This cottonwood tree is in Canyon de Chelly in north-eastern Arizona. I could have spent several days there with my camera, but you are only allowed a short visit with an official Navajo guide as it is a sacred historic site, for not only the Navajo nation but before them the Ancestral Puebloans. I would love to return one day.
Parts of the cottonwood trees were used for medicine and the inner bark was chewed as a source of vitamin C. The Pueblo people also used the tree to make their drums.
The tree glows silver and gold because the light bounces off the canyon walls illuminating the leaves and enhancing the golden autumn colours. It also highlights some of the branches. This is something special that I had never seen before. It was unforgettable.
