Weekly Photo Challenge: Curves (in Canyon de Chelly)

I have been waiting for an opportunity to highlight a few of my Canyon de Chelly pictures. This amazing place is located in North Eastern Arizona and is owned by the Navajo (Dine) tribe. I was fortunate to spend a week with a group of writers on the land of a Dine family, at the bottom of this Canyon. Tourists can only access the Canyon to a certain point and then must hire someone to take them further into the area, either by truck (the so-called "Shake 'n Bakes" – you get rattled and baked by the sun sitting on the back of a truck), horseback, or by foot.
The Canyon is full of ancient pictographs; even broken pot shards that cannot be taken away. When you sit still, on one of the rock ledges, the wind tells you about this place. The "Star Cave" picture and poem in an older post convey the raw spiritual power of this ancient site (https://beautyalongtheroad.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/star-cave-2/?preview=true&preview_id=43&preview_nonce=e40c81b74d).

Here is the view from the top. When you follow the curve of the river below to the upper left corner, that’s where I camped out in the green area.

Curve of the river

On the rocky path down into the Canyon:

Cave with curved openings

The curved Canyon walls that contains the “White House Ruins,” remnants of ancient cliff dwellings:

Curved canyon walls and White House ruins

The curves of a dead tree frame the view:

Curved tree branches

More curvy rocks:

Entrance into cave

A cave in the making

Passing through a rock opening near the bottom, the view opens to Marie’s hogan. Marie lived here by herself into old age, tending her goats and a little garden. She passed away a few years ago:

Marie’s Hogan

And then the glorious cottonwood trees that rustle and sizzle in the breeze and capture the sunlight:

Cottonwood trees against canyon walls

The branches of an old Cottonwood tree:

Curved tree branches

The cactus flowers were pink or yellow, looking shiny like silk taffeta. Nice curves against the mean spines nestled below:

Pink cactus flowers

And my very favorite curves of all: undulating rock walls with colored striations across them…

Favorite curves