Canyon de Chelly & Navajo National Monuments
The Navajo Reservation of northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico is massive and remote. Before this trip, I’ve never had the opportunity to travel right through the middle of it, so we picked two monuments in the area to visit on our casual two-day RV journey from Page, AZ, to Albuquerque, my parents’ new home base.
Our first stop after a slightly uneasy night on a remote roadside pull-off was Navajo National Monument, a small and fairly undeveloped park. The trail system in Navajo doesn’t cover much ground, so we only allotted a couple of hours to explore. Our first hike was a short, 1-mile round trip to an overlook of the Betatakin cliff dwelling. We learned a very practical archaeological lesson on this hike, that being why the ancestral puebloans chose certain alcoves to build their communities. South-facing cliffs are the most common because they receive sunlight during the cold months and provide shade as temperatures rise. And this is important to note because Betatakin was completely shadowed during our visit, rendering our overlook fairly useless, especially in terms of photography.
We were perpetrators of something I’m often an incredibly harsh critic of, and that is the National Park Pass-Through. Because so many of our nation’s natural treasures lie in remote regions and require long drives to reach, visitors often try to fit them into unreasonably short windows of time, only see the most popular (and therefore crowded) attractions, and drive away underwhelmed. But sometimes I guess you gotta do the pass-through to ascertain the vibe. Navajo National Monument is about people. It’s held very sacred and is therefore undeveloped and restricted. The monument also includes Keet Seel, another nearly 800-year-old dwelling, that requires a 17-mile hike and a permit to reach. I’ll definitely be back to check that out!
After another long drive, and a ridiculously delicious lunch at Amigo Cafe in Kayenta (get the Navajo Taco - DO IT!!!), we arrived at Canyon de Chelly, which Mom and Dad visited several years ago. When we arrived at the park, we were curious that, like at Navajo NM, we weren’t required to pay an entry fee (we have NPS passes, but still). We asked the young ranger in the visitors’ center, and he gave us a concise rundown: the formation of these parks on the reservation were a joint agreement between tribal leaders and the executive and legislative branches of the US government. The Navajos’ stipulation was that if these parks were formed, no one could profit from them but Navajo people, and people residing within the park boundaries must still be allowed to continue doing so in perpetuity. Having these things in mind helped put in perspective that, like any public land, it’s a privilege to visit, but here it’s about far more than just natural beauty.
The main hike at Chelly is the trek down to the White House ruin, just short of 4 miles round-trip with a 600-ft descent down into the canyon. This is a gorgeous hike and a marvel of public trail construction, with a couple of beautiful tunnels cut through the canyon walls. The vibe here is very difficult to describe. The canyon is a living thing. There are small, working farms on either side of the cliff dwelling. I was struck by how thickly the cottonwood trees grow on the canyon floor, despite extremely arid conditions only a few hundred feet above on the rim. After hiking back out of the canyon, we continued driving the rim road all the way out to see Spider Rock, and then stopped at several other overlooks on the way back out of the park.
My spring Southwest hiking trip came to a wonderful close this year, hanging out with my parents in their new home town, Albuquerque. Although they hadn’t yet moved in, I got to see their beautiful new adobe home; I’m so happy for them and thrilled about visiting again once they’ve made it their own. We also ate some great northern New Mexican food and hit up a couple of fantastic local breweries before I jumped on a plane back to central Texas. We’ve been coming to this area to play since I was too young to remember, and this just feels like the stars are aligning.
It’s never easy to head home after a big hiking trip, but I’ve only got a couple months until mountain time. I can already feel it!