7-CANYON DE CHELLY

Arriving yesterday at Canyon de Chelly, (pronounced d’ SHAY) we wanted to do a bit of touring on our own and then relax a while. 

You can drive to both the North Rim and the South Rim, looking down into the Canyon from various overlooks. Having never been here before, I had no idea what to expect. Don has been here twice before but only viewed the Canyon from the rim.

I don’t normally get into a lengthy history lesson, but since the ‘Analytical One’ in this relationship wants to get his two cents worth in, here’s Don…

"People have lived in Canyon de Chelly for nearly 5,000 years. The earliest inhabitants were called the Anasazi. They were called this because it means, “The people who disappeared.” There is no evidence of what happened to them or where they went.

In 1300-1600 the Hopi tribe inhabited the Canyon.  The Hopi later moved southwest, establishing villages along the Colorado River and the southern tip of Black Mesa.

From 1700-1863 the Navajo occupied the Canyon. They are related to the Athabaskans in Canada. We saw a lot of the Athabaskan culture when we were in Alaska last year.

In 1864 the US Military forced the Navajos out of the Canyon to what the Navajos refer to as, “The Long Walk, “ a 300 mile journey to Ft. Sumner in New Mexico Territory. 

In 1868 the Navajo were allowed to return to the Canyon.  For the first time they were allowed to make actual claims to the property. These claims remain today and are passed down to the eldest daughter in each generation in this matriarchal society.

The ruins you will see in the photos were constructed by the Anasazi. These were built over several centuries.  The ones built near the Canyon floor (such as White House), as opposed to high up on the Canyon walls, were built a few hundred years later.

The pictographs (paintings) and the petroglyphs (carvings) were done by the Anasazi and the Navajo (anything with a horse in it) and a small amount were done by the Hopi tribes, (who only show their clan symbols) are what you will see in the following pictures of the Canyon.'

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OK, so now Don has spoken his piece and is distracted with something else, so I will show you Canyon de Chelly from my point of view.

Yesterday we drove the rim and looked down into the Canyon. Today we took a Navajo guide for a four-hour driving tour down onto the floor of the Canyon seeing things up close and personal.

At the first stop we looked down from Junction Overlook into Junction Ruin.

Next it was First Ruin from the rim…

…then the next day, First Ruin, from the Canyon floor.

Then we drove to the White House Overlook. From here you can hike from the rim 2-1/2 miles round trip down to this ruin and back up again. (Emphasis on UP!)  While that looked like an exciting trip…

…we decided to just view from afar.

Although it’s not real easy to see, the structure in back is white-washed, giving it it’s name. This was done to reflect the sun off the wall as in the summer the Canyon gets incredibly hot, up to 115 degrees.

This is the White House ruin from the second day trip on the Canyon floor.

Again, looking down into the Canyon, you can see roads and a dry stream beds. This road of deep sand is where the tour guides drive.

It was amazing to look down into this Canyon where some of the walls are 1,000 feet high. There are also a lot of trees down there.

At these different overlooks, native vendors would be selling their wares, jewelry, etchings, etc.

This young man is Averil Begay. He was sitting behind a tree with his sandstone carvings displayed on the ground. 

We thought this one was interesting and he told us the meaning of each individual design. He sold this for $10. This is how many of these people make a living.

Spider Rock was really impressive. It is twin 700 foot tall spires.

Those braver than I walk out on this white rock to look down into the Canyon. I stay back and take a picture.

This ruin is called Antelope House.

At Antelope House there are pictographs of antelope. Some are white and others are painted in yellow. There is also a zigzag snake and a sun.

Next was Mummy Cave. We were only able to see this from the rim as it was too far back in the Canyon for us to visit on this tour. This is the largest ruin in the Canyon.

At 9am we met Francine, our tour guide. She was an amazing fount of knowledge. She has been a tour guide at Canyon de Chelly for seven years.  We got into her 4-wheel drive Ford Explorer and off we went.

The is only one entrance into the Canyon which was right across from our campground.

Francine showed us great Navajo pictographs, lots of them.

We drove through the deep sand.  She told us about sometimes getting stuck in the sand and when it rains there are flash floods and lots of quicksand. 

Several vehicles have been lost to the quicksand over the years in the canyon. At one point we drove by a few pieces of a car that had been the victim of quicksand. They were almost completely buried under the sand.

At a few points the road was shaded by trees on each side and you couldn’t even see the Canyon walls, but it looked really relaxing and peaceful.

There are lots and lots of ruins in the Canyon. Since we didn't get to drive all the way to the back of the canyon, there are many that we did not see. Francine told us that no one can go into the Canyon without a Navajo guide.

One of Don’s favorite stories that he has often repeated to me is, when he was in college in the 60’s, he roomed with an Archeology Major, an Economics Major and he, himself, a Civil Engineering Major (what a group that must have been!). 

The Archeology Major talked about Canyon de Chelly and about how you could hike in and rope down over the edge or climb up into the ruins and find numerous pieces of ancient pottery. 

The three of them talked many times about how they were going to do that. Fortunately, they did not put feet to their dreams. 

Francine talked talked about how that happened a lot in the 70’s and 80’s and many priceless artifacts disappeared. She referred to them as Pot Stealers.

I might have had to visit Don in jail…

What a beautiful drive…I was just glad I was not driving. The car slipped and slid in the sand as if we were driving in ice and deep snow.

Water running off the rim and down the walls leaves interesting stains on the rock.

We took a break at this location were there were not only ruins, but lots of vendors selling food and crafts.

This is Fortress Rock. The Navajo, when they were being hunted by the US military, took shelter on the top of this monolith along with horses and cows. 

No one knows for sure how they got the animals up there, but they did and they were used for food.


Our guide took us around the back side where with binoculars we could see two extremely long ladders that were used to get up and down from the rock. These are still the original ladders. They think they were made from Aspen trees to have lasted this long. 

Unfortunately, when the men were off hunting, the soldiers caught and killed the women, children and old people they found there.

These were very interesting Navajo pictographs showing men on horses.

 

The multiple circles indicate echoes that you hear if you yell in the Canyon.

This is a Navajo pictograph of a cow…a big cow! There is a very old stone ruin in the foreground. Notice the glass window? A family wanted to use this as a house, however, Navajo tradition forbids going into areas where ancestors used to be. 

Children are warned about never going near this kind of area and in doing so will result in health problems . This family had to get a special ceremonial permit from the Navajo Nation in order to use this as a Hogan.

This is called Martini Rock because the road goes under “a big hangover.”

These pictographs are done in charcoal. There are horses and shields here.

More Ruins...

This blue color is called ‘Rock Varnish’ and is caused by the magnesium in the water running off the face of the rock.

We finished an incredible tour of the Canyon de Chelly. There is a lot more here to see.  We will do that on another trip.


Tomorrow we head into Albuquerque to spend four day at the Balloon Festival. 

We will be meeting Jim and Sonja Phillips there. They were on our RV caravan to Alaska last year. Jim and Sonja are from Maui and have a son who lives in Bend, so they keep their RV there. They come to the mainland periodically to RV across the US. We look forward to spending time with them.