“The deserts of the American Southwest abound with ancient literature.” Petroglyphs — images or symbols chipped into the rock — are found throughout the area, left by its prehistoric inhabitants. Their meanings are obscure, the subject of much speculation and little proof.

Even when an image seems clear, its meaning isn’t as easy. Does a glyph that looks like a deer mean this is a good hunting area, frequented by deer? Does it record a specific hunt? Perhaps it honored a deer-related god? Or was it just the idle chippings of a bored and artistic traveler — ancient graffiti?

In most cases we’ll probably never know, but one group of petroglyphs may have yielded up its secrets. A couple of amateur Arizona archaeologist say these “water glyphs” were used by the ancient Anasazi used to find scarce water sources in the desert.

The markers seem to act something like a map of motel locations. Just as a modern traveler could look at such a map and decide where he would be assured lodging for the night, one of the Anasazi well-versed in reading these symbols would have known where he could next stop for water and shelter.”

Bob Ford and Dixon Spendlove have identified and studied more than 270 examples of these symbols, across more than 2,000 square miles, throughout the ancient Anasazi homeland. Each glyph is at one water source, and points to another, enabling you to hop from water to water across the desert.

Just take a quick walk in the desert today, and imagine heading off on a lengthy trek across the forbidding (and potentially deadly) desert. You’ll wish you had a reliable water map.

A thousand years ago, they did.

Wilderness Utah: Water trails of the Anasazi

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Our desert hiking trips in Arizona and New Mexico come supplied with plenty of water, but you’ll quickly get an idea of how hard it must have been for earlier travelers without all our conveniences. It’s spectacular country, but not easy for the unprepared!

If you ever come to Sedona, take one of the Pink Jeep tours, and be sure to get the “Broken Arrow” tour. It’s hands-down the best.

The tour involves amazing feats of driving up, down, and over the red rocks of Sedona, and you’ll go places that look like they should be impossible! If you’ve got back problems, this isn’t a wise idea, as you WILL get bounced around a lot, and grab for the “oh shit bar” frequently. It’s an exciting ride!

The trail is on national forest land, so although Pink Jeep company has exclusive rights to this trail for commercial operators, any Tom, Dick or Harry who wants to do it on their own can give it a try.

We passed a private vehicle with a family inside, little kid waving out the window at us. A bit later, we almost saw them flip over.

We’d just come down the very steep section shown in the photo, and they were attempting the same thing right behind us. Unfortunately, Driver Dad hadn’t had weeks of training in how to maneuver this course (unlike our driver). He got his wheels in the wrong place, went way up on one side, and came within inches of flipping. He finally realized he had to back up out of that situation, so one imminent disaster was narrowly averted.

I’m sure there were some very worried people inside that vehicle, who would rather get out & walk down the hill at that point. I’d bet there were also some “I told you this wasn’t a good idea” comments flowing, interspersed with a ripe selection of 4-letter words!

After the first near-miss disaster, our jeep driver continued on, so we weren’t able to see the rest of the story. I certainly hope the folks behind us did better on their 2nd attempt, because it was just too scary watching them on the 1st!

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We do women’s trips to Sedona a few times a year, and every guest has the option of going on this jeep trip — with a fully-trained professional driver! For anybody who’s feeling the urge to drive it themselves, I’d recommend taking the tour first, and see what you’re up against.

We arrived in Sedona this afternoon, and it feels so good to be back!

I met our group of adventurous wenches this morning in Phoenix, then we headed up to Cottonwood, where we picnicked beside a lagoon, with big shady trees. It felt like an oasis in the desert!

Next stop was Tuzigoot, the ruins of a town built by the Sinaguans about 1,000 years ago, and mysteriously abandoned 400 years later. Who were these people? And why did they all leave this “oasis” spot in the desert? (Tuzigoot and the mysterious “abandonment” definitely deserve coverage in posts of their own, so more on that later!)

From Tuzigoot, it’s a quick hop to Sedona. Driving into Sedona is always spectacular, as the famous red rock landscape comes into view, and it’s always cool to share this amazing place with new people.

I’ve been here so many times, that settling into our uptown hotel feels like coming home. Get all the chores done, then relax on the hotel balcony, looking up at the rocks, and thinking “ahhh… life is good”. The view includes famous “Snoopy Rock”, lying on his back and looking up at the sky (on the right in the picture, click photo for larger version).

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We do Sedona tours for women a few times a year, in spring and fall. I always feel my spirits life when I come here, though I don’t know how much of that I can attribute to vortex energy vs. just getting away from my desk and spending time outside!

Why, you may ask?

Well, I was walking to the bank the other day. It’s not the most scenic route in the world. In fact, you pass quite a few parking lots. But as I walked, I realized there were some amazing things on the way to the bank!

Next time, I had to take my camera along. I’m sure people were surprised to see me snapping shots in the parking lots, but perhaps it made some of them take a second look. You can find wonder even in a parking lot.

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Now tell me, aren’t these worth photographing?

So what exactly IS a vortex anyway? Sedona is famous for its mystical energy vortexes — but what ARE they? What happens when you go to one?

We did a women’s trip to Sedona recently, and I got to join our group on the vortex tour. Now I can’t tell everything, because our unwritten rule is “what happens at the vortex, stays at the vortex”. (I guess now it’s a written rule!) But without giving too much away, I can tell you a bit about it.

Vortexes are places on the earth where there’s an especially strong electromagnetic field, and there are quite a few of them in the Sedona area. Some of the sites are described as having upward energy, some inwards, some a balanced combination. Other times you’ll hear these described as male or female energies. Native Americans have used these sites for centuries, and recognize their spiritual power.

So what happens at a Sedona vortex? Some people have miraculous healings or visions. Some people feel nothing at all. Most of us are somewhere in the middle. We visit with a wonderful vortex guide who provides insights, and performs special ceremonies to help us get in touch with the energies of the land and ourselves. I’ve been on quite a few vortex tours, and I always feel something. I never know what to expect, though — every time is different.

On this beautiful blue-sky afternoon, we visited Boynton Canyon, guarded by Kachina woman (an important rock formation at this vortex site), then found a private spot near the creek for our medicine wheel ceremony. By the end of the afternoon, we’d made discoveries about our aura energies, life situations and issues we were facing, and insights on our connections with the earth, ancestors, and animal spirits.

At the end, we each received a black velvet bag with a peacock feather, and some items that were meaningful to each of us. When I saw the message in mine, I was astounded. It was so “on target ” it was spooky.

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We do Sedona tours for women several times a year, and each guest has an option to go on a Sedona vortex tour. I can’t tell you what to expect, since each time is different. You’ll just have to experience it for yourself!

A controversial new study thinks that the Grand Canyon may have been formed millions of years earlier than thought. The findings fly in the face of long-standing theory (and not just compared to the religious view)!

The traditional scientific view is that the Arizona canyon is 6 million years old, and the Colorado River is responsible for carving it. This new study proposes that the western reaches began forming 17 million years ago (before the river even existed), while the eastern portion formed in just the past 4 million years.

The scientists (Victor Polyak and University of New Mexico colleagues), base their research on clues from caves in the canyon walls. They argue that the traditional timelines based on geologic events are reliable only to about a million years ago. Instead, they’re using a new technique — looking at deposits in the caves. They reason that as the canyon cut deeper, it dropped the surrounding water tables. Specific mineral deposits in the caves then indicate different ages for different parts of the canyon.

Not all scientists agree. Ivo Lucchitta, an Arizona geologist, said he is “outraged”.

Find the whole story at
National Geographic: Grand Canyon Millions of Years Older Than Thought?

Of course, such debates about 6 million vs. 17 million years seem minor compared to the religious argument that the canyon is just a few thousand years old, based on biblical interpretations. Very interesting how people can look at the exact same canyon walls and see such different things!

New York Times: Seeing Creation and Evolution in Grand Canyon

National Park employees say that the Bush administration has forced them to ignore geological evidence, and sell religious books instead.

In order to avoid offending religious fundamentalists, our National Park Service is under orders to suspend its belief in geology,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “It is disconcerting that the official position of a national park as to the geologic age of the Grand Canyon is ‘no comment.’”

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER): How old is the Grand Canyon? Park Service won’t say

Personally, I’ve never understood this literal interpretation of the Bible in dating the earth. Why assume that a “God-day” is the same as a “person-day”? I guess that’s my scientific skepticism showing.

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Arizona is the Grand Canyon state, and there’s a lot more here, too! From saguaro forests in the desert, to pine forests in the mountains, it’s an amazing place. We do Sedona tours here a few times a year, and it’s simply spectacular.

Tombstone, Arizona. Even the name sounds dusty and desolate, with a streak of violence, doesn’t it? You can’t get more “wild west” than this.

Tombstone was a silver mining town that went through its cycles of boom and bust, like so many other mining towns. Back in the late 1800s it was booming — for a while it was bigger than San Francisco.

It was October 1881 when the famous gun battle took place — the Clantons and McLaurys on one side, the Earps and Doc Holliday on the other. The causes were complex: money, power, politics, pride, and a woman too. Here in Tombstone they had a way of settling those differences.

Shootout at the OK Corral: 8 gunslingers in close quarters for about 30 seconds. Results: 3 dead, everybody else wounded except Wyatt Earp. There’s considerable disagreement over who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. The Earps won this round, but the cowboys got revenge later. But that’s another story…

We visited the famous Boothill Graveyard, and found the graves of the OK Corral losers. There was a tourist sitting right on top of them, fiddling with his camera equipment. (I cropped him out here, but how tacky.) There’s a strikingly high percentage of graves here marked “shot”, or “murdered”.

With a wild west heritage like this, is it any wonder that Arizona’s proposed answer to school violence is to have more guns in the classroom?

Arizona’s a fascinating place, and there’s a lot here to discover! Adventurous Wench does tours to Sedona, Arizona a few times a year, and we’re planning more Arizona trips, too — coming soon!

They suited us up in slickers, hardhats, battery packs and lamps. Then we straddled a mini train car, to take us down the narrow tunnels deep into the mine, or “the hole”, as our guide called it. He should know, being a 3rd generation miner, who spent 31 years working underground.

The site is Bisbee, in southern Arizona, and we’re at the old Queen Mine — no longer active, except for tours. Bisbee was a huge mining center, primarily for copper, but they also got silver, gold, turquoise, and various other minerals. There are 2300 miles of tunnels criss-crossing, level over level under the hillsides. Over the life of the mines (about a century), they produced over 8 billion pounds of copper. Billion! That’s a lot of ore.

The tour got off to an exciting start when the train derailed before most of us even got into the tunnel. It seems like these guys are used to it though, and they were able to quickly lever the cars back onto the tracks. We were just happy the derailment happened outside, rather than far underground!

Then it was a jerky ride deep into the mine, with occasional stops where the guide would point things out to us, and talk about what mining work was like — both in the old days and now.

The saddest thing was the mules, that used to pull carts of ore from the depths of the mine. The mules were kept in the mine for 12-15 years, and not allowed to see the light of day. The thinking then was that if you let them out, they wouldn’t want to go back. (And who could blame them?) So there were stables underground, and these poor mules lived in the chilly darkness most of their lives. Many went blind, and only after they couldn’t work any more were they allowed out.

Fortunately, today’s mining practices are a lot more humane, safety conscious, and environmental than back then. But it’s a job I’m sure glad I don’t have to do. An hour in the mine was enough for me!

If you’re ever in Bisbee, consider the Queen Mine tour a must-see. And dress warm! The mine was a cool 47 degrees, so shorts and sandals = shivering in the hole.