The Red Mountain Devil is a legend of the Hualapai, which
once dominated the Coconino Plateau and Grand Canyon. According to the Hualapai,
the devil roamed the Red Mountain volcanic cone and surrounding badlands,
preying upon the weak and infirm condemned to the Red Mountain. Those that were
banished to the area disappeared without a trace.
A small group of adventurers stood at the foot of the Red
Mountain cone, gazing at the hoodoos and odd mineral crystals that erode out of
the jagged walls. Hugh, their leader, told them to wander as they pleased, then
rendezvous in an hour. He urged members to be on the lookout for bobcats, which
were often seen in the area. Hugh reminded they would get an early start the
next morning and spend the day scouring the area for evidence of the supposed
devil and his lair.
Bruce
detached himself from the group and wandered off, climbing along the slippery
hillside slope. The sun was at his back and shone on the northeastern side of
the cone. He walked cautiously, taking pictures of the various formations, the
sunlight casting eerie shadows.
Pausing,
he snapped an interesting gargoyle-like formation in the distance, noticing an
odd figure at the rock base. Bruce quickly advanced his telescopic lens to
study the rock and image, but to his surprise, the figure rose and vanished
among the Ponderosa Pines. Perhaps the bobcat?
Later
Bruce met the rest of the group, but kept quiet about what he had snapped among
the weird-shaped rocks. He was a breakfast speaker the next morning at the
White Buffalo Inn where they were staying. His task was to present the Hualapai
history of the devil legend. Bruce was excited to end his presentation with the
hoodoo picture and the gray presence at the formation’s base. He would let the
group conjecture on exactly what was in his picture.
They
made their way back to the parking area and climbed into the van. Bruce sat in
the back as the vehicle moved to the two-lane highway. He looked back and was
surprised to see a face peering at him from the juniper brush. Quickly Bruce
raised his camera, but the figure ducked away.
That
was no bobcat.
