Your tour Jeep sits at the mouth of Canyon de Chelly in Chinle, Arizona — on the western edge of the Four Corners. Spreading before you, like a theatre curtain opening on a magical set, are imposing red rock formations, lofty cottonwoods and willows, and quilted fields of crops, orchards, and pastures.
You are about to be counted among those who have visited or lived here over the last 5,000 years, including today’s Navajo people.
Why Visit Canyon de Chelly?
With its 700-foot-tall sandstone walls, the canyon is nearly invisible from the tableland of the Defiance Plateau into which the Chinle Wash has made its mark, creating homes for Paleo-Indians, Ancestral Puebloans, Hopi, and Navajo. Ancestral Puebloans built stone villages, the remains of which are here today.
- How to See Canyon de Chelly
- Take a Jeep Tour or See the Canyon on Horseback
- What You’ll See in the Canyon
- Rock Art: An Open History Book
- Navajo Agriculture in Canyon de Chelly
- Meet a Navajo Family During Your Visit
- How to Get to Canyon de Chelly?
- Planning Your Canyon de Chelly Visit
- The Best Time to Visit Canyon de Chelly
Hopi lived and farmed on the canyon floor, but all that remains of their time are petroglyphs. The Navajo, or Diné, first occupied the canyon 600 years ago. It’s still their land today.
This practically hidden canyon is lush with agriculture and exudes a sacred vibe. It is rich with nature and a long human history, and is an important part of the lives of the Navajo people today.
How to See Canyon de Chelly
Canyon de Chelly (pronounced D’shay) is about 45 miles long. Ten miles from the canyon entrance, Canyon del Muerto splits off, forming a complex of which 84,000 acres make up Canyon de Chelly National Monument.
While the National Park Service manages visitation and protects the ruins, the canyon is part of the Navajo Nation and is also on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Visitors can explore South Rim Drive and North Rim Drive to stop at 9 overlooks to see some of the rock formations in the canyon below, like the 750-foot tall spire Spider Rock.
However, you need an authorized Navajo guide or a ranger leading you to enter the canyon itself, one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes of North America.
Take a Jeep Tour or See the Canyon on Horseback
There are certified, Navajo-owned companies that lead tours into the canyon using a four-wheel drive vehicle or horses. You’ll also find hiking tours. Regardless of how you choose to see Canyon de Chelly, your adventure will be worth your effort.
Visit the national park website — Canyon de Chelly National Monument — for detailed information on how to plan your visit. Then, go to the Navajo Nation Parks website for a list of authorized tour operators.
Where Chinle Wash exits the canyon, two miles from Chinle, is the only place vehicles can access it. Just outside Chinle at the welcome center, you’ll meet your guide and obtain a permit.
What You’ll See in the Canyon
You’ll see the cliff dwellings, although none of them is accessible. You’ll stop at First House Ruin, so designated because it was the first ruin explored by Smithsonian archaeologist James Stevenson in 1882.
Depending on the tour you’ve arranged, you’ll also see Junction Ruin, built where Muerto and de Chelly canyons join.
There’s Mummy Cave, Fortress Rock, and Spider Rock, legends in their own right; Rounded Corner Ruin, notable for its unusual architecture; and Antelope House Ruin, named after the pronghorn pictograms painted nearby by Dibe Yazhi, Little Lamb, in the 1830s.
The only ancient structure at ground level is White House ruin. This multi-story village was named for its top layers of white stone.
Rock Art: An Open History Book
The story of people who’ve lived in Canyon de Chelly in Arizona is found in rock art, both pictograms (art painted on rock) and petroglyphs (images chipped into the rock’s desert varnish). Some images are symbols relating to ceremonies and rituals, calling on deities for rain, bountiful harvests, and fertility.
The Ancestral Puebloans included human figures with arms extended, some with hands pointing down and others pointing up. Your guide will explain these are messengers. Hands-down figures say, “Welcome. This is a good place to be.” Hands pointing up is a warning. “There’s danger, and people should flee.”
Other stories are told in rock art — the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, hunting deer on horseback, and the U.S. Cavalry defeat of the Navajo. In 1864, after the Navajo surrendered, the army marched them on The Long Walk to Bosque Redondo. The Diné call it Hwéeldi — the Place of Suffering.
During the military mission to subdue the Diné, Kit Carson’s troops destroyed more than 3,000 fruit trees in the canyon. In the 150 years since, the Navajo have replanted their orchards and again harvest their bounty.
Navajo Agriculture in Canyon de Chelly
While the land here is owned by the Navajo, only a few families choose to live there, usually only in summer. You’ll see hogans and shade arbors providing sufficient protection from wind and rain, but there is no electricity or indoor plumbing, so life in the canyon is hard.
But the land is productive. The water table beneath the sandy wash is high enough to support agriculture. Farmers grow the traditional Three Sisters crops of corn, beans, and squash as well as tomatoes, melons, and grapes.
They tend to orchards of apricots, cherries, peaches, and apples. Cows, sheep, and horses roam free, so cultivated fields are fenced to keep livestock from feeding on crops.
Meet a Navajo Family During Your Visit
Your tour may include a stop at a summer home where a Navajo woman might show you the rug she is weaving. If you’re lucky, she’ll demonstrate wool carding, spinning, and dyeing skeins in colors not naturally occurring in Churro sheep wool.
Besides talking of the canyon’s natural beauty, your Navajo guide will likely relate personal experiences to help you realize this is not a museum or collection of ruins of long-dead people. Canyon de Chelly has long been called home and for some, still is today.
How to Get to Canyon de Chelly?
Located in northeastern Arizona, within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation, Canyon de Chelly National Monument lies in the Four Corners region. The closest community to the monument’s entrance is Chinle, and that’s where you’ll meet your guide if you’re entering the canyon. The National Park Service runs the welcome center, but Navajo guides take tours into the canyon itself.
Canyon de Chelly is about equidistant between Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park to the north and Petrified Forest National Park to the south, less than two hours from either. You reach the national monument by driving to Chinle on U.S. Highway 191, then turning east on Indian Route 7. The park entrance and welcome center are about three miles from the junction of Highway 191 and Indian Route 7.
Planning Your Canyon de Chelly Visit
If you want to visit the canyon floor, plan ahead to explore the longest continually inhabited area on the Colorado Plateau. Visitors must schedule a tour with an authorized Navajo guide to access the remote canyons and get up close to the stunning rock formations. In summer, you may also be able to take a ranger-led tour.
First, stop at the welcome center to get more information, pick up a Junior Ranger packet, and stamp your National Parks Passport. The welcome center is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. In the event of inclement weather, opening may be delayed or canceled.
Guided Tours
On guided tours, visitors can learn about this beautiful and sacred place where canyon walls cradle hundreds of Ancestral Puebloan ruins and a contemporary Navajo community. People often come away from their visit with a feeling of reverence for this special place and long to return.
Your Navajo guides will explain the canyon’s history as you explore it on horseback, on foot, or in a four-wheel drive vehicle. Be ready to be inspired by the beauty of this hidden gem.
Driving Tours and Photography
After stopping at the welcome center, explore the driving loops on North Rim Drive and South Rim Drive. These paved roads offer nine overlooks that are open all year to visit on your own. You’ll be able to see iconic formations like Spider Rock and see the canyon’s farms far below.
Allow two hours to visit the three overlooks on the North Rim Drive, which are best for morning photos. Allow two hours to visit the six overlooks on the South Rim Drive, which are best for afternoon photos. Binoculars or a camera with a telephoto lens can help you get better views of the ruins. Not all overlooks are accessible, but many are.
Ranger-led Hikes
In addition, there are limited opportunities to explore the canyon with a park ranger. On selected dates from Memorial Day in May through Labor Day in September, a park ranger will lead hikes for the first 15 people to sign up in person.
The hikes are moderately strenuous to strenuous and, the park service advises, can involve some climbing, hiking down/up uneven slick rock, and through sand, mud, and water. Check the online calendar or the monument’s Facebook page for more information.
White House Ruin Hike
White House Ruin is the only part of the canyon that can be visited without a ranger or Navajo guides. The National Park Service notes that White House overlook and the 2.5-mile trail to the ruins will be open seasonally from April to September and that a fee may be required. Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation will provide daily operations of this section.
Lodging and Services
The handful of hotels in Chinle, the gateway to the canyon, make a great overnight option in this remote area of Arizona. Cottonwood Campground is also near the park entrance and is non-reservation. Chinle also offers services like grocery stores, laundromats, a post office, and fast food restaurants.
The Best Time to Visit Canyon de Chelly
It’s in northeastern Arizona, so summer can be brutally hot and winter freezing cold. Summer can also bring heavy monsoon rains that can cause tours to be postponed because of flowing water and deep mud. Spring and fall can be a great time to visit. No matter when you visit, bring layers of clothing and be prepared for changeable weather.
Be sure to check the monument’s website for up-to-date information on tour schedules, availability, and regulations.
Conclusion
No matter how and when you explore this national monument, be prepared for an experience you won’t soon forget. Be sure to add it to your Four Corners travel plans!
