Hallowed ground

Known as Shiprock, this 1700-foot eroded volcanic plume is sacred to the Navajos as Tse Bi dahi, or the Rock with Wings. The name comes from an ancient folk myth that tells how the rock was once a great bird that transported the ancestral people of the Navajos to their lands in what is now northwestern New Mexico. Geologists tell us this mountain was formed by a volcanic vent 27 million years ago. Shiprock is the world's finest example of an exposed volcanic throat. It can be seen for 100 miles.