Horse ride, motorcycle run pay tribute to sacred peaks

Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation Council is sponsoring a motorcycle run and a horse ride to heighten awareness about the trial on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act which is to begin today at the federal courthouse in Prescott.

At the center of the trial is the controversy surrounding the expansion of the Snowbowl ski resort and the use of reclaimed wastewater on the San Francisco Peaks, known in Navajo as Dook'o'osliid.

Council delegates and the Navajo Nation Honor Riders will join the Diné Sacred Mountain Motorcycle Run, set to begin Friday from Dzil na' oodilii School near Huerfano. The run will come full circle to the Navajo Nation capital, forming a motorcade which will ride into the Council Chamber at 10 a.m. Oct. 17 for the opening of Council's fall session.

Willie Grayeyes (Inscription House/Navajo Mountain) will begin the "Honoring Our Sacred Mountains" horse ride today from Paiute Mesa and continue through Saturday, ending at the Western Navajo Nation Fair parade in Toh Nanees Dizi, Tuba City, on Saturday.

The purpose of the honor run and horse ride is to build greater awareness pertaining to issues surrounding the sacred mountains and to honor the mountains which are at the core of Diné identity and cultural integrity.

"In light of the trial that is going on in Prescott, Ariz., about the continued desecration of our sacred mountain to the West Dook'o'osliid, or the San Francisco Peaks the Navajo Nation Council is taking this time to draw greater attention to these issues. We cannot stand by silently while our very way of life is threatened by the United States Forest Service," said Council Speaker Lawrence Morgan.

A decision was made by Coconino Forest Supervisor Nora Rasure on March 8 to proceed with artificial snow-making on the Peaks despite strong opposition from 13 tribes in Arizona which hold the mountains sacred.

The Navajo Nation is party to a lawsuit brought against the U.S. Forest Service to halt the expansion of the Snowbowl. The lawsuit charges that the Forest Service decision violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and other land and cultural protection laws.

Schedules for the Honor Run and Honor Ride are as follows:

The motorcycle riders will take off from Dzil na'oodilii at 7 a.m. Friday and arrive at Crownpoint Institute of Technology at 10 a.m. From there, they will continue on to Window Rock for a noon luncheon, stop off in Dilkon at 3 p.m., and pull into Leupp for the evening, around 5 p.m.

The bikers will head out at 8 a.m. Saturday from Leupp School and arrive in Tuba City at 10 a.m. for the parade, then spend the evening in Kayenta, arriving at 5 p.m.

Bikers will leave Kayenta at 8 a.m. Sunday and arrive at Shiprock Chapter House around 10 a.m., before riding on to Navajo Agricultural Products Industry in Farmington at noon. They are scheduled to leave NAPI at 3 p.m. and arrive in Window Rock at 5 p.m.

They will regroup at 8 a.m. Monday and arrive at the Navajo Nation Council Chamber at 10 a.m.

The horseback riders are scheduled to leave today from Paiute Mesa, Utah, and travel to Inscription House. On Thursday, they will ride out from Inscription House to Tonalea, and on Friday from Tonalea to Tuba City where they will join in the Western Navajo Nation Fair Parade on Saturday.