The Hand of God

Monument Valley, Arizona / Utah Border

I am sure that everyone with an imagination has looked up toward the sky and imagined all kind of different "images" in cloud formations. This same imagination has been applied to the many of the mountains, rock formations, buttes and mesas on the ground. Nowhere is this more true than in the American Southwest, especially Monument Valley. Almost all of the structures in the Valley have a descriptive name and it is often unknown whether the name was originally created by early settlers, the Navajo people or someone else. Mentioning names like "The Mittens", the "Rain God Mesa" or "The Three Sisters" to people who have visited the Valley will conjure up great memories. Our recent trip to the Valley was my wife Carol's first trip there. Although I told her how beautiful and stunning it was, it wasn't until she saw it that she understood my love for it. She was fascinated by the names of the structures and was trying to memorize them all. The image in this post is of a rock formation known as "The Hand of God" whose fingers can be seen on the right side of the formation.