Angels come in many shapes and sizes...

I'm beginning to believe in miracles. I crossed fifteen miles of dirt road to the hogan where my new Navajo friend Vince lives during one of his seasons..

He and I piled in my car and drove down a number of dirt roads that finally led to a wire fence, where we parked. Gathering gear and water, we took off on the long hike to Los Gigantes Arch. Only after we had hiked around a big butte did I see the distant arch. Oh, boy. It was a long way, and it was hot and dry out there.

 

While I was taking a shot on a delayed timer, the camera fell off the lousy lightweight tripod I use on hikes and took Vince's picture as it fell.

 

 

When we had reached the base of the arches butte, the final section was a very steep scree with no path--just climb up the loose dirt and stones.

 

 

 

 Even I realized that it was a definite health risk for me to climb that final cliff at this altitude:

 

 

As I contemplated expiring on the slope, Vince said, "I've been watching you with the camera. Let me take it and get your pictures."

 

I hesitated. Three things could happen, and two of them were bad.

 

In the end, we did one last review of how to use my camera. Vince began climbing and I began praying.

 

Here's how the quickest student I ever had did:

 

 

Every shot he took came out perfect. He even knew I wanted him in a picture to show the arch's size, so he set the timer and ran out to be in the picture!

 

 

When he returned he told me that as a teen and young adult he had hunted out here, scrambling up hills like these easily. Then he admitted that it was a lot harder now.

 

We made the long trek back to the car. It is on the other side of that distant butte in the center of the picture.

 

 

My parting remark to my sheepherder friend Vince who has no Internet access in his life was, "I built an entire business just by finding men like you all over the world."

 

As I drove out through the buttes, I understood why the Navajo Code Talkers were heroes of World War II.

 

 

Vince called this morning to ask how his pictures came about. I awarded him a battlefield promotion to Professional Photographer. With oak leaf cluster.

 

Then he said, "Did you see that I shot a jetliner up in the sky through the arch?"

 

Sure enough. It's faint, but he got it dead center.

 

 

 

And now for the Lukachukai Mountains!