a form of supernatural beings who are important in Navajo traditions. If you walk away from the stands where todays Navajo are selling jewelry and stop and feel the power of the place you can understand why supernatural beings would choose to live there.

There are lots of new age conversations about places like this and when you scrape away all the trendy crap that is bandied about them being “power centers for the ancient astronauts” and other idiot phrases designed to get the gullible to buy the latest tell-all book, there is a feeling that you experience while you’re here. It is next to impossible to quantify but you are aware of the incredible setting, the stillness, the sense that this is a very special place in its own right and doesn’t need any embellishment. You are drawn here for those attributes and they are enough. I’m going back, let me know if you want to come, I’ll see if I can get that same half track.