Our First Detour: Tse Batai "the Winged Rock," or, Shiprock

The Navajo call this rock formation Tse Batai, "the Winged Rock."  Settlers called this massive outcrop Shiprock.





A picture taken of
Shiprock from miles
away, with a long
lens.






There are no paved roads to Shiprock.

It's so massive that I think

it's best viewed from

a distance.

Shiprock is actually the volcanic neck of a volcano that erupted 30,000 years ago.  It's made up of rock that builds up little by little in the incredible heat of a volcano.  This very hard rock remains after the cone of the volcano has eroded away.

The wall-like sheet of cooled
lava that radiates away from
Shiprock is called a dike.







Six dikes radiate away from Shiprock.

This section of dike is

nearest to the road.

Eric turned the motorhome around so we could look at Shiprock from different 

vantage points.

The opposite side of the dike
nearest to the road.

It looks like a monster

rising from the muck.

The dike with Shiprock
in the distance.

A slightly different angle

A closer look at the
dike & Shiprock.







Mankind likes to believe that the ground we walk upon is firm and reliable.  Shiprock and the dikes that radiate from it remind me of the immense heat and pressure that roil beneath the solid ground I take for granted.