We Went Back

A visit to Ship Rock peak, the prettiest road I've ever driven, and John Muir's old haunt at Petrified Forest National Park

Look closely, click on the picture to enlarge it if you need to, and you will find Samwise and Emily in the foreground of Ship Rock.

It was everything I’d hoped for—and more. 

On Saturday, we left Kanab and backtracked, something I don’t enjoy doing on a road trip. We returned to Farmington, New Mexico, and before dawn on Sunday, set out from the Home2 Suites hotel for the day lost five weeks ago to a flat tire, a snowstorm, and the accident with the reservation dog. (If you have not read it yet, click here.)

We reached the dirt road that leads to the Ship Rockmonadnock on the outskirts of Shiprockbefore dawn. The bony, rib-rutted dirt road is drivable, only barely. But we don’t visit this sacred land to ride to the base of the great monolith. We came here to walk in silence, and I came to pray.

I parked where the dirt starts, and we set off. Tsé Bit’ a’ íseemed to watch our approach as if a giant eagle appraising potential prey. Yes, I prefer the Navajo name. It means “rock with wings.” …