The Landscape

The Landscape. . , This hilltop is a magnificent location. The striking view encompasses 360 degrees of landscape critical to understanding the people in the past, present and future. , This is a place of microclimates within climates. The land plunges from treeless, tundra-swathed peaks clown through alpine forests, across juniper piñon, and sage-covered mesas and ends in treeless grasslands in the lower basin floors. Annual rainfall ranges from more than 40 inches in the mountains to six inches in the basins. , , Ian Thompson , The Escalante Community , Public Lands Interpretive Association, Albuquerque, NM, [They] understood that humans are not distinct, separate beings from the natural environment but that every act and thought of any human being affects the cosmos. They moved through the land with a sensibility that allowed nuances of the wind, sun and ground to affect their decision making.... Their sense of home, or place, was in the space between the earth and sky and not within a specific human-built structure. , , From the foreword by Dr. Rina Swentzell, Santa Clara Pueblo , in Ancient Architecture of the Southwest by William Morgan, ©1994. , By permission of the University of Texas Press., From this hilltop one can view the six directions significant to Native Americans - north, south, east, west, zenith (above) and nadir (below). It is a place to watch the sun during its yearly journey along the horizon, a place to gaze at stars in the night sky, a place to observe and appreciate the diversity of the landscape that surrounds you.