Canyon de Chelly

Hi Blog!

We camped at the Cottonwood Campground run by the Navajo Nation next to Canyon de Chelly National Monument. The Monument is located near the town of Chinle, Arizona and is within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation. The Canyon de Chelly is one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes of North America, it preserves ruins of the indigenous tribes that lived in the area, from the Ancestral Puebloans (Archaic, Basketmaker, Pueblo and Hopi) to the Navajo. The monument covers 83,840 acres and encompasses the floors and rims of the three major canyons: de Chelly, del Muerto, and Monument. These canyons were cut by streams with headwaters in the Chuska Mountains just to the east of the monument. None of the land is federally owned. While the rim roads are open to the the public, to access the canyon you must travel with a Navajo guide.

We started our tour on Sunday, October 1, 2017. We met our local guide, Harris Harding, at the Best Western Hotel. Harris's family has lived in the valley since his great grandmother returned from the Long Walk in 1868. In Navajo families, the land is passed down from mother to oldest daughter, and so he lives on the land because his mother owns part of it. His family farms on the valley floor, growing all sort of produce like corn, squash, beans, peaches and pears. There is no running water or electricity and they want it to stay that way. They are very proud of their home and are happy to share it with visitors, provided we respect the local inhabitants. Here we are at the start of our journey. The recent thunderstorms made it an exciting ride.

Our first stop was Kokopelli Rock. The petroglyphs and pictographs span almost 1,000 years. In addition to the animals, there were two types of hand prints. One is created by blowing paint over the hand, leaving a void where the hand was. The other is made by dipping a hand in paint and leaving a print.

If you notice the kokopelli, he is lying on his back. There is a small water line just below his feet. It is believed that this image represents a "fallen" situation and was made when the Ancestral Puebloans left the canyon due to a drought.

As we moved on to the next site, we stopped to visit ET!

The next set of pictographs were made almost 800 years after the Ancestral Puebloans left the valley. When the Navajo migrated into the valley, they too left stories in the rocks. Here, two riders are chasing down a deer. They could have shot it with an arrow, but a deer hide was more valuable if it was unmarked. Hunters would chase the deer down and capture it, but kill it without leaving marks. An unmarked hide was almost always included in a dowry.

When the Navajo moved into Canyon de Chelly, they built 8-sided houses known as hogans on the valley floor. They were curious about the Ancestor Puebloans, but never disturbed their homes or dug up their graves. The first home site we visited was named "First Ruins" by the National Park Service. While this home site looks high up on a shelf, the valley floor was actually must higher a thousand years ago.

At the entrance to the canyon, the walls are only 30 feet high. The further up the canyon, the higher the walls become until they are almost 1,000 feet above the valley floor. There are 37 different traditional Native American hiking trails in and out of the canyon. If you look closely you can see toe holes cuts into the rock leading up to the canyon rim on the edge of this fin.

The second ruin we visited was located at the junction of Canyon del Muerto and Canyon de Chelly.

Folks lived here between 1000 and 1200 AD, nearly a thousand years ago. You can see how construction techniques change over the years. The oldest structure is the round kiva in the center, which is built of rough stones and only interstitial mortar.  The buildings further from the center are constructed using carved stone and finer, smoother motar.

As we made our way up the canyon, we passed a number of homesteads. It's common for the Navajo to let their horses roam freely.

The last stop on our tour was the White House. The Navajo call this location "white house in between" referring to the white plastered walls of the room built in the alcove. The multi-storied pueblo below was once high enough to provide access to the rooms in the alcove above.

This site may have had up to eighty rooms and at at least four kivas, but due to erosion only about forty rooms are left. Tree-ring dates from the logs used in the construction indicate the first building activity began around 1060, with additions as late as 1275. Here's a look at what is left of the round kiva, on the center-right. You can still see the holes where the ceiling logs once rested in the remaining walls of the squared building on the left.

Some local residents set up craft tables in the parking lot. After picking up a couple Christmas presents, we made our return trip out of the canyon. We really enjoyed our tour of Canyon de Chelly and learning more about Navajo life.