EXHIBITS
Zane Grey's 1922 Rainbow Bridge Trip: From Kayenta to the Paiute Trail
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From Kayenta to the “Paiute Trail”
After the party’s detour up Tsegi Canyon, they traveled towards Kayenta where they met up with John Wetherill. Grey mentions that on this trip, Kayenta had changed greatly since his last visit. Kayenta was less wild and lonely than it was before, and had established an Indian School, a new trading post, and had an automobile.[1] Despite these new improvements, Kayenta was still in a state of disarray after World War I as the Navajo tribes were struggling and had lost many to the 1918 Flu Epidemic.[2] One estimate shows that 10% of the Northern Navajo in the San Juan area died due to the illness, while in other areas such as Pueblo Bonito about 18% of the population had died.[3]
The “Paiute Trail”
The party headed north towards the rock monument “El Capitan,” From there they traveled West towards Wild Horse Mesa. For much of this leg of the journey, the party had to walk on foot leading their horses as the terrain was to tough to ride on and the party had long abandoned the chuck wagon, instead packing their food supplies on mules. One area that was especially hard was a place that Zane Grey called “Hills of Glass” which are of extremely smooth mounds of stone.[4] Grey and the party spent some time exploring these hills before continuing to Rainbow Bridge.
