Epic Journey to Navajo Country

This post of quite the throwback to one of my favorite and impactful experiences from my career as a Ph.D. student at ASU. The year was 2019 and the place was downtown ASU campus. My advisor, Dr. Gyan Nyaupane, informed me that I would be joining him and a team of international scholars to visit the Navajo Nation as part of a study to seek out the community's insights towards their changing relationship with their native lands as part of a cross-cultural study of Indigenous peoples around the world. I was so excited, honored, and humbled to be a part of this epic study. 

The first step of this journey was to submit a Navajo IRB (internal review board) application to ensure that the tribe approved of this study. This step consisted of organizing a ton of paperwork and then mailing in the application. Nothing to life changing...yet. The next step came a month later where we traveled up to Window Rock, the capital of Navajo Nation, to present the study to the Navajo IRB board. On a cold, February morning, Gyan and I set out in a rental car from downtown Phoenix towards the Navajo Nation. Little did we know that our trip was soon to become perilous as we found ourselves in an unexpected Arizona blizzard in the Superstition Mountains. Long story short, with the help of my Minnesota driving skills, we made it through the mountains in one piece. Barely!

What I found so cool about this trip was that Gyan views work and life much like I do. He told me that since we were going to be so close to some national parks and monuments, we might as well make a couple pit stops. So on the way to Window Rock, we stopped by Canyon de Chelly to check out the famous Spider Rock overlook. It was snowy and cold, but incredibly beautiful! We had some fun taking a few pictures and then made it to our hotel late at night. 

The next morning, we woke up, ate breakfast, and head off to the Navajo government buildings where the Navajo IRB meets. Because of the snowstorm, many of the board members were delayed a couple hours, forcing use to sit and wait. Once they came, they called us in eventually and Gyan laid out our study plans. All of our nerves and anticipation were soon over as they approved the project rather quickly. Relief!

The third step of the journey was for me to set up a bunch of interviews for the team's week long stay in Paige, Arizona. This part was pretty natural to me as this is all I did for several of my sales jobs from my past lives. Finally, we took the trip up to Paige and had a truly memorable experience meeting with Navajo Elders, community members, and government leaders. It was incredibly eye-opening to listen to the voices of a people I have known of my entire life, yet wasn't too familiar with so many of the issues that they face after hundreds of years of persecution and oppression. I heard stories of heartbreak regarding places like Lake Powell, which was created after the Glen Canyon dam was built in the mid-1900s. This place is a popular vacation site for so many Americans and the site of one of my favorite childhood memories, yet I had no idea when I was an 8-year-old kid that this lake sits on top ancestral Navajo lands that were taken from them. This was truly an unforgettable experience!

Similar to my trip with Gyan to Window Rock, we took some time to take pictures at some tourist hotspots during the trip. This part was tons of fun as well!

Treacherous road through the Superstitions 

Spider Rock at Canyon de Chelly

Memorial to the Navajo Code Talkers at Window Rock (namesake arch seen in the background)

Window Rock

One of our pitstops on the way back home from Window Rock 

Me and Gyan. I really should have brought sunglasses!

The famous horseshoe bend

The team got a tour through a really cool Navajo Hogan accommodation built for tourists

Hogan- listed on Airbnb!

Backcountry outhouse 

Of course we had to stop by here too!

The Sistine Chapel of Rock Art: Nine Mile Canyon, Utah

I want to take you all on an adventure down memory lane with me to almost 2 years ago when I participated in an amazing archaeological experience in an incredible placed called Nine Mile Canyon. As I was recently pondering on my experience there, I realized that this experiences needed to go into my blog, even though a bit of time has passed. I hadn’t initially considered this experience to be one to elaborate on since it wasn’t a luxurious or buck-list kind of destination (not that these are the only reasons to blog about travel) but now that I think about it, this experience really was amazing and worthy of sharing.

This experience happened when I was in my first semester of my Ph.D. program at ASU. I was assigned to be a research assistant (RA) for Dr. Christine Vogt on a community outreach archeology dig on BLM land in Utah. As an aside, part of my Ph.D. work entails that I work part- time either as an RA, TA, or an instructor for my own class while being a full-time student at the same time. So, my RA position was to help facilitate this public archaeological dig by recruiting different school groups around Utah to come dig up this pit house that was found in Nine Mile Canyon, Utah. I had actually never heard of this place before, and I now I can’t wait to go back! Nine Mile Canyon is like the Sistine Chapel of indigenous rock art and is located near Price, Utah. The canyon extends for over 45 miles and has lots of amazing Fremont (neighbors of the ancestral Pueblo people) dwellings in addition to cool artistic depictions of animals, people, and other cool symbols found all over the canyon walls.

While the dig season had 5 different groups each working a weekend along with an ASU rep, my turn to represent ASU was with the Blessed Sacrament Catholic School’s archaeology club on the last dig of the season. It was so much fun! The school had a really knowledgeable and passionate club leader who used to be an actual archeologist but became a teacher to have more of a reliable career. The kids were way fun to work with, too. They loved the experience and we found lots of cool artifacts. In fact, I found a pottery shard and a mano! A mano is a rock tool used to grind up corn and other food items. Other artifacts found within the group included bifaces, which were kind of like projectiles (arrowheads). I had to learn some of these terms while I was out there. 

The experience was unforgettable and provided a great lesson on the importance of engaging the community to foster stewardship of priceless natural and cultural resources. I doubt those kids will ever forget this experience either. I mean, I never got to go on an archaeological dig when I was a kid! Who wouldn’t want to be a real-life Indiana Jones?

The Pregnant Buffalo


Our awesome group!


Rock art tours after a hard day of work


The Great Hunt Panel


Pottery shard


The mano!


The Fremont Pit House

Buffalo Tourism: Needing More Room to Roam

I can't stop thinking about how cool it would be to have an American Serengeti right here in the heartland of America for all to enjoy. I mean, that would be so cool! I just love watching animals in their natural habitat, and I am constantly thinking of amazing places in the world where I would like to behold our greatest wildlife spectacles on the planet. Top places on my bucket list include the Pantanal in Brazil, the real Serengeti in Tanzania, Patagonia, Botswana, Chitwan NP in Nepal, tiger reserves in India, Alaska, the Yukon, and Rwanda (for the gorillas!). I get so excited just thinking about these places, which is why I really want for us to restore our own natural heritage here in America. Being able to witness a top-notch wildlife show without needing to fly across the world be be so awesome.

So, I have gone ahead and done the work for you all for where in the U.S. you can visit a public bison herd. I've also included a map from the National Park Service's website to show where many of these places are. The NPS map obviously doesn't show where Canada's bison herds are or some of these other herds owned by nonprofits. I'm sure there's more out there, too, but I just don't know where they are yet.

This excel spreadsheet lists the public bison herds in North America, their bison population, bison roaming are where known, and a note of whether the bison are free range bison. All other herds are fenced in due to intolerance from local land owners.

Here is a map of where the NPS bison herds are. Other herds owned by the Native American tribes, State Parks, the TNC, APR, or other nonprofits are not included in this map

Visiting these sites could make for a seriously epic adventure! If the American Prairie Reserve (APR) can succeed in its goals to establish a 3.5-million-acre prairie reserve in north central Montana and other similar projects can happen in other parts of the U.S., then buffalo tourism could be a real thing! I mean, you could say that it already is, especially in Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas, but this is a situation where bigger really is better. Bison need room to roam. They need human tolerance, which, sadly, doesn't exist with our current social, political, and legal landscape.

Also worth noting is that Native American tribes are also very involved in buffalo restoration. When you include the number of bison living on Native American/First Nation's lands, then you have over 30,000 bison in conservation herds. That's a pretty cool thing. I know some tribes are also promoting tourism to their herds, such as the Fort Belknap Reservation herd in Montana, but I think you always need to go with a local guide.

Mighty Montana- the Next Serengeti?

Hello and welcome back to Impact Explorers! A long time has passed since I posted anything, so let's jump right into the highlight of this past summer. I conducted field research in north central Montana about community attitudes towards tourism development and conservation work. The reason that chose this area is because of my obsession with the work of the American Prairie Reserve (APR), a nonprofit based out of Bozeman, MT that is working to assemble the largest wildlife refuge in the lower 48 states by buying up cattle ranches and managing them like strict conservation areas. This project causes lots of heated discussion and resistance from local ranchers, but also inspires people like me from far away. With just a surface-level knowledge of this situation, I knew I just had to dive in deeper to understand what's really going on out there and why people feel the way they do about this whole initiative.

The whole gang I hit the road in mid July and ventured northward towards Montana, making some important stops along the way. First, we hit up the Clark family reunion in St. George, Utah and had a great time being together after a good while. After a fun weekend in St. George in slightly cooler weather, we then made our way up to the home base in Midway to spend more time with Nana, Papa, and all the rest of the Utah crew. This, fortunately, also included Catherine and Carson who were coming in from Michigan for a few days.

While in Midway, Neysla and I busily worked to get all our camping gear and food supplies ready for a long backcountry adventure throughout the state of Montana. Neysla and Genna had never been camping before, so 8 days camping out in wild country full of wolves, grizzlies, bison, and bugs was not exactly a subtle introduction. Finally, the day arrived for us to embark on our excellent journey to Montana so I could collect data for a research proposal I had written for one of my first PhD classes last year. Since I had an interview scheduled in Bozeman, Montana on a Friday morning, we left early the day before so I could be there.

On our way up, we took advantage of being able to pass through one of our favorite places- Yellowstone! We have been fortunate to take quite a day day trips to this amazing place. Although I'm still holding out to see a grizzly in the wild, the wildlife for the day did not disappoint. This wildlife-rich tourist attraction makes for a great comparison to what the APR hopes to one day become in terms of wildlife numbers and ecotourism opportunities.

 This young, blonde-backed black bear came right up to our car!

The formidable bison. A subject of much spirited discussion in the days to come. The APR hopes to be home to the world's largest bison conservation herd. Their goal is to have at least 10,000 of these bad boys.

Big ole' bull elk

 Big elk herd

Distant wolf hovering over a bison carcass in Lamar Valley. This place still takes the cake in terms of best places to see wildlife in the U.S.

After sightseeing in Yellowstone we camped out in a KOA near Livingston, MT where we had a very late night camp set up and dinner. We were pleasantly surprised with camping at a KOA. This was our first time and we enjoyed ourselves. The next morning, we headed over to Bozeman so I could interview my first study participant at the APR's headquarters. That was such a cool experience and it provided me a great start for what was to become a very eye-opening study.

Since the first meeting was on a Friday and I didn't have any appointments closer to the APR's project area in the central part of the state until Monday, we thought we would live it up and finally go see Glacier National Park. And while we were at it, we of course had to hop over the border into Canada to see Waterton Lakes National Park. It was absolutely incredible!

 The very instagram-able Wild Goose Island.

 GNP

 Genna and I at the only namesake glacier visible from Going-to-the-Sun Road

Neysla at Logan Pass

 Chief Mountain

 Lil' cutie at Waterton Lakes National Park

 Out in the meadows by the bison paddock. The herd was relocated last year due to a wildfire.

Ending off the day back at Logan Pass. This spot has a serious overtourism issue! We couldn't even find a parking spot when we had tried hours earlier.

After an amazing time camping in grizzly bear country, it was time to depart from the mountains and head down to the rolling prairies. Our next destination was Lewistown, MT where we ended up at the oddest place to camp during this trip. Our campground was right on highway 191, which made for terrible sleeping due to vehicle noise but also convenient access around town and to the reserve. I had some more fascinating interviews with various key informants in town and even with some hunters at the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge (CMR) one hour north of town. This place really made it easy for me to catch the vision of a prairie reserve right here in the lower 48.

Here's a map of the American Prairie Reserve's project area and surrounding communities. So far, they have purchased and leased around 420,000 acres, highlighted in blue. The dark green area is the CMR Wildlife Refuge, and the lighter green area is the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. 

 Vultures circling above us at the CMR. Genna was a little creeped out.

 Neysla above the James Kipp Recreational Area (within the CMR) on the Missouri River

 I love this view!

An old homestead along the river

Once I was done interviewing people around Lewistown and the James Kipp Recreational Area, which is within the CMR refuge (the jurisdictions were kinda confusing, but after a 2-hour meeting with a key informant I started to get the picture), we journeyed to the much anticipated Buffalo Camp on the APR's Sun Prairie property. I was warned about how crazy it was driving on these dirt roads that become absolute death if it rains because the dirt turns into a slick mud the locals call gumbo, but I was somehow still taken back by how treacherous the journey was. The road was so rocky and rough that we had to travel for 50 miles going super slow, between 15 and 30 mph, so we didn't get a flat tire. Last thing I wanted was to be stranded with my wife and little girl in the middle of nowhere and be stuck paying for a $500 tire from my own empty pockets. The trip to Buffalo Camp ended up taking us over 2 hours, but we finally got there and, once again, the plains did not disappoint! The wildlife were also amazing here, though it doesn't quite yet compare to Yellowstone. I get stoked thinking about what it will become one day.

 Dry Fork rd. This is what the entire 50 miles from highway 191 to Buffalo Camp looks like.

Sunset and developing storm at Buffalo Camp

 Seriously big sky country

Herd of 10 pronghorn prancing away from us

 Mama deer and fawn

Prairie Dogg

 The Prairie Union School. This historic school house was used in the early 1900's by settlers.

Coyote near the roadside. We could hear these guys howling every night.

Once we were out on the reserve, things really got interesting. Lining the highway and paved roads out to the reserve are signs everywhere protesting the APR. These "Save the Cowboy, Stop the American Prairie Reserve!" signs demonstrate the locals disdain for turning this area into a large intact prairie ecosystem. And you know what? I don't really blame them. Sitting in their homes and hearing them out was very eye-opening. They just want to keep living their lives as they have been for generations, and they already have a million challenges to face. Their profit margins are tiny, the climate is unpredictable and changing, trade wars overseas can drive up prices, and the ag industry continues to require less human workers due to automation. There is so much more that could be said about the social environment here, but I am going to be writing this all up as part of my qualitative study which I hope to present at academic conferences and publish in a peer-reviewed journal. In short, the ranchers don't like it, the conservationists and city people like me love it. Can there be a win-win? I personally think so, but it's gonna take the APR's guts and perseverance to keep challenging traditions out here and pursuing their goal of creating a 3.5-million-acre reserve.

 The "Don't Buffalo Me" signs pre-date the "Save the Cowboy" signs. Whether it's a national monument or a private initiative like the APR, ranchers are sending a clear message.

No one will be "buffaloed". The APR's bison are fenced and kept on the APR's private and leased property. This really amounts to differing world views and emotions of feeling threatened by outsiders imposing their values on the local community.

Ok, it's really late now and I'm tired. Let me just end with saying that part of the APR's mission is to turn this area into a premier wildlife-based ecotourism destination. This is really what brought me out here to study the whole issue and to experience it for myself. The APR is building a hut-to-hut system that spans their properties and provides a more "glamped out" version of camping while still being affordable for the average Joe. We stayed at the Founders Hut which is located on one of their properties which is within the Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument. I'll sign off here with some amazing pictures from this last night in Montana.

 My favorite picture of the entire trip. Future Christmas card?

 Epic scenery

 Freedom!

These huts were so cool!

Inside view of the Founder's Hut. Equipped with a gas stove, and solar-powered electricity, but no running water and a funky toilet tech bathroom. Just google it.