Scott Thybony's Canyon Commentary

In this month’s Canyon Commentary, author Scott Thybony takes us into the remote Lukachukai Mountains on the Navajo Nation to explore a 1,500-year-old ruin with rock art that features hundreds of mysterious painted handprints.

Road trips on lonely and desolate roads are woven into the western experience. But even the most windswept, far-off places have stories to tell. In this month’s Canyon Commentary, author Scott Thybony takes a drive through New Mexico while contemplating cattle drives and fresh-baked pies.

In this month’s Canyon Commentary, author Scott Thybony recounts his many adventures on the rugged Arizona Strip encountering wind-carved Navajo sandstone that can take on familiar-yet-otherworldly forms.

In the midst of the holiday season, Scott Thybony reflects on a few crucial life lessons. He’s learned it pays to jump headlong into an endeavor, even though one might be wholly unprepared for what they’re about to face.

A landscape’s dramatic features can overwhelm first-time visitors. But sometimes the places that exist on a more human scale can have a greater impact. In his latest Canyon Commentary, author Scott Thybony tells how this happened to novelist Willa Cather in Walnut Canyon.

Wells Spicer was a frontier lawyer who led a grueling expedition in the Grand Canyon and also happened to play pivotal roles in two most famous court cases in the American West. Scott Thybony tells his story in this month's Canyon Commentary.

The first white explorer to descend the Colorado River through Grand Canyon published an account of his journey 150 years ago. In this month’s Canyon Commentary Scott Thybony travels to the Vermillion Cliffs to see if he can match the view.

In his latest Canyon Commentary, author Scott Thybony travels to Navajo country with a former working cowboy and friend to get his take on a spectacular rock art panel depicting a horseback raid.

The recent destruction of the Grand Canyon Lodge during the Drago Bravo Fire reminds author Scott Thybony how changes at the Grand Canyon often happen suddenly. In his latest Canyon Commentary, Thybony says the partial survival of the famous Brighty the Burro statue gives him hope.

In this month’s Canyon Commentary, author Scott Thybony ponders the ancient story of a Hopi boy who embarks on an epic adventure on the Colorado River in order save his people from drought. In researching the tale, Thybony, a former river guide, unlocked a profound connection to the past.