The Arizona Republic
Sept. 18, 2008 01:57 PM
The drive along U.S. 160 across northeastern Arizona's Navajo Reservation is a sensual experience. Fat, puffy clouds float in an azure sky, jagged volcanic intrusions stand scattered across the peach-colored desert and otherworldly geologic features lap up against the highway.
This is one of the most interesting drives in the state. And that's saying something. Things to note along the way:
Black Mesa Coal-Conveyer Belt: As you cross beneath part of this immense structure (between mile markers 373 and 374), you can't help but think of eco-provocateur Edward Abbey and his screeds against the political and commercial forces despoiling his sacred desert. For decades, the Peabody Coal Co. took water from the Navajo Aquifer to pump coal slurry more than 250 miles to the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nev. In 2005, the station ceased operations rather than comply with a court order to install more than a billion dollars worth of pollution controls.
Kayenta: This small town bills itself as the gateway to Monument Valley. (Take U.S. 163 about 22 miles north.) Originally a trading post founded by John Wetherill in 1909, the town's name may come from the Navajo word tye-nde, meaning "the pits where the animals fall in," according to Arizona Place Names, by Will Croft Barnes (University of Arizona Press, $23.50).
Details: kayenta.nndes.org.
Baby Rocks Mesa: You'll pass some of the most interesting geologic features of the drive between mile markers 407 and 408. Oddly shaped pinnacles and hoodoos stand along the highway, with sharply defined layers running horizontally through the sandstone and siltstone cliffs. The vaguely Bryce Canyon-like formations look something like red flowstone caught in the act of melting into the earth. Pull over (safely) to check it out.
This is one of the most interesting drives in the state. And that's saying something. Things to note along the way:
Black Mesa Coal-Conveyer Belt: As you cross beneath part of this immense structure (between mile markers 373 and 374), you can't help but think of eco-provocateur Edward Abbey and his screeds against the political and commercial forces despoiling his sacred desert. For decades, the Peabody Coal Co. took water from the Navajo Aquifer to pump coal slurry more than 250 miles to the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nev. In 2005, the station ceased operations rather than comply with a court order to install more than a billion dollars worth of pollution controls.
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Kayenta: This small town bills itself as the gateway to Monument Valley. (Take U.S. 163 about 22 miles north.) Originally a trading post founded by John Wetherill in 1909, the town's name may come from the Navajo word tye-nde, meaning "the pits where the animals fall in," according to Arizona Place Names, by Will Croft Barnes (University of Arizona Press, $23.50).
Details: kayenta.nndes.org.
Baby Rocks Mesa: You'll pass some of the most interesting geologic features of the drive between mile markers 407 and 408. Oddly shaped pinnacles and hoodoos stand along the highway, with sharply defined layers running horizontally through the sandstone and siltstone cliffs. The vaguely Bryce Canyon-like formations look something like red flowstone caught in the act of melting into the earth. Pull over (safely) to check it out.
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