A Nice Start to the Park
What a nice introduction to the park. It gave us a sense of the sandy desert. A little early morning wildlife, and an eventual petrified log. This was very exciting to us as it was our first "discovery".
The trail was kind of gravely and down hill, so the return was a slow going uphill, but the day was early and as far as we could tell, people tended to wander out just for a bit and then turn back. So we did just that. We did not know that ahead of us were countless petrified logs on simpler trails in denser spaces, but it did not matter. This was our first, and for us it was very new and very exciting.
Leaving the Bad Behind
Chinde, which we think is spelled chindi, is the bad part of a person that is expelled with a dying person's last breath, like a ghost, except the good part goes on, and the chindi is the leftover bad that can stick around and cause problems. It can stick to the deceased's belongings, or it can respond as if called when the deceased's name is mentioned. It is a real problem and can make someone else sick or result in death. Traditionally, the understanding of this is associated with the Navajos.
Now we are not sure that the trail is really named after chindi, but since we got busted by the Park Ranger when we finished the trail for a mistaken identification as an early entry into the park, we blame the chindi. I will admit to racing to the visitor's station as soon as the gate opened to use the restroom. After that we had a lady at the visitor's center help us plan our day. That was a key element for us when the ranger radioed in to our helper/witness at the visitor's center to identify us and validate our story. It also made us a new best friend. The ranger brought us on a private tour of the cat petroglyph. We left behind the bad, and welcomed in our new good fortune. Good-bye chindi.