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Canyon de Chelly National Monument

Located in northeastern Arizona, Canyon de Chelly National Monument was established as a unit of the National Park Service in 1931.

 

 

It is within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation and lies in the Four Corners region. 

The monument covers nearly 84,000 acres.

Canyon de Chelly is the only National Park Service unit that is owned and cooperatively managed by the Navajo Tribal Trust of the Navajo Nation.

Approximately 40 Navajo families live in the park. 

With the exception of the White House Ruin Trail, access to the canyon floor is restricted, and visitors are allowed to travel in the canyons only when accompanied by a park ranger of an authorized Navajo guide.

 

The canyon can be viewed from turnoffs from both the North Rim Drive and the South Rim Drive. 

We began our visit at the Visitor Center where we watched a short orientation film. 

 

 

We had limited time so we opted to drive the South Rim where we stopped at different overlooks beginning with Tunnel Overlook followed by Tsegi, Junction, White House, Sliding House, Face Rock and Spider Rock outlooks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were losing daylight so we only had enough time to check out one of the overlooks on the North Rim. 

 

 With over 80 rooms and three kivas, Mummy Cave is one of the largest dwelling structures in the park.  It was named for two mummies that were discovered there by an archaeological expedition in 1882. 

We rushed back to the Visitor Center to attend a ranger program celebrating the National Parks Service turning 102.  No one else showed up so we ended up enjoying a private program which became more of a conversation which was great.