Visit to Canyon De Chelly National Monument - Part 1

Instead of the 'regular' turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, we opted to head up to Canyon De Chelly NM in north east Arizona to visit the monument that has been on our radar for a number of years.  There is camping inside the park however, there is no water, electric, or sewer hookups, basically the camping is considered 'dry camping' of which I do not like to do.  I do like electricity - knowing the nights would get down to 30 and I did not want to freeze.  There were about a half dozen campers in the one campground - Cottonwood - which was about 1/4 mile from where we stayed.

Prisons in Coolidge, Florence and Superior!

One of the 5 C's AZ founded on - cotton, not harvested yet

Passed Casa Grande National Monument (ruins)

Cotton ready to go to the Gin

Lots of dirt bikes and ATVing going on Thanksgiving Day 

The climb up into Tonto National Forest

Another C - copper, this is a smelter in Globe

And down into Salt River Canyon south of ShowLow

I booked our room at the Thunderbird Lodge, owned and staffed by the Navajo people and located 1 mile inside the Monument's boundary.  This lodge is run in conjunction with the National Park Service but is Navajo in all respect.  Very very lovely!  The restaurant (cafeteria) which is located right next door to the gift shop serves excellent meals, prepared and presented in the Navajo tradition.  Wow, fabulous food!!!  The cafeteria is located within the original trading post built in 1896.  Many pictures and artifacts are on display inside.

Heading north towards Holbrook

Everyone home eating turkey - no one on the road

Holbrook and Route 66

Have now entered Navajo Nation's lands

Dropping down into Chinle - about 7 miles from the Lodge

Thursday was spent driving to Thunderbird Lodge, about 375 miles north and east of Picacho.  We drove through Florence to Superior, on to Globe and then Holbrook.  From Holbrook we entered the Navajo land and proceeded to Chinle, the town where the National Monument is located.  And it was chilly!  We left Picacho with 76 degrees at 9am and when we got to our room at 4:10pm, it was 48, and dropping.  Glad we brought extra outer-wear.

Friday morning we had checked in at the gift shop for our all-day tour into the canyon.  You cannot visit Canyon De Chelly (pronounced day-shell) without a permit and a Navajo guide.  We opted to book the tour directly from the lodge, glad we did.  NOTE:  we had not been exposed to over 9 hours of outdoor weather (and chilly) and therefore were totally exhausted when we got back - so good thing we were right at the lodge where our room was and hot food in the restaurant.)

Our tour was the RED line - morning to the north, afternoon to the south

Was introduced to DJ, our Navajo guide, and the 6 of us boarded the vehicle, checked into the park to give our permit to the ranger, and off we went.

Nothing better than Navajo Fry Bread!

Navajo Mutton Stew - delicious!

About the Cafeteria

The vault that houses the very expensive art work

The tour first starts along the Chinle wash, riding along the riverbed but no water - they had not had rain since July.  Dusty at times, but amazing views.  We stopped along the way to view Ancient People ruins, DJ would explain what we were looking at, how the people lived, who came when, and who lives in the canyon now.  Originally there was the Anasazi People who were in the canyon as far back as 5000 years ago.  Some time in the early 700's AD, they left and the Hopi People moved in.  Then about 1200 AD the Hopi were gone and the Navajo moved in.  At one time over 2000 people lived in the canyon, today no one lives full-time but about 30 families come back down in the springtime to farm and live.  Then come late summer, the families move up out of the canyon to live in their winter homes.  That is also when the children will attend schools.  All water and power such as propane or kerosene are trekked in in their vehicles, the food is first brought in but their farming supports all the rest of the summer.  Beets, squash, beans, corn, many kinds of fruit trees, and meat is also self-provided.  Cattle, sheep and horses are left in the canyon year round to survive.

DJ was amazing in his information.  He was born in the Canyon, his parents took the family out of the Canyon when he was 6 to attend school and they lived in Chinle the remainder of the time.  However, DJ has been a guide into the Canyon for over 21 years.

Our vehicle looked just like this one 

DJ - our Navajo guide

Have to say - when we were riding along the floor of the Canyon, I really felt the 'Ancients' spirits where surrounding us.  Very humbling experience.

We saw petroglyphs, ancient ruins - many of them you cannot see from the top of the rim, many ranches with structures for living (the summer families live in them) are, wild animals such as mule deer, cad-zillion wild turnkeys, hawks flying overhead, prints of mountain lion (DJ confirmed), and of course cows, horses, sheep.

Our toor first took us along the North Rim, into Canyon Del Muerto (canyon of death), where we saw many ruins and eventually got to Mummy Cave where we had lunch.  Turned around back through the North Rim to the Junction then turned south into the South Rim and entered Canyon De Chelly and continued on until we got to Spider Rock.  Turned back around and headed for 'home', getting back to the Lodge at 5:30pm. We were dirty, cold, but so glad we took the tour.

Part 2 will be of the North Rim of the tour.  Part 3 will be of the South Rim and also Saturday's travel by car along the top of the Canyon to view the overlooks, down into the Canyon we were in the previous day.