Shiprock and the Navajo Nation

Rising up from Farmington, there was no question which giant volcanic remnant was Shiprock. The volcanic plug rises 1,600 feet above the desert floor of the Navajo Reservation. 

Shiprock isn’t a national monument like Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, also a volcanic neck. It’s just Shiprock, province of the Navajo. The Navajo term translates to “winged rock,” tying Shiprock to the Navajo origin story. You can’t hike or climb on it. Nor should you want to mess with such a sacred place. 

Years ago, I saw it from an airplane. I knew exactly what I saw. No one has to guess when an airplane passes the Grand Canyon. But Shiprock …. You have to look hard, as it barely specked the desert from seven miles up. 

If anything, Shiprock could not rise up from Farmington fast enough. The Four Corners and San Juan generation stations smoked away, powering the region. Northwest New Mexico’s economy relies heavily on energy production. 

I ran into one of New Mexico’s safety zones, where law enforcement can pull you over for any speed above the limit, keeping me from Shiprock (a town of the same name lies to its north). . Here when you passed schools with Warriors, Chiefs or Braves as a mascot, you don’t think twice about it

I forgot about it the second the road afforded a new angle of Shiprock. Those angles were hard to ignore. Not that Shiprock was the only site. This close to the Four Corners, I could see the San Juan Mountains and the south end of the mesas forming the Ute Mountain Ute reservation, as well as Mesa Verde National Park. I veered a few miles form Four Corners but skipped the only place where four U.S. states meet. That seemed a destination to share, and I didn’t want to burn it up on a solo trip. 

I dove into the Navajo Reservation. My desire to stick to paved roads led me to take a longer, conversative path across the reservation; I could have hit Canyon de Chelly an hour quicker, but I could not chance the likelihood of unpaved roads through most routes. 

When I turned south, no other car followed me. That alone validated the decision. I was alone on the Navajo Reservation, with mesa, arroyos and mountains all around. 

Coming into the reservation’s north side, the land possessed a majesty, as towns broke up the long expanses punctuated by buttes and mountain ranges. 

You can't climb on these either