The Four Corners/Canyonlands, where the boundaries of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona converge, was the recent lure for intrepid travelers Pam and Scott Markham of Conway who delight in probing the depths of American Indian culture,
They found the area awesome, says Markham, a retired professor of marketing at the University of Central Arkansas. He was astounded to learn that American Indians in the area have called this their home for some 30,000 years.
"Contemporary Native Americans chuckle when they hear about Columbus 'discovering' America about 500 years ago," Markham said. At their zenith as a people, he said, there were about 75 million Native Americans in North and South America, speaking 2,000 different languages.
The Four Corners location proved to be a memorable time among the many pilgrimages the couple has undertaken in the process of learning more about American Indians. Past expeditions included visitations among the Cherokees in Oklahoma, with Athabaskans in Alaska and at the Cheyenne River reservation in Eagle Butte, S.D., for a Habitat for Humanity rehab project.
They've also visited the American Indians Tribal Histories project in Billings, Mont., the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Mont., and the Plains Indian Museum in Cody, Wy.
Native Americans and the history that surrounds them have piqued the interest of Markham since his kiddie days in his home in Shreveport, La., where games of cowboys and Indians filled his days. His interest in their culture stayed with him through the years, compelling him to visit various American Indian nations in the United States.
Their recent Four Corners trip proved also to be rewarding for the Conway couple in that they came away feeling much better about the economic plight of the groups they encountered the Hopi, Navaho and Anasazi. During other visits, they had witnessed American Indians living in less than suitable surroundings.
To say that the Markhams were enthralled by the trip is an understatement. They were brimming with curiosity and drenched with a sense of discovery. A rental car was their principal mode of transportation, and with it they were able to find unusual accommodations at an old trading post and remote places near reservations, and in old settlements.
"We enjoyed a great interaction with the Native Americans who seemed to be as interested in us as we were in them," he said.
Serendipity played a large part while the Markhams traveled about in the Painted Desert near the Petrified Sand Dunes and Old Oraibi, one of the oldest continuously occupied towns in the United States. Here they found a local grade school performing a colorful children's dance.
"We got an authentic, running commentary from an old Hopi woman as each group of children, who were in original dress, entered the dance area as various Kachina figures," Markham said.
A never-to-be-forgotten sight was the Canyon de Chelley area. This place featured Anasazi Indian housing built into canyon walls.
"This is one of the greatest points of interest among many Native American researchers," Markham said. It was one of the most provocative points of interest for the Markhams and it spawned many questions about these individuals, particularly about their history.
Research indicates, Markham said, that a severe drought occurred throughout this part of the country hundreds of years ago, and it was believed that it inhabitants were of necessity provoked to leave to find water. "They became virtual nomads obtaining shells from the Gulf Coast, furs from Canada, obsidian (dark colored volcanic glass not unlike gemstone) from California as well as other objects from as far away as South America," Markham said.
At the Far View Lodge inside Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, a guide led the Makhams down into a canyon to visit cliff dwellings, using pole ladders. There they found a series of individual houses made of mud brick sharing common walls. The first house in this cliff dwelling has been dated to the year 1200.
"Building the houses was an intricate chore. Each mud brick had to be brought to indentations in the cliff wall by hand on pole ladders or by climbing niches in the cliff face. Sometimes the bricks were lowered by rope from the canyon rim."
The Markhams found themselves so deep in the canyon at one point that they had to crawl on all fours though a tunnel and on to another pole ladder to make their way out.
Cliff Palace, the largest settlement of its kind in the Four Corners area, is dated to about 1200. It had the largest number of rooms and kivas of any of the cliff dwellings explored by the Markhams.
"A kiva is a circular room with the floor scooped out below ground level," he said. "Seating is along the circular wall with a single entrance/exit. A fire pit is usually in the middle. The room is used for community ceremonies and events. Pole ladders are used to navigate the settlement."
A visit to Monument Valley produced incredible sights of tremendous rock structures, buttes, spires and monoliths molded by time, wind, water, snow and ice, Markam said. The travelers also drank in the wonders of Bryce National Park and Zion National Park.
"We hiked Riverview Trail one day and Emerald Pool Trail the next. It was pretty exhausting and strenuous but the incredible sights made every step worth it," he said.
Antelope Canyon is on Navaho land. It is known as a "slot canyon" for is narrow, tall features. It has been featured in travel and photography magazines. Its magnificent color, changing throughout the day depending on the angle and intensity of the sunlight on the canyon walls, provides never-to-be forgotten vistas.
The Four Corners/Canyonlands is an awesome place and easily accessible from Arkansas by automobile or air. Literally, it is like no other place on earth, Markham said.
