Religious gatekeeping in red-rock country

TWO YEARS AGO, WHEN A MUSKOGEE CREEK elder and friend asked to visit a site of cultural importance to my own Yavapai-Apache people, I offered to take him to Boynton Canyon, a place of immense spiritual significance. We drove to Enchantment Resort, outside Sedona, Arizona, were let in through the entrance and drove to the back gate, where we parked in the dirt lot that visiting tribal members generally use. Resort employees told us we couldn’t park there, however; they needed the parking spaces for a corporate retreat. They escorted our car to the resort’s clubhouse and drove us in a golf cart back to the gate into the canyon. Our escort was friendly, and eventually we were able to visit the canyon. But my Muskogee friend expressed disbelief. This was our sacred place, he said. Why did we have to “ask permission” to visit?

Enchantment’s sprawling complex rests at the mouth of Boynton Canyon,