Grand Canyon News

It had started raining early in the morning and was drizzling steadily by the time we met at the Grand Canyon McDonalds to catch the tour. Yes, the Jeep is covered and has plastic roll down windows, although when you’re driving down the highway, some water may drip on you if it’s raining.  And for those who might get chilled, each Jeep is supplied with warm blankets.

We headed south on Arizona Route 64 and around the Grand Canyon National Park Airport to a dirt trail. Just as we started heading down the road, a young passenger with good eyes excitedly called out that she saw an elk.  Our guide, William, backed the Jeep up a few feet until everyone had a good view of an extremely large bull elk standing near a group of other males.  Later we again stopped to get a glimpse of some mule deer.

Within a few minutes, William warned us to make sure our seatbelts were tight and then we headed down into the rough part of the tour. Muddy water splashed up and over the Jeep as we dropped into a mud hole and hopped back out.  Now this was four-wheeling!  The kids on the Jeep began laughing and giggling. We hit several more “bumps” on the way down to the cave paintings and rained the muddy water up the windows each time. When Williams brought the Jeep to a stop, everyone was smiling and laughing.

Once stopped, we climbed out of the Jeep and walked down a path littered with small mud puddles that were easy to skirt around. The smell of the sage brush and junipers was refreshing and the colors of the rocks were more vivid than average.  As with most “caves” in the area, it’s more of a concave overhang versus a tunnel of rock.  There is a bit of an uphill walk required to get to the cave, equivalent to about 4 flights of stairs. 

Inside the cave, you will see a wall of rock covered with pictographs.  Anthropologists speculate that several different groups of native people used this wall as a means to communicate with one another hundreds, maybe even thousands of years ago.  You’ll be asked not to touch the walls so as to preserve the iron oxide pigments and to refrain from touching the ceiling where the soot from fires has covered the stone.  You may, however, feel the stones in the center that were used to prepare meat obtained from hunting.

One of the most interesting parts of the tour was the explanation of the paintings.  Our guide William is Hopi and is well versed in the traditions and history of his ancestors (Editor’s note: the Hopi Indians are said to be the descendants of the Anasazi people, who occupied the Southwest until their somewhat sudden and mysterious departure in about 1200 AD).  It was refreshing to hear an  interpretation of the paintings from someone who knows the traditions of the people versus hearing it from an outsider’s viewpoint, which is not always correct.

After William’s discourse, he then played some native songs on a wooden courting flute.  Due to the rain earlier, the air was clear and the notes of the flute echoed through the forest with a charming clarity that created a bond with the people who had utilized this place long ago.

As we began our hike (not quite a ¼ mile) back to the Jeep, the rain started again. We buckled in and prepared for the ride back through the mud puddles and dips as though we were in a Jeep commercial.  The smiles at the end of the trail seemed to be payment enough for William (but we did express our appreciation with a tip, as you are welcome to do too).

Even though this tour does not actually go to the canyon rim, we still enjoyed it thoroughly.  If you’re itching to do some four wheeling, don’t mind a little hiking and want a closer look into the lives of those who inhabited the Grand Canyon area thousands of years ago, you’ll enjoy it, too.  It’s the Indian Cave Paintings Tour and it is a ton of fun! 

Leah V., Reservationist, GrandCanyon.com