Day 46: We’ll Still Have The Summer After All

Day Forty-Six: We’ll Still Have The Summer After All

7/28/11:

We made a two vehicle caravan as we drove through the KNF in what would be my last venture through the forest. Despite fires, paperwork and heritage programs, the full crew was united for one final day. Neil was treating us to two phenomenal archaeological sites: Tarantula Petroglyphs and Pinyon Nut Fort.

The Tarantula Petroglyphs, discovered in 1993 by a forest volunteer, were etched into a rock outcropping in a side drainage of Spring Valley Wash. In the mid-1990s, when KNF archaeologists brought Hopi elders to the site, a number of Hopi clan symbols were noted, including a spider petroglyph from Joel’s own Spider Clan. Nearby, Jeddito Yellow Ware—“ancestral Hopi pottery,” according to Neil, “the same clay used in their pots today!”—had been discovered.

Sadly, vandalism had occurred at Tarantula Petroglyphs, albeit from an unlikely source. A Peruvian sheepherder, moving through the area, had scrawled his name over the main panel of petroglyphs. KNF archaeologists had worked with a rock art conservator in attempts to camouflage the graffiti with different pigments, but this had been only a “short term solution…you can still see the mar if you look closely.”*

Running my hands along the rough rock, I couldn’t keep myself from clambering down into a crevice to look for petroglyphs or hopping along high up above the rest of the crew. At the base of the enclosing rock walls were several standing pools; filled with mossy green water, they looked particularly unappetizing to me although, in bone dry Arizona, the pools undoubtedly made the site an important one for the petroglyph artists.

Meandering through the KNF on our way to Pinyon Nut Fort, we passed through Antelope Meadow, scared up some cows, and came across part of the KNF Timber Crew. Ensconced in tiny Caterpillars fitted with huge scissor teeth, the Timber Crew was removing excessive scrubby trees by literally cutting them out of the ground with one solid snip. I watched as the flora was mercilessly felled and inquired of Travis if my government license equipped me to drive one such scissor toothed vehicle. His response was less than encouraging.

We parked at the base of the hill topped by Pinyon Nut Fort, forgoing lunch under the threat of an impending monsoon. A site with outstanding views of all the major mountains in the area, Pinyon Nut Fort is one of the most substantial Cohonina hilltop settlements in the KNF. As Neil told me, Pinyon Nut Fort was occupied until the late 1000s or about the time of the Sunset Crater Eruption (around A.D. 1084). This eruption was particularly significant in explaining why the Cohonina left the Coconino Plateau, as it is theorized that “the eruption put down a cinder mulch around the Wupatki area, making a formerly inhospitable soil type suddenly arable. The cinders provided a much needed mulch that preserved water moisture. It is speculated that for at least a generation the area had new seeps and springs, thus giving way to the great Cohonina migration and the rise of Wupatki as a regional center between the Anasazi, Cohonina and Sinagua. Prior to A.D. 1100, Wupatki was virtually unoccupied.”*

Standing in the ruins of Pinyon Nut Fort, I silently congratulated the Cohonina on choosing such a fantastic place on which to build. I really couldn’t imagine a better last view of the KNF then from atop that hill, mountains ringing the horizon as dark ponderosas and pinyons spread out below like a green carpet. It was a good day to say goodbye, I thought, the whole crew together one final time.

Later that night, Joe, Noah and I set out for Sycamore Canyon, one of the oldest designated Wilderness Areas (i.e., machinery of any kind is prohibited to maintain the natural landscape) in Arizona. Stretching through the Kaibab, Coconino and Prescott National Forests, the only way in and out of the twenty-one mile long red rock canyon was by foot or hoove. We had intended to hike down into the canyon and spend the night at a campsite beneath a heavy rock lip, but the dirt entry road had turned to deep mud and kept us from getting within three miles of the trailhead with Joe's truck. Making due, we lamented the absence of our very own Q while pitching our tents not far from a herd of bugling cattle.

Well actually, Noah and Joe pitched our tents while I sprawled atop the truck’s topper, picking out stars (can anyone point out Draco?) from between ponderosa branches. With the exception of Joe and Noah’s bobbing headlights, the forest was utterly dark, the beastly cries of cows echoing unnervingly in the air. Lying there, I thought about the immortal, wise words of one Lady Gaga: I’ve got to go oh oh oh / but we’ll still have the summer after all.

As long as the cows didn’t trample me to death as I slept in my tent, I was always going to have this summer.

*Many thanks to Neil for all this information!

Photos: 1. Tarantula Petroglyphs 2. Antelope Meadow 3. View from Pinyon Nut Fort (photo credit: Neil) 4. Small finds in Sycamore Canyon 5. Descent into Sycamore Canyon 6. Sycamore Canyon (photo credit: Noah)