Canyon de Chelly may be located at the far northeastern corner of the state of Arizona, but it's situated squarely in the heart of the social and spiritual history of the Navajo people. Few other places in the Southwest encompass the past and present of a region and a people as completely as Canyon de Chelly, and a visit to its expansive lookouts, silent cliffside ruins and contemporary Navajo communities is an authentic Southwest experience like none other.
The landscape is more austere than that of Sedona, the lines straighter, the desert a bit more arid, the palette of rock a little more muted, but the whole impression is no less powerful. Walls of the main canyon, which is part of a system of smaller canyons, drop 1,000 feet straight down in places, the buff sandstone streaked by dark desert varnish, a residue of manganese and iron oxide deposited by water runoff. The washes at the canyon bottoms change from bare trickles in late spring and summer to rushing torrents in the monsoon.
It takes ingenuity, stamina and faith to live in this environment, and the Navajo have done so continuously for more than 300 years, despite conflicts with other native tribes, hostilities from European invaders, the U.S. government, and the usual environmental pressures of living in the desert. Canyon de Chelly National Monument is operated under a unique partnership between the National Park Service and the Navajo Nation to manage the public resources of the Monument area as well as the interests of the Navajo communities within its boundaries.
The area has been inhabited by people for at least 10,000 years, beginning with nomadic hunting tribes, who then gave way to semi-permanent agricultural communities about 8,000 years ago. The people now known as the Anasazi were here until roughly the 12th century, when they made their enigmatic exit from the area, leaving behind the pueblo-style houses that can still be explored today. These architectural ruins, as well as the fascinating and well-preserved petroglyphs and pictographs throughout the Canyon are major attractions of the area. The Navajo arrived around 1700 AD and have continuously inhabited the canyons ever since.
If you want to experience the canyon from the bottom up, and get a close look at some of the amazing ruins and pictographs contained within its walls, you'll need to hire a guide or join a tour. There are several different tour options available by foot, horseback or motor vehicle. This not only assures that the delicate and precious ruins won't be harmed by the less-than-scrupulous; it provides a measure of privacy to the dozens of Navajo families that still live in the Canyon, and also offers visitors a chance to enjoy the scenery with cultural and historical context provided by the experienced guides.
