The gripping true story of three young people who went missing at the same time in the same tangle of canyons and slickrock expanses of the American Southwest. In 1935, during the wind-swept years of the Dust Bowl, three people went missing on separate occasions in the rugged canyon country of southeastern Utah, a place 'wild, desolate, mysterious.' A thirteen-year old girl, Lucy Garrett, was tricked into heading west with the man who had murdered her father under the pretense of reuniting with him. At the same time, a search was underway for Dan Thrapp, a young scientist on leave from the American Museum of Natural History. Others were scouring the same region for an artist, Everett Ruess, who had disappeared into 'the perfect labyrinth.' Intrigued by this unusual string of coincidental disappearances, Scott Thybony set out to learn what happened. His investigations took him from Island in the Sky to Skeleton Mesa, from Texas to Tucson, and from the Green River to the Red. He traced the journey of Lucy Garrett from the murder of her father to her dramatic courtroom testimony. Using the pages of an old journal he followed the route of Dan Thrapp as he crossed an expanse of wildly rugged country with a pair of outlaws. Thrapp's story of survival in an unforgiving land is a poignant counterpoint to the fate of the artist Everett Ruess, which the New York Times has called 'one of the most enduring mysteries of the modern West.' Thybony draws on extensive research and a lifetime of exploration to create a riveting story of these three lives"--Provided by publisher.
More than four million people visit the Grand Canyon National Park every year, but most visitors choose not to stray beyond the heavily visited trails or to venture below the Canyon's rims. The rim trails and the routes to the inner canyon offer solitude and expose beauty vastly different from what can be seeing from the developed areas of the Rims. This edition of the Official Guide to Hiking Grand Canyon provides an overview of all the park's major trails, with notations about difficulty levels, conditions, water sources, distances from point to point and elevation gain and losses.
Wildfire is a natural phenomenon that has crept closer to humans as humans have moved into its natural habitat. Now we live with its threat every long, hot summer. Learn about wildfire's natural place in the environment, how we fight it, and how we live with it.
Most people who are familiar with the Painted Desert of northeastern Arizona know it only from having pulled off at the Petrified Forest exit on Interstate 40. If they happen to come by it at midday, as most do, they find a landscape drained of color and flattened under the direct sunlight. But this remote pocket of the Arizona desert, sandwiched between the Little Colorado River on one side and bold escarpments on the other, is much more than most tourists ever experience. An ethereal landscape of sculpted rock, wind-fluted cliffs, and elegantly drifting sand, the Painted Desert is a rich storehouse of natural beauty, colorful history, and scientific wonders. Here the strongest winds in Arizona blow across extensive dunefields, where less than ten inches of rain falls each year and only a few desert-savvy Navajo are able to live. Now, for the first time award-winning writer Scott Thybony and freelance photographer David Edwards offer an intimate look at a place that remains inhospitable and inaccessible to so many. They share insights about the geology, paleontology, anthropology, and human history of the region as well as personal stories that dispel the misconceptions and mysteries that surround this delicate and difficult landscape. With fifteen stunning photographs gracing the text, this book offers a vibrant portrait of one of the Southwest’s most barren, and most colorful landscapes.
In Navajo country, where the land is thick with legends and forgotten histories, a writer sets out to find a place that no longer exists except on a few old maps: Burntwater. The story opens when two friends get stuck in a remote pocket of the desert as a winter storm moves in. They are taking a wandering route across the Four Corners region, curving through Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona on a long arc into the mythic heart of the country. As they travel, the author calls up past experiences in this land where the past flows seamlessly into the present. He remembers a medicine man whose chanting could start the cold engine of a Volkswagen. He describes an act of sabotage against an oil company by two Vietnam vets armed with deer rifles. He recalls how a winter of herding sheep for a Navajo family and a search for a Hopi known as the Sun Chief led him further into a human landscape as strange and compelling as the terrain. This book takes the backroads, crossing the Colorado Plateau from the headwaters of the Virgin River to the mouth of the Dirty Devil, from the badlands below Twin Angels to a remote mesa in Bandelier. As the miles go by and the stories unfold, there is a growing sense of mystery, of words not spoken, of messages carried on the wind. Reaching the Shrine of the Stone Lions, the writer recounts a near-fatal descent into the Grand Canyon where he finds a way to reconnect with the beauty of life. There his journey ends with an emotional punch that goes straight to the mind and the heart.
A guidebook to the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and the Wupatki Indian ruins in northern Arizona describes the geology, wildlife and history of the site.
For centuries the hogan has existed as a shelter for Navajo families. The hexagonal- or octagonal-shaped structure with its eastern entrance continues to mean much to the people. Explore the significance of the hogan, from traditional home, to a place of meditation and ceremony, to an architectural symbol represented in new and different ways every day. Learn what the hogan means through this brief but focused book. Color photos enhance your understanding.
Describes what life was like for the people who built this major Puebloan community on the banks of the Animas River in northern New Mexico. Photos by George H. H. Huey.
This stunningly beautiful, oversized (10x13) book is lavishly illustrated with breathtaking color imagery by American's leading landscape photographers. In addition to the stunning photography, the book also includes detailed maps of the park and region and insightful, heartfelt narratives detailing the park's natural and human histories.
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