Towering Rock Once Hidden Beneath Earth Seen from Space By Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributo
By Stephanie Pappas, Live Science Contributor | May 17, 2017 07:21am ET
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Shiprock thrusts up from the surrounding New Mexico desert without warning. It's no wonder this abrupt landform is the center of a Navajo legend involving a giant bird that turned to stone — it's impossible to look at the sheer cliffs without wondering what created them.
A new view of Shiprock from space offers a few hints. Leading toward the rugged rock formation in San Juan County is a dark dike, a part of the volcano that created the 1,969-foot-tall (600 meters) cliff formation.
The formation is on Navajo Nation land and is known as Tse Bit'a'i, or "winged rock" in Navajo, according to the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (NMBGMR). Legend holds that the rock was Earth that became a bird and carried the Navajo people to the desert on its back, settling down and turning to stone again after the journey, according to Atlas Obscura. Navajo tradition holds that people should not climb or disturb the rocks, so they have been closed to recreation since the 1970s. [Earth from Above: 101 Stunning Images from Orbit]
More:
http://www.livescience.com/59138-shiprock-formation-seen-from-space.html?utm_source=notification
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That's Sleeping Ute Mountain there in the background. 
I don't need no stinking underwear! 