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White House Ruins, Canyon de Chelly National Monument/Kurt Repanshek
A literal and spiritual sandstone cathedral, Canyon de Chelly is one of the more unique national monuments in the United States. While it was added to the National Park System in 1931 by President Herbert Hoover, the agreement left most of the landscape as the property of the Navajo Nation. To this day, the monument is managed through a partnership between the National Park Service and the Navajo Nation, and it serves to sustain the living Navajo community.
Western National Parks Association produces interpretive materials for Canyon de Chelly
Located in eastern Arizona, this monument provides a portal into the past when ancient civilizations lived in cliff dwellings and coaxed life out of a demanding landscape. The Navajo community that still resides here provides a modern-day context, and its guides interpret their ancestors for you.
Canyon de Chelly is considered sacred land and one of the historically and culturally significant places in the Navajo Nation. With the exception of one short hiking trail, the canyon can only be explored in the company of a Navajo guide.
Traveler's choice for: History of ancestral Puebloans, Navajo, and Hopi, cliff dwellings, photography.
Though Canyon de Chelly covers nearly 84,000 acres, the main attraction is the canyon itself with its cliff dwellings and Navajo farms. During the busy season you're also likely to encounter Navajo artisans selling their works spread out on the ground or tables.
There's one lodge located inside the monument, the 74-room Thunderbird Lodge, which is under management of the Navajo Hospitality Enterprise and offers a motel, gift shop, cafeteria and canyon tours.
During the summer, traditional Native American dance groups perform on site. Thunderbird Lodge is open all year and is conveniently located near the Cottonwood Campground.
The human history contained within the reach of the canyon and its branching arms and on its wash bottoms reflects a vital, tenacious period of settlement in the history of the Southwest. For nearly 5,000 years the main and side canyons of Canyon de Chelly have been occupied, the longest continual stretch of habitation on the Colorado Plateau, according to the National Park Service.
There is just one trail in the national monument.
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