Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona - August 28th to 31st, 2023
Canyon de Chelly National Monument (pronounced d’SHAY) is located on Navajo Trust Land and managed jointly by the National Park Service and the Navajo Nation. People have lived in the canyon for almost 5000 years. The National Monument preserves the architectural ruins, the rock art, and the cultural sites of the Archaic People, the Basketmakers, the Ancient Puebloans, the Hopi, and the Navajo. It was an interesting lesson in history in a gorgeous setting (Canyon de Chelly history).
Monday was our drive from Chama, New Mexico, to Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Arizona. We stopped at the grocery store in Chama again, to make sure we had plenty of supplies to get us through the next couple of weeks. We’ll be in remote areas for the next 12 days. What few towns we will be going through are on Native American reservations, so we’re not sure what we will find. We stocked up just to be sure.
The drive was beautiful. Some stretches of landscape seemed surreal, like we were on another planet. Google Maps wanted to take us off the highway and onto some sections of unpaved road. We opted to take about 40 minutes longer and stick to the US highways, routes 64 and 191. We like backroads, but we didn’t know how rough the roads would be that Google was trying to take us down. US 64 and 191 are small, two-lane highways with not much traffic. That was good enough for us.
We reached the visitor center a little after 4 pm. We wanted to double check what the local time zone was and what time zone our jeep tour the following morning would be using. Arizona is a little different. The whole state is in the Mountain Time Zone, but the Navajo Nation observes Daylight Savings Time, while the rest of Arizona does not. The National Monument follows the Navajo Nation and observes Daylight Savings Time.
Then we went to the campground to pick out a spot. The campground is first come/first serve. We didn’t have to worry about not getting a spot. There were less than half a dozen sites taken out of almost one hundred sites. There was a self-pay kiosk for payment. They only accepted cash, $20 per night. No passes and no discounts accepted. Luckily, we had enough cash on us. The campground is run by the Navajo Nation, not the National Park Service. There are flush toilets, a dump station, and a potable water fill, but no hookups.
When we arrived, the temperatures were in the low 90’s. We had been in cooler temperatures for the last couple of weeks, so we weren’t used to the heat. The campground is in the shade of a stand of Cottonwood trees. Sitting outside in the shade with a slight breeze was comfortable. As the sun set, the temperature dropped. By morning the temps had dipped into the 50’s. With our windows open and our fans blowing, we had not trouble sleeping.
Our alarms were set for 6 am Tuesday morning. Our jeep tour into the canyon was scheduled for 8 am. We met Daniel from Beauty Way Jeep Tours at the campground entrance. Daniel started the company over 35 years ago and has handed over the reins of the company to his son. Before we got started, we went into the office at the campground entrance to pay for our backcountry permit. The $8 per person fee is in addition to the amount we paid for the jeep tour, which was around $300 per jeep for the four hour tour.
There is only one way into the canyon, not far from the campground, where the Canyon de Chelly and Canyon del Muerto meet. The bottom of the canyon is deep sand, but also pretty rough. We were glad we were not driving ourselves, even if we had a jeep. The tour starts off down Canyon de Chelly. Daniel stopped at several locations along the way, pointing out the rock art, both petroglyphs (etched) and pictographs (painted). He provided us with information about them, such as which ones were Hopi, which ones were Navajo, and which ones were older than both of those, from the Ancient Puebloans.
At the White House Ruin, we turned around and went back to the Junction Ruin. From there we headed up the Canyon del Muerto to the Antelope Ruin. At the Antelope Ruin, there was a family with a concession stand. They sold jewelry, art, and some refreshments. The flute music they had playing along with a burning campfire added to the atmosphere while admiring the Antelope House Ruin. We bought a couple of Cokes and a fry bread. They gave us a choice of toppings for the fry bread, most of them were sweet, like cinnamon and sugar. Ann asked what the woman’s favorite topping was. She said that she likes the fry bread with salt, the way most Navajo eat it. So that’s the way we had it, with salt. The freshly prepared hot fry bread was pretty tasty.
From Antelope House, we headed back out of Canyon del Muerto, stopping at Ledge Ruin and a few more places with rock art. Daniel dropped us off at our camp site right about noon. All in all, it was nice tour. However, for some reason, we felt it didn’t quite live up to our expectations. Daniel was a knowledgeable guide, but we think he didn’t always fully understand our questions. He was also soft spoken, so Keith, who was sitting in the back seat, didn’t always hear what Daniel was saying. But we believe the main reason was that we were expecting more information and stories from Daniel. We don’t know what the other jeep tour companies are like, so we can’t compare. Perhaps we were just expecting too much.
The rest of the day we hung out at the campground. The other campers from the night before had all left. We had the campground to ourselves. Later that day, a recently retired couple from California, Jeff and Debbie, showed up. We sat around with them and chatted for a while before dinner. It is always nice to swap stories and information with fellow travelers.
Wednesday, we slept in and had a leisurely breakfast. Then we walked up to the Welcome Center to watch the park movie. The Welcome Center also had a few exhibits to check out.
For the rest of the morning, we drove the South Rim, stopping at all of the overlooks into Canyon de Chelly. Quite a few of the overlooks had Navajo vendors selling their wares, such as painted rocks and jewelry. At the first overlook, the artist there took the time to explain all of the symbology in his art along with some personal stories. We didn’t want to buy anything, but we gave him an appropriate tip to show our appreciation for the wonderful information he provided us.
The White House Overlook, along with the White House Trail, are closed. Many overlooks were vandalized during COVID, but all of them, except for the White House Overlook, have re-opened. It is unclear when or if the overlook and trail will re-open. So the only way to view the White House Ruin at this point, is to take a tour into the canyon.
Many of the same ruins that we saw on our jeep tour are visible from the South Rim overlooks. However, the South Rim road goes further along Canyon de Chelly than we went on the tour. The last overlook on the South Rim is Spider Rock. It is the iconic rock spire of the monument. According to Navajo mythology, Spider Rock is the home of Spider Woman, the helper and protector of humans. The spire is a distinctive and impressive rock formation.
When we returned from the South Rim, we stopped for a late lunch at the Thunderbird Lodge Cafeteria. It is housed in a former trading post, built in 1896. Inside is a vault that once stored valuables. Keith had a burger and fries, while Ann had a Navajo taco. Keith said his burger was nothing special, but Ann really enjoyed her taco. A Navajo taco is served on a fry bread, topped with beans, onions, lettuce, and tomato. Ann ordered hers with the optional seasoned beef. The fry bread overhung the edges of the plate. Very tasty, and very filling.
The rest of the day, we hung out at the campground. Jeff and Debbie had left, so we once again had the campground to ourselves. Keith cut his hair. Ann tried to work on a video. She had been having troubles with her laptop overheating. We noticed that the fan on the laptop didn’t seem to kick into high gear when Ann worked in Final Cut Pro like it used to. As her laptop started to heat up again, she heard the fan completely stop. She quickly shut everything down and disconnected the external SSD drive. She didn’t want to have any of her photo and videos files corrupted. It was time for a new laptop.
Being in the middle of the Navajo Nation is not the best place to find an Apple Store. The closest store was in Scottsdale, Arizona, over five hours away. We got on Keith’s iPad to order a new laptop. The soonest we could have the one we wanted ready for pick up was two weeks out. OK, it is what it is. Ann will have to get by for two weeks.
Ann changed her routine a little. She’ll still try to use her laptop for taking notes and backing up her photos and videos onto SSD drives. However, she’ll limit her usage to short spurts, sticking to the cooler parts of the day, and keeping a DC fan blowing directly on the laptop the whole time. She normally has two copies of all of her photos and videos, on two separate SSD drives. When backing up the files, she’ll make sure she only has one SSD drive connected to the laptop at a time. That way, if the laptop crashes, only one of the SSD drives is in danger of being corrupted and not both. We’ll see if Ann can limp along for the next two weeks. The next blog post and YouTube video may be delayed by a few weeks.
Thursday we toured the North Rim along Canyon del Muerto. There are only three overlooks along the 13 miles along the rim. For most of the drive, you cannot see the canyon until you turn off onto the spur roads leading to each overlook. The shoulder along the road is wide enough to ride a bicycle on, but that would have been a long ride for us, probably close to 30 miles altogether once you add in the spur roads. So we drove it.
There are cliff dwelling ruins at each of the overlooks, better views of ruins than on the South Rim. The closest overlook, the Antelope House Ruins, was where our jeep tour turned around. The trail to the overlook was about a quarter of a mile long, but it has excellent views of the ruins. However, you are still far enough away that you can’t see the rock art there.
The Massacre Cave and Mammoth Cave overlooks are close together. They are also wonderful views of both ruins and the canyon valley.
There are still Navajo that live in both Canyon de Chelly and Canyon del Muerto. Some of them farm the valley floor. It was a very dry year, so some of the corn fields did not look very good. We noticed that they plant the corn spaced further apart than we are used to seeing in the mid-west. We’re assuming that is because the soil has less moisture and nutrients and cannot support the plants being closer together. Some of the homes in the valley were the traditional octagon shape, even some of the more modern buildings. However, there were other rectangular buildings mixed in, some right next to more traditional Navajo ones.
When driving both the North and South Rim roads, as well as anywhere else in the Navajo Nation, we had to watch out for animals on the road. Not just wild animals, but also cows, horses, and dogs. The Navajo prefer to let their animals roam free, without the hinderance of fences and leashes. However, we did see a billboard encouraging people to leash and vaccinate their dogs.
We returned to the campground to have our lunch. In the afternoon, Keith worked on a mod inside Red Tail. He move the 12v outlets from inside the cabinet above Ann’s bed to above the shelf between the cabinets, just above the existing 12V outlets. Having electrical outlets inside the cabinet didn’t make much sense for us. We store clothing inside that cabinet, not electronics. The outlets above the shelf is where we charge both of our phones, plug in our two small DC fans, Bluetooth speaker and essential oils diffuser, and sometimes charge our iPad and electric toothbrush there as well. So the extra 12v outlet was needed.
Later, we walked over to the Thunderbird Cafeteria to have an ice cream sundae. When we got there, we discovered the cafeteria was closed for an internet service upgrade. Bummer! Well, at least we got a short walk in. We haven’t been getting much exercise the past week and needed the steps. After dinner, we walked some more around the campground to finish our day.
Canyon de Chelly was a wonderful experience. We would definitely recommend spending the money for a tour into the canyon, whether it is by jeep, horse or on foot. Carrying on conversations with the local Navajo is what makes this National Monument special.
Check out our related video: Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona
(Ann)