Tse' Bit' ai' or later named Shiprock, New Mexico by Anglo settlers, rises nearly 1,583 feet (482.5 m) above the high-desert plain of Navajo Country. According to the Navajo, Tse' Bit' ai' was once an enormous bird who brought the ancestors from the north on its back. At sundown the bird turned back into a gigantic rock. The people lived on top of the rock until a lighting storm stranded those who lived there. In 1970, climbers were banned from this sacred site.
Shiprock, New Mexico
August 2010