Chinle, AZ - Canyon De Chelly

We’ve got more ambitious plans for today and that includes a hike. There is actually only one hike you can take in this park without a Navajo guide and that is a hike down the cliff to an Ancestral Puebloan ruin called the ‘White House.’ After a short walk along the canyon rim, the trail quickly heads downward, over the rim and through a tunnel. Several switchbacks later we were still heading downward. The canyon is 600’ deep and we were heading to the bottom. The trail was very developed since so many take it down and then up but there were some times when it was a bit rough.

Here you can see the trail coming down on the left and going further down on the right. Love those switchbacks. Or is that coming up on the right and going further up on the left?

There were benches and ledges all along the trail and many on the uphill climb were taking advantage of them. When we reached the bottom we looked back up the cliff and found a large group of kids hiking down. They are strung out along the trail and you an get a sense of the trail itself.

After another tunnel, we emerged on the bottom of the canyon next to a fenced farm with a small barn. We wound through the canyon before we came to the ruins. The ruins in Canyon de Chelly were not as extensive as some we have seen on this trip, like those in Mesa Verde and Chaco but they were again evidence that humans had lived in this canyon since the 600’s. Here’s the White House and the cliff above it with the wearing marks from the millions of years of water running down them.

At one point two ravens swooped in tandem along the canyon face and then swooped back. As if they were ice skaters practicing their routine on the ice. So smooth they were.

After looking at the ruins, perusing the Navajo merchants’ crafts along the path near the White House, we hiked back up. Hmmm. A bit more difficult. But doable. And remember those benches. Not everyone had such a hard time clambering around on the rocks - this lizard was laughing at us.

Back at the top we decided to drive the North Rim of the canyon. We actually enjoyed the north rim better since the visible ruins were much more extensive. There were 3 look-out points and we took advantage of all of them. The one below had a tower so perfect with the wood preserved so well that it looked like it had been restored.

Back at the campground, we ate dinner with Wendy and Barry, each couple bringing their own meals but sitting together to discuss the day, their travels and whatever else. Wendy put a brightly colored table cloth on the picnic table and we had a great time. Interestingly we are traveling in the same direction as they are with the same destination: the Phoenix area. They are staying in Mesa and we will be a few miles away. Meanwhile, we are all going to the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest, Winslow and Cottonwood, near Sedona, AZ. We’ll be seeing them for a while and plan to camp next to them In Cottonwood.