Shiprock โ€” rock formation
Image by Christiane1956 from Pixabay

Shiprock

  • Elevation2,166 m
  • 1 min read
  • 36.688ยฐ N 108.836ยฐ W

Interesting facts

  • The shattered volcanic breccia that makes up much of Shiprock formed inside a diatreme, an explosive volcanic pipe.
  • Radiometric dating of the minette dikes shows that the rock solidified about 27 million years ago.
  • Shiprock belongs to the Navajo volcanic field, which also includes Agathla, another volcanic neck in Monument Valley.
  • Captain J. F. McComb named the topmost pinnacle The Needle in 1860, before the ship comparison took over on maps in the 1870s.
  • In the 1920s and 1930s a rumoured $1,000 prize for reaching the top spurred dozens of failed attempts on the peak.
  • The 1939 first ascent party relied on pitons for direct aid, and the route later featured in the 1979 book Fifty Classic Climbs of North America.
  • In Navajo tradition Shiprock is the medicine pouch or bow of a giant mythic figure whose body is the Chuska Mountains and whose feet are Beautiful Mountain.
  • According to Navajo legend, man-eating Bird Monsters nested on the peak until the Monster Slayer killed them and turned two of their young into an eagle and an owl.
  • The 1970 climbing ban covers not only Shiprock but all monoliths and spires across the Navajo Nation, and was declared absolute and final.

Why it is worth it

Shiprock rises almost 1,600 feet (about 480 m) straight out of the flat high desert of northwestern New Mexico, a jagged dark tower alone on the plain. Its summit stands at 7,177 feet (2,188 m) above sea level. Long, low walls of black rock run away from it across the plain like the spines of a buried creature โ€” the formation's famous dikes.

Geologically, Shiprock is the eroded throat of a volcano. Around 27 million years ago, magma rising through the crust solidified some 2,500 to 3,000 feet below what was then the surface, forming a plug of volcanic breccia shot through with minette, a dark igneous rock. Over millions of years the softer sediments around it washed away, leaving the hard core and the radiating sheets of minette standing in the open. It is one of the most striking volcanic necks anywhere and was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1975.

The rock stands on the Navajo Nation and is sacred to the Navajo, who call it Tsรฉ Bitสผaสผรญ, "rock with wings". Navajo tradition holds that a great bird carried the ancestors of the people here from the north. American surveyors first named it "The Needle" in 1860; by the 1870s maps used the name Shiprock, after its resemblance to the tall sails of a nineteenth-century clipper. Climbers made the first ascent in 1939 โ€” among them David Brower โ€” in what is recorded as the first climb in the United States to use expansion bolts. After several serious accidents, the Navajo Nation banned all climbing on the rock in 1970.

Getting there

Shiprock stands in San Juan County, New Mexico, about 17 km southwest of the town of Shiprock, which lies on US Highways 64 and 491. The nearest larger city is Farmington, about 55 km to the east. The nearest airport is Cortez Municipal Airport (CEZ) in Colorado, about 71 km away.

On these lists

The Most Beautiful Places in New Mexico 11The Most Beautiful Places in the United States 228The Most Remarkable Rock Formations in the United States 18The Most Beautiful Natural Wonders in the United States 68The Most Remarkable Rock Formations 107The Most Beautiful Natural Wonders 580

From the encyclopaedia

Shiprock is a monadnock rising nearly 1,583 feet (482ย m) above the high-desert plain of the Navajo Nation in San Juan County, New Mexico, United States. Its peak elevation is 7,177 feet (2,188ย m) above sea level. It is 10.75 miles (17.30ย km) southwest of the town of Shiprock, which is named for the peak.

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