Canyon de Chelly National Monument

Tuesday, August 23rd, afternoon-  The drive from Monument Valley to Chinle, the nearest town to Canyon de Chelly (pronounced d'-SHAY) was only a few hours, and we arrived at the Visitor Center around 2:30 pm.  The canyon covers about 83,849 acres and was designated a national monument in 1931.  Each national park or monument is preserved for specific reasons- some for natural beauty, some for unusual natural events or features, such as Yellowstone's geysers, and some to preserve the history of its people.  The Canyon has evidence of human occupation for over 5000 years- longer than anyone has lived uninterrupted elsewhere on the Colorado Plateau.
      We knew the Canyon had a rim drive, but in order to get into the Canyon, visitors need to have a guide.  Coincidentally, we ran into a gentleman in the Visitor Center who had just returned from a tour.  He told us he had lived in the area for 35 years, had driven the Rim Drive a number of times, but this was the first time he had gone into the Canyon.  He could not believe how beautiful it was. We decided to call one of the companies that does guided Jeep tours to see if they were still running that late in the day.  We were in luck, and our driver, Tarold, met us at the center, and lead us to where we could leave our car.  It had rained in the Canyon the day before, and some water was still coming down from the rim.  As a result, there was some running water in previously dry stream beds, and lots and lots of red mud....
      Tarold is a full-blooded Navajo, very soft-spoken, and knowledgeable about the Canyon's history.  He was also very skilled in handling the Jeep!  Our 3 hour tour took us into both the south canyon, Canyon de Chelly and into the north canyon, known as Canyon del Muerto.  Tarold pointed out quite a few ancient compounds built into the ledges of the canyon walls, similar to what is seen in Mesa Verde.  Dale and I were amazed at how many were there.  One of the compounds was actually built on the canyon floor, under an overhang from the upper rim.  In addition, Tarold pointed out petroglyphs on the walls and described what we were seeing and what they meant from the Indian perspective.  This place is both a physical and spiritual home for the Navajo.  There are Navajo who continue to live here today.  Some come just for the summer, bringing livestock in to graze.  We saw many small herds of cattle, and lots of horses grazing and playing.  There are a very few who live here year round.
       The Canyon is truly beautiful.  The red rock walls rise up over you.  In some areas, the walls start out red, fade to light coral, then cream.  You see these same colors in some of the Navajo pottery.  Because there is some water here, there are fairly large trees, including Juniper and Cottonwood.  There was a nice breeze and, when we would stop to look more closely at some of the ancient compounds, all you could here was the breeze blowing.
      The Navajo do not want any of there possessions, homes, etc. photographed without their permission.  Since there was no one to ask, I tried to be very careful to not include any of the domestic animals in any of my shots.  Also- keep in mind that some of these photos were taken from the back seat of a lurching, sliding, Jeep.  Nothing like a challenge!  I only got splashed with mud a couple of times.  We made it back just in time, as the wind came up, it got cold, and looked very threatening.
      This is a very special place and would highly recommend everyone to put it on their list!