Spider Rock, the world's tallest free-standing spire at 800 feet high, is the home of Spider Woman, an important deity in the Navajo pantheon.
|
The Canyon de Chelly rimrock drives follow two Navajo highways along the lofty cliff edges of Canyon del Muerto and Canyon de Chelly in northeastern Arizona's Canyon de Chelly National Monument. The two paved routes, totaling forty-three miles, stop at numerous spectacular viewpoints above the canyon, offering vistas of streaked sandstone walls, ancient Anasazi Indian ruins, and Navajo hogans and fields. The name De Chelly is thought to be a Spanish corruption of the Navajo word Tsegi, meaning "rock canyon." The words are now pronounced in English as "d'shay."
Canyon de Chelly National Monument, an 83,840-acre parkland on the Defiance Plateau, is administered by the National Park Service in conjunction with the Navajo tribe, which owns the land. Travel in the monument is limited to the two rim drives and a short trail to respect the privacy of the Navajos still living in the canyons and to protect the many fragile ruins. Visitors who want a closer look at the canyons and their ruins can hire Navajo guides through the monument's visitor center to hike, horseback ride, or four-wheel up the canyons. Thunderbird Lodge, near monument headquarters, offers half- and full-day commercial trips during good weather.
Drive at a Glance
Roads: Navajo Highways 64 and 7
General description: Two Navajo highways, totaling forty-three miles, that follow the lofty rims of Canyon de Chelly and Canyon del Muerto in Canyon de Chelly National Monument in northeastern Arizona.
Special attractions: Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Anasazi ruins, White House Ruin, hiking, outstanding views, rock art, Spider Rock.
Location: Northeastern Arizona. The drives begin at the Canyon de Chelly National Monument Visitor Center just east of Chinle and about three miles east of U.S. 191.
Drive route numbers: Navajo Highways 64 and Navajo Highway and National Park Service Road 7.
Travel season: Year-round. Spring, summer, and fall are pleasant, with summer highs in the low 90s. Winters are cool but dry.
Camping: Cottonwood Campground, near the monument headquarters, is open year-round. The no-fee area has restrooms, picnic tables, dump station, and water. Avoid leaving valuables in an unattended campsite.
Services: All services are available in Chinle, including motels, restaurants, groceries, and gas. The famous Thunderbird Lodge is next to the park campground.
Nearby attractions: Navajo Indian Reservation, Four Corners Monument, Window Rock, Hopi Indian Reservation, Navajo National Monument, Monument Valley, Shiprock, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site.
For more information: Canyon de Chelly National Monument
|
The rim drives are open year-round, with each season bringing a distinctive mood to the canyons. In spring, snowmelt from the Chuska Mountains floods Rio de Chelly and wildflowers bloom atop the canyon rims. Summers are pleasant, with daily highs in the nineties and afternoon thunderstorms in July and August. Autumn is an ideal time to visit the monument. The cooler days are colored by golden cottonwoods along the dry washes and clear expanses of blue sky. Winters are chilly, with highs in the forties. Chinle averages six inches of snow each winter, but it only lingers on the cool north-facing slopes.
Both rim drives begin at the monument visitor center, just east of Chinle. The visitor center offers a good introduction to Canyon de Chelly National Monument, with museum displays on the area's archeology and natural history. Guided hikes and talks are held through the summer. A hogan, the traditional east-facing Navajo home, sits nearby. Hogans, circular domed structures made of mud and logs, are used not only for everyday living by Navajos but for ceremonial uses as well. Almost every Navajo family either still lives in a hogan or has one next to their modern house. Hogans, used by the many Navajos who farm in Canyon de Chelly National Monument, are scattered across the canyon floors.
Cottonwood Campground lies just south of the visitor center. This free, year-round campground has restrooms, picnic tables, a dump station, and water. Campfire programs are presented from May through September. Visitors can also stay at the historic Thunderbird Lodge just south of the campground. The lodge was originally a trading post built in 1902 by Sam Day. It later expanded into a hotel to accommodate the visitors who flocked to see the nearby cliff dwellings and canyons.
The South Rim Drive, following Navajo Route 7, begins just past the visitor center. The road dips down and crosses the Rio de Chelly in a dense cottonwood forest. Turn south here for access to the campground and Thunderbird Lodge. The drive climbs steadily up the gentle western slope of the humpbacked Defiance Plateau, a 100-mile-long uplift that began rising some 50 million years ago. As the land slowly rose, meandering streams draining the Chuska Mountains to the east maintained their winding courses, incising these steep-walled canyons in the plateau's flank over the last three million years.
The first overlook, reached after two miles, is a good stop for examining the canyon's rock formations. The main cliff-forming rock is De Chelly sandstone, a formation deposited 230 million years ago as an immense field of sand dunes. It also forms the monumental buttes and mesas of Monument Valley in northern Arizona. Some 50 million years later the Shinarump conglomerate, a coarse, erosion-resistant layer, was deposited atop the De Chelly sandstone by sand and gravel-laden streams that drained surrounding highlands.
Tsegi Overlook, .5 mile farther on, offers spacious views of the canyon. Rio de Chelly, its shallow water gleaming in the sunlight, swings across the wide canyon below, past cottonwood groves and plowed fields. The Navajo farms in the canyons are occupied in the warmer months. Main crops include corn and squash, as well as peaches and apples from orchards. South of the overlook, small sand dunes nestle against rock outcrops.
The next stop, Junction Overlook, provides a spectacular view of the junction, or confluence, of Canyon de Chelly and its main tributary, Canyon del Muerto, Spanish for "Canyon of the Dead." Discerning eyes can find, in a shallow cave in the far canyon wall, the well-preserved walls of fifteen-room Junction Ruin. Down canyon is First Ruin, a ten-room dwelling first described in 1882.
A short spur road another two miles up the drive leads to White House Overlook. The vista from this overlook is thrilling, one of the best in the monument. Towering pink cliffs, streaked by black desert varnish and broken by cracks, ledges, and overhangs, hem in the twisting thread of Rio de Chelly. White House Ruin, nestled in a dark alcove fifty feet above the cottonwoods, is dwarfed by the canyon's monumental majesty. White House Ruins Trail, a 2.5-mile round trip hike, drops 600 feet from the overlook to the ruin below. This is the only self-guided trail in the monument. Allow at least two hours to hike it, and carry water in summer.
Go to Second Part
