Canyon de Chelly is in eastern Arizona east of Flagstaff, north of I-40. It is a National Monument operated on land belonging to the Navajo people. It is a place of immense natural beauty and the site of many ancient pueblo style ruins. Access to the canyon (with the exception of a public trail that leads from the rim to a ruins called The White House) is restricted to public access unless accompanied by a NPS or Navajo guide. While this restriction seems onerous at first, once I knew that there are Navajo living in the canyon and that the canyon and its ruins are fragile, I understood the necessity for the restriction.

The canyon is actually two canyons (branching off from a larger one) running east and west roughly parallel to one another. There are breath-taking scenes of natural beauty as well as numerous ancient pueblo style structures built into the cliff face and situated on the canyon floor as well. Wildlife abounds in the canyon including mountain lions and bears as well as smaller animals and a wide variety of birds including many species of raptors. Elevation ranges from 5500 - 7000 feet.

There is an NPS Visitor's Center at the entrance to the park that is reached through the small town of Chinle where there are motels, restaurants, gasoline, and basic necessities available. Inside the park, past the visitor's center, there is a private concession that operates The Thunderbird Lodge, a cafeteria, and a very well stocked gift shop with a good selection of Native American crafts and books about the canyon. The gift shop also sells daily trips into the canyon on large open-air six-wheel trucks. In the summer of 2002, the daylong trips (including lunch) cost $90, and the half-day trip (no lunch) was about $40. The lodge rooms are comfortable, clean, reasonably priced, but not plush. Fee based campgrounds are also available.

There are also privately guided trips into the canyon using your own four-wheel drive vehicle for $15 per hour, a three-hour minimum. There are also horseback trips and hiking (including overnight camping) available, both with guides. Two free driving tours are also available along the rims of both canyons with several parking spots overlooking some of the canyons' more spectacular views.

The canyon area covers 130 square miles and President Herbert Hoover established it as a national monument in 1931 thus creating a unique partnership with the Diné (Navajo) occupation of the land. The canyon walls range in height from 30 to 1,000 feet and were formed by a combination of stream cutting and land uplifting to create its characteristic sheer cliffs. Canyon de Chelly has been extensively occupied for almost 2,000 years. The Spanish invaded and occupied the canyon in the early 1800's, and the US relocated all of the inhabitants in 1863 to New Mexico in a brutal and deadly Long Walk. The canyon was restored to the Navajo in 1868 and has been continuously occupied since extending man's habitation in the canyon to over 5,000 years as documented in the many petroglyphs (pictures carved, not drawn) into the canyon walls.

Commentary: if you are a photographer or a naturalist, Canyon de Chelly is a must visit in the southwest US. It is also a site of very ancient peoples and for those of you who respond to the energy of ancient civilizations, it is an awesome experience. In this latter case, I highly recommend using a guide for an overnight hiking or vehicular expedition into the canyon. In the Readings section of this site, one of Alberto Villoldo's books, Island of the Sun (see Chapter 1), recounts an overnight trip that he and some of his students made into the canyon.

Frankly, although I accept the policy of no access to the ruins, I would have liked to be able to go inside some of the more accessible ruins to better experience what took place there. Canyon de Chelly, in that respect, sharply contrasts with Chaco Canyon (another National Monument) further east in western central New Mexico. There, visitors are allowed access to the ruins (although not the kivas) so that a better experience of what living there must have been like. Chaco has a far better potential for absorbing and experiencing the ancient culture of the people who lived there while Canyon de Chelly is far superior in terms of natural beauty. Given a choice, I pick both of them for those different reasons.

In terms of how long to visit, I would allow for two days. Take the first one and take the two rim, overlook drives. On the second day, take a trip by vehicle, horse, or foot into the canyon floor. If you are hiking and camping overnight, then allow extra days to the extent that you want to remain in the canyon.

Here are some thumbnail photos of Canyon de Chelly. Click on any one of them to see a larger image. Comments or questions? Please Email Ron: ron@ronmccray.com

.