The intrepid Tony Hillerman, with walking stick in hand. The stick, carved from the rib of a saguaro cactus, bears the image of another roamer Kokopelli. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
In the place where four states meet, Navajo-run tourist stands have popped up. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
A Navajo woman awaits tourists at Canyon de Chelly in Arizona. Her wares: petrified wood and juniper berry necklaces. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
Clouds dapple the sky, and a pickup truck, outside a truck stop cafe in Cortez, Colo. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
Even a whizzing view of Wilson Arch is majestic. The formation rises alongside U.S. 191 near Moab, Utah. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
A pickup kicks up a trail of dust on a graded dirt road a few miles west of Red Mesa, Ariz. The distant formations belong to the Casa del Echo Mesa, across the border in Utah. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
Red sawtooth cliffs and the dark blue of high-country sky along Hwy 191 just south of Moab, Utah. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
A low mesa and twin clouds in Dry Valley on the west side of Hwy 191 south of Moab, Utah. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
