Rocks

Shiprock

One of the oddities of the area are place names with "rock" in the name. As there are no rivers and few features to the terrain besides the rocks it seems like every other location has been named after a rock.  Near Chinle there is Window Rock, Shiprock, and Roughrock.  There is also Spider Rock, Round Rock, Red Rock, and Eagle Rock.  In Canyon De Chelly there is "Duck Rock" which is a location on the canyon floor that looks like a duck in flight. Most of the "rock" names come from the appearance of the formation to the observer. There is often confusion for the Fed Ex and UPS drivers who show up in Red Rock to find out that the package was going to Round Rock. I also have to be careful as I sometimes send public health nurses out to homes and if I get the rocks mixed up the nurses may drive 50 miles the wrong way.  The one "rock" name that does not cause confusion is Mormon Rock.  How it got named is only a guess as it does not look like Mitt Romney or any other Mormon I have known.