Hopi warily welcome tourists to West's 'last secret land'

Jayne Clark, USA TODAY 1:33 p.m. EDT October 26, 2012

SECOND MESA, Ariz. -- Micah Loma'omvaya is expertly dodging ruts on a narrow footpath-turned-wagon-trail-turned-barely-passable-road when he spots a rogue compact car with California plates parked off to the side. Soon its day-pack-wearing occupants stroll into view.
"They shouldn't be here without a guide," says Loma'omvaya, a Hopi anthropologist who also happens to be a guide. "This is a federal Indian reservation. We fought for it and we have a right to control tours in it."
Point taken. But as the wind-sculpted otherworldly beauty of Blue Canyon comes into view, it's understandable what tempted the trespassers — and what compelled Sunset magazine to declare that if this spot weren't in what it dubbed the "The Last Secret Land," it'd be worthy of a starring role in a Ken Burns documentary.
The Hopi Reservation, 1.6 million acres of mostly raw wilderness, is home to 12 small, autonomous villages that pepper three high-desert mesas in northeastern Arizona. As a tribe, the Hopi have been protective of their traditions and ways of life — and their privacy.

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