"...Traditonal native knowledge about the natural world tends to view all—or at least vast regions—of nature, often including the Earth itself, as inherently holy rather than profane, savage, wild, or wasteland.
"The landscape itself, or certain regions of it, is seen as sacred and quivering with life. It is inscribed with meaning regarding the origins and unity of al life, rather than seen as mere property to be partititioned legally into commercial real estate holdings."
- David Suzuki
Day 183 - Friday, December 22, 1995 - The Sunbow 5 walkers packed up and departed from their base camp at Sunset Crater National Monument near Flagstaff, Arizona, and headed down through Oak Canyon and Sedona to Cornville.
Our new base camp will be in Cornville in the back yard of Sandy Ezrine’s home.
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Sam Dunkley - (author photo)
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Sam Dunkley has joined our the walk, and vowed to walk all the way to the Western Gate with us.
Sam has been working for a moving company in Flagstaff, humping couches, dressers, refrigerators and boxes from apartments to trucks to new homes. He has been making a good wage, but he heard the story of our pilgrimage, and felt called. He knew he had to quit his job and join us.
Sam is of Chippewa Indian heritage. He was active in the American Indian Movement (AIM) and served for several years as a personal bodyguard for Russell Means, the controversial Lakota Indian activist and actor.
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Red Rock Vista - in Oak Creek Canyon between Flagstaff and Sedona, Arizona.
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The Sunbow pilgrims are now walking just south of Flagstaff, Arizona on State Route 89A, where it descends with a breathtaking series of switchbacks into spectecularly scenic Oak Creek Canyon.
The canyon is a 12-mile long river gorge located along the Mogollon Rim in northern Arizona between Flagstaff and Sedona. Oak Creek Canyon is famous the world around for its scenery of colorful rock formations, and for the lush forest that surrounds the creek, creating a cool oasis in the midst of Arizona's otherwise hot, exposed landscape.
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Copyright 2006 by Steven McFadden
Read Day 184 -- Odyssey of the 8th Fire