Despite the fact that centuries have passed since America ceased to be the homeland of the Indians, there are still many places associated with the life of the ancient Aboriginal tribes. All of them are shrouded in legends, full of mysteries and mysticism, passed from one generation to the next, although the origin of each of them (places) has a completely prosaic, scientifically confirmed explanation. But this does not lose the romantic and inexplicably mysterious charm of curiosities formed as a result of some natural anomalies.
History of appearance
An example of this is the extraordinary Shiprock Rock, which in translation sounds like "winged rock", rising alone in the Navajo Desert in New Mexico, USA. A huge rocky monolith, according to seismologists, remained on the surface after a strong earthquake that occurred more than 30 million years ago. As a result, solid rocks were exposed, and powerful flows of lava, rushing from the mouth of the volcano, spilled around their foot, frozen in a continuous cover of fancifully outlined magma deposits.
Spreading over the surface, it filled cracks and depressions, forming, during cooling, six peculiar thresholds, the mass of which is not subject to any erosion and the influence of atmospheric precipitation. Since then, Shiprok has stood like a formidable sentry, recalling the mighty forces of the earth's interior. The size of the rock is impressive: its height reaches 600 meters, its diameter is half a kilometer.
There is another point of view on the origin of the unique elevation: according to geologists, it was the crater "neck" of a huge volcano, which was worked on by wind erosion and changes in climatic temperatures, leaving the most solid monolithic part, which made people believe about it.
Legends of Shiprock
Around the stone monolith, the pagan superstition of the Indians formed many legends that continue to live among the people. According to one of them, the inhabitants of the peaceful Navajo Indian settlements, subjected to constant raids by warring tribes, prayed to their Spirits for salvation. Those, having heard the prayers and incantations of the shamans, parted the earth and erected a stone shelter upward together with people, for which the rock was named winged. So the Navajos lived all the time upstairs, only the men sometimes went downstairs to stock up on food.
Another already modern legend is associated with highway number 666, passing by the rock, which was nicknamed devilish not only because of the symbolic number, but because of frequent accidents in which many people died. Mystical stories told about a ghostly killer driver provoking car accidents, who, allegedly, were seen by those who survived in accidents.
The highway became notorious, they were afraid to drive on it, rumors about strange glowing balls on it discouraged car owners from appearing on a terrible road. The authorities were forced to decide to replace the fatal number with the devil's numbers with "491", because this freeway connected three large states. It seems that since 2003, after its change, the accidents have stopped, but the "devil's road" has become very "popular" for filmmakers of feature films, documentaries and animation films.
Until now, modern Indians deify the mountain, considering it sacred, and worship it. They disapprove of those trying to climb the cliff, as was the first time in 1939, when several California daredevils - members of the Sierra climbing club - climbed to the summit. Their ascent was harshly condemned by the Navajo, and the district administration, knowing how they (the Indians) sacredly honor the rock, officially forbade them to climb so as not to exacerbate interethnic relations.
However, despite the ban, extreme climbers continue to engage in rock climbing, often ending in a tragic outcome - the death of climbers, as warned by the inscription on the memorial plate installed at the foot. There is a belief that Shiprok herself controls the fate of those who climbed her and determines their fate.
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Landscape and landscape
Depending on the time of day, the appearance of the rock acquires a different color, and this creates the feeling of its many-sidedness: it looks either as a gloomy pile of stone blocks, or as a huge ancient castle rushing upwards nobly. Against the background of a bright blue sky, illuminated from all sides by generous rays, Shiprok looks festive and friendly, it seems not dangerous and affordable. A completely different picture appears on a gloomy rainy day: under a gray sky covered with heavy clouds, the mountain is the embodiment of mystical horror; looking at her at such moments, everyone involuntarily recalls the dead climbers and Indian myths.
But the rock can also be a wonderful sight, when in the evening sunset rays everything is painted in crimson tones, it resembles a luxurious palace of the padishah, made of reddish-brown granite in the Baroque style. In the early morning haze, everything around the “winged rock” acquires silvery shades, and then its blue ledges seem to be some kind of Martian object, full of cosmic mystery and captivating charm.
The view of the surroundings of Shiprok is beautiful in winter, when the whiteness of the snow contrasts with the blue-violet incredibly fantastic outlines of the mountain. In autumn, a brown-rusty stone monolith merges in color with brown bushes of stunted vegetation and seems to be lost against their background, merging into one autumn landscape. From above, from a bird's eye view, the legendary rock looks like a small harmless island among the yellow desert expanses.
It stands proudly and majestically, attracting the attention of rock-climbers; who, despite the prohibitions and bad rumors, continue to conquer its uneven peaks, hoping to see with their own eyes something unusual, exciting the imagination and making the heart beat faster and throw out adrenaline. Not only residents of the States, but also foreigners come here specially to admire the sacred mountain of the indigenous people of America.
