After our short and disappointing visit to Petrified Forrest National Park, our destination the next day was Canyon De Chelly.

When I originally suggested this trip, my primary focus was Petrified Forrest and Monument Valley. However, as is my nature, I wanted to explore the route in more detail. We had a friend recommend we include Canyon de Chelly if we were ever in the area, so my husband suggested we add it to the itinerary . I had no idea!

I found so many other areas to explore along what was a pretty short route, that our final plans included one national park, four national monuments and one department of agriculture location. Oh, and one US Forrest Service site, however that visitor’s center was already closed for the winter. Only Petrified Forrest and Tonto National Monument were gated shut (thank goodness). However, every visitor’s center was closed, which disappointed me immensely. But I got over it. (ok, maybe not…)

We stayed inside Canyon De Chelly at Thunderbird Lodge. Everything was open and available (except the visitor’s center). It was so worth the visit. We drove the south route the afternoon we arrived, and we drove the north route the next morning before we headed off to Monument Valley.

You can take a tour of the canyon with a Navajo guide. We didn’t have the time to do that, but I know it would have been fabulous!

They farm in the canyon. We could also see horses down there.

Ruins:

Spider Rock that is often seen in photos of the canyon:

Warning sign below reminding visitors that there are farmers below:

More ruins:

If we had the time, I could have walked for hours around the rim exploring!

We were both fascinated with the “eye” like caves and ruins below:

Closer up:

The owner of this gift shop grew up in that “Hoghaan” below. It is now her shop and she made all kinds of items to sell. She was extremely friendly. There are quite a few communities of people who live above the canyon. Some have lived there all their lives.