BY GABRIEL GRANILLO
The path to Kane Ranch takes you through the red-rock country of the Arizona Strip. Route 89A cuts through the Navajo Nation where small shacks line the highway with Native Americans selling handcrafted jewelry and rugs. Crooked houses lie at the base of the towering Echo Cliffs until the Navajo Bridge carries you over the Colorado River and spills you into the winding roads parallel to the red and pink and orange and white walls of the Vermillion Cliffs. Finally, after nearly 10 miles of unpaved road through House Rock Valley, Kane Ranch rests quietly under a thin grey film of smoke from prescribed burns. The smoke lingers over the monocline that leads to the north rim of the Grand Canyon.