This may be the first Friday Foto I’m posting from the place I’m writing about. I’m sitting on a rocky ledge overlooking the broad valley of Hovenweep Canyon and other waters that flow into the San Juan River. On the opposite side of the valley reclines the aptly named figure of Sleeping Ute mountain. Far, far away in the haze to the southwest in Arizona the jagged peak of Shiprock Mountain, a volcanic plug, breaks the horizon. Below me to the east, if I shade my eyes from the morning sun is the round tower that’s been here for the last 800-900 years. Below cliff the tower rests on is another adobe structure and one the wall in the back are two painted hands which give this place its current name—Painted Hand. I’m sure family members of the person whose hands are there sat on this ledge looking at Ute Mountain and Shiprock which are holy sites to today’s Natives and were likely also in the days of the Ancestral Puebloans. Two days ago, on a hike to another site that I’ll write about later, I passed and chatted with a group of Paiute elders, descendants of those who built these sites. I also got better images of lots of painted hands from other places that I’ll share.
Chance, who’s been wandering somewhere for the last fifteen minutes, leans against me with pollen and sticks in his fur to go with the red dust that’s become embedded over the last week. Our camp is about fifty feet away, the solar panels gathering morning light to charge my power supply. As I cooked my porridge, I heard what sounded like an engine and looked up to see a hummingbird starring at me from ten feet away before zooming off. Unbelievably, as I typed that sentence—buzz, it was over my head again! Some bird song comes up from the canyon. Yesterday, a falcon soared past, and many ravens sweep the valley.
We are just across the Utah border in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado. I wondered why I had such good cell reception when we got here. The mystery was solved when I got up to pee and stargaze at four in the morning. I walked over to this ledge with my tripod, and there near Sleeping Ute’s head was the glow of Cortez, Colorado and a couple tall towers with blinking lights, likely sending me signals from maybe 20 miles away as the raven flies. Perhaps they are like this tower below me which may have seen and sent signals to others in the valley. Or maybe it was used to observe the skies as I was.
Painted Hands Tower and Sleeping Ute Mountain
As I looked over to Sleeping Ute in the dark, arched over him was the softly glowing Milky Way. To the south beamed Scorpio, the constellation that has greeted me the last four mornings as I got up to look at this marvelous dark sky. Scorpio’s tail was curled, ready to strike.
When we got here last evening, I took the third of a mile hike over to the Tower exploring whether that would be a good place for a night sky image but decided the scramble down the rocks would not be advisable with a tripod in the dark. So, I was satisfied with my rocky ledge view this early morning. Later, I’ll share some of these night images.
Hummingbird just buzzed by again, telling me this is getting too long. On with the day.