Honoring the Navajo Code Talkers on Veterans Day

Navajo Code Talker Lemuel Yazzie. AP Photo/Seth Wenig.

Today, 13 of the famed Navajo Code Talkers from World War II will participate for the first time in the New York City Veterans Day parade.

This Marine unit used Navajo language-encrypted military terms in a code that was never broken by the Japanese. One of the things that made it so hard to break was that different words could be used for exactly the same message. The Navajo were sworn to secrecy about the code, and kept their secret long after the code was declassified in 1968.

There were about 400 Code Talkers in all; it is believed that about 50 are still alive--most living in the Navajo Nation, which is located in northwestern New Mexico, northeastern Arizona, and southeastern Utah. (Navajoland, or Diné Bikéyah, covers 27,000 square miles, which makes it larger than many U.S. states.)

Recognition for these brave Marines was slow to come. In 2000, the Congressional Gold Medal was bestowed on the survivors of the original 29 Code Talkers, and silver medals on the rest. The Navajo Code Talkers Foundation is creating a museum in their honor which is expected to open in New Mexico, near the Navajo capital of Window Rock, Arizona in 2012.

Navajo Code Talkers (from left) Lloyd Oliver, Bahe Ketchum, and Joe Vandever. AP Photo/Seth Wenig.

New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman has devoted part of his website to information about the Code Talkers; click here for more information.

Sun, Clouds, Mist, and Aspens

On October 8 we did our annual hike of the Aspen Vista Trail. In contrast to the blazing sun of the past two years, this was a cooler and less sunny walk, but beautiful still the same.

We lucked into a wonderful window of reasonably bright weather combined with threatening skies--which made for some great shadows and colors.

I would say that we were a few days past peak--good color on the lower and more protected slopes (at about 10,000 feet) but lots of lost leaves as we climbed higher.



Moments before we left (the temperature had already dropped about five degrees) a heavy, cold mist blew in. The time between the first and last of the following photographs was no more than four minutes--in the first you can see the entire valley from the parking area; by the third. the valley has been totally obliterated.




Time to hop in the car and go home! The mountain was covered in clouds the rest of the day, but the next morning we could see that the peak was clearly snow-covered.


Click the links to read about our 2008 and 2007 walks, with lots more detail on the Aspen Vista Trail!

Real Silver Linings!

I never was as interested in clouds before I moved to Santa Fe! Sunset clouds, storm clouds, morning, afternoon, and evening--there's always something to look at when the sky isn't the pristine blue Santa Fe is famous for.

Here are some clouds from last night with a cold front moving in--real silver linings!

400th Anniversary Celebration Begins

On Labor Day weekend, Santa Fe officially kicked off its 400th birthday celebration with Viva! Santa Fe, a weekend of concerts and festivities.

Historians and organizers have placed the origin of the city somewhere between 1607-1610, depending on who's looking and where.

1607 - Juan Martínez de Montoya testified before Acting Governor Cristobal Oñate that he had established the plaza of La Villa de Santa Fe.

1609 - Spanish Viceroy Luis de Velasco signed an order to make Santa Fe the capital of New Mexico on March 30. He also named Pedro de Peralta as Governor.

1610 - The new Governor arrived in Santa Fe to assume his office, and to let the residents know of their new status.

Santa Fe thus lays claim to being the oldest capital city in the U.S.--and it's been a capital under three governments (Spain, Mexico, and the U.S.).

Unfortunately, the weather was rainy off and on all weekend, but all events took place. At the Saturday night concert I attended it rained primarily before the performances began--and the dancers, singers, and musicians were all on a covered stage. Still, a lovely small-town evening! Photographs of performers throughout this post include Black Eagle (Grammy-winning Jemez Pueblo drummers and dancers), Blackfire (Navajo band), singer Lila Downs (whom I actually first saw perform in Massachusetts, at the Somerville Theatre), and the 13 women of the El Paso mariachi group Mariachi Femenil Flores Mexicanas.

Other performances (no photos) were by Ozomatli and "The King of New Mexico Music" Tobias Rene.

Roses and Apples

In my garden this morning: blue skies and healing sunshine.

New License Plate for New Mexico

To celebrate the upcoming statehood centennial in 2012, New Mexico is introducing a new license plate design in January. According to the state's website, the Centennial plate features "a 'retro' design--a classic look, using red and yellow colors from the state flag and the Zia; and a bold turquoise background, reflecting the state gem."

The plate replaces the so-called "balloon plate", which has been around for the past 10 years.

The question the Governor has for you is the following. Should this be the only standard (i.e. no extra charge) plate available to New Mexicans, or should they continue to be able to choose the other current standard plate, cleverly known as "the yellow plate"?

If you'd like to vote, click here to go the state's license plate survey website.

Those who are willing to spend an extra $25 can forego the above choice(s) and instead acquire the new Santa Fe 400th anniversary license plate, which will be available after Labor Day. The extra $25 will go to offset the costs of the 400th anniversary celebration.

Otowi - Pueblo Canyon

A couple of weeks ago I joined Friends of Archaeology once again for a trip to Otowi in Pueblo Canyon.

Our trip was led by Office of Archaeological Studies (OAS) archaeologist Steve Lakatos, accompanied by OAS archaeologist Chuck Hannaford, ceramicist Dean Wilson, archaeobotanist Pam McBride, and San Ildefonso Pueblo representatives Bryan and Clarice Montoya.

Otowi or Potsuwi'i (gap where the water sinks) is an ancestral Tewa village, located along the north side of Pueblo Canyon. While many folks pass by this area on the way to Los Alamos, it has not been easy to visit. It was previously part of the lands appropriated by the Federal government for the Los Alamos National Laboratories, and then it was transferred to Los Alamos County. San Ildefonso expects the area to be restored to tribal governance later this year, and then it will most likely be closed to the public.

So it was very exciting to have this chance to tour the site! It was, however, a very hot day, and we probably walked at least four miles. FOA is very good about making sure everyone carried enough water--2.5 litres (which is heavy!) Our lunches were made (including fresh-baked sandwich bread) by the Totavi Café and were excellent. (At least we didn't have to carry those!)

For a general history of the area, check out my recent Tsankawi post. (Otowi is only about two miles away from Tsankawi.)

The various ancestral sites within the canyon now consist primarily of semi-cleared areas, mounded dirt areas, and rocks that were used in construction. When these residences were built (some as early as the 13th century) they were likely not intended for permanent use, and once they were no longer lived in, they "melted" back into the ground pretty quickly. The Pajarito Plateau was abandoned by the Tewa as a residential area by 1550; most went to settle along the Rio Grande where they still live today. However, the area still continued to be used for hunting and worship.

The first photo above shows a pile of volcanic rock that was used in construction; the second shows the rocks that were positioned for the corner of a dwelling--still in place. There is evidence on the site of hundreds of rooms, and 10 circular kivas.

Although we did not explore the "cavates" at Otowi (as we did at Tsankawi), we got a good view of them from the canyon (see the photo above). And we saw the place where the water sinks--a running stream disappears underground (on the way to lunch, and too hot and tired to backtrack for a photo!).

Grapes!

This year for the first time I have grapes growing in my garden. My apple tree is also laden with beautiful fruit--hope the insects don't get them first! No peaches this year--a late frost killed my blossoms.

Somehow, with my limited knowledge of botany, it doesn't seem climatologically right that peaches, apples, and grapes would all coexist in my yard here in Santa Fe. (Take that Georgia, Washington, and Italy!)

Under the Rainbow

More than half the time when it rains in Santa Fe, the sun doesn't stop shining right away, or it comes out immediately after (or during!) the rain, and we get the most incredible rainbows. I took these photos from my driveway a few days ago--it's all the same rainbow but I just wasn't far enough away to capture the whole thing.

See how dark the sky is--and at the same time how much sunlight is shining on my next door neighbor's house!

The Valles Caldera

Last week I traveled to the Valles Caldera (which literally means "cooking pot valleys") with a Southwest Seminars group in conjunction with the Santa Fe Newcomers' Club.

Geologist Dr. Kirt Kempter (who has studied plate tectonics and volcanism around the world) was our guide for the day.

About 1.25 million years ago, a volcanic eruption occurred in the Jemez Mountains. After the first phase, which spewed magma maybe 10-12 miles up into the stratosphere, crystals and ash (known as tephra) rained (or more descriptively, snowed) down on the area.

After a few hours, waves of so-called pyroclastic flows (very hot and very fast--600-700 degrees in temperature, and moving at 100-200 mph) spread across the region, filling valleys, and forming plateaus such as the Pajarito Plateau (which was the subject of a recent post). The photo above shows a small part of the Plateau, which we passed on our way up to the Valles Caldera.

Finally, after the magma was depleted, the earth's crust around the vents began to collapse. The east side of what is now known as the Valles Caldera collapsed nearly a mile--the west side only about a quarter of a mile.

The area has had an interesting history. Pueblo Indians (from nine different pueblos along the Rio Grande) hunted, farmed, and collected tool-making rocks in the Caldera (such as the obsidian outcropping shown in the photo above which was used to make arrowheads) before the Spanish came. When the Spanish brought sheep, horses, and cattle, the lush summer grasslands provided ideal grazing.

In 1860, 12 years after the US took over the area, a land-grant settlement was reached by awarding a grant of 100,000 acres (almost the entire Valles Caldera) to the heirs of Cabeza de Vaca (see my previous post on the Cabeza de Vacas). Four private owners held the land until 2000 when the US government purchased it and established the Valles Caldera National Preserve.

Today, the Caldera is home to the second largest elkherd in the state (numbering about 3,000), and its beautiful meadows and slopes are also home to deer, golden eagles, mountain lions, bobcats, bears, 60 species of birds, and wild turkeys. Lottery-based fishing permits are available, and each fisherman gets about a mile of stream to him/herself for the day to fish for the native trout.

In the winter, it is a fabulous location for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and sleigh rides when the weather cooperates!

The Preserve also hosts a number of special events including mountain bike rides, overnight birding events, fly fishing clinics, elk hunts, and night sky adventures. The number of visitors to the Preserve is controlled--so you really get a chance to experience nature and not crowds.

Illustration Credits and References

Thanks to my friend Gloria Gordon for the wildlife photo.

This post was informed by Valles Caldera: Map and Geologic History of the Southwest's Youngest Caldera, a High Desert Field Guide authored by Kirt Kempter and Dick Huelster, and by the website and brochures of the Valles Caldera National Preserve.