Canyon de Chelly (pronounced SHay) is an enigma in so many ways. First, it is not a National Park, but rather a National Monument. That surprised me, but later I understood why. There is no entry fee and if you want to camp, there is no charge for that either. When you approach the park on the main highway, you can't see it until you are practically on top of it. It is a cut in the plateau and seems like it should not even be there, but it is. Canyon de Chelly starts out as a single canyon but eventually splits off into two canyons, de Chelly and Canyon del Muerto. Both canyons run for several miles and eventually end. But for me, the entrance to the canyon was very interesting.
It is not like Yosemite where you are suddenly surrounded by 4,000 foot walls. When you approach the canyon after leaving the visitor's center, you see that the canyon entrance is at the same level as you are...in other words, there is no canyon and then you see walls that start rising upward from where you are standing. You also see three roads...the left road will take you upward to overlook the north side of the canyon, the right road will also take you up to see the south side of the canyon, and the middle road (unpaved) will take you into the canyon itself.
Canyon de Chelly sits entirely inside the Navajo Nation. There are several Navajo families living and working the land in the canyon. Therefore, only tribal members can enter the canyon on the center road. There are Navajo-led tours inside the canyon twice a day and cost $50 for 1/2 day and $75 for a full day. Non-Navajo tourists are restricted to the two roads that overlook the canyon. That was a bit disappointing, but I completely understand...which also explains why this is a National Monument.
While I didn't go on the tour into the canyon, I did travel on both roads that have stops at designated overlooks. The south road is by far the most interesting and has more overlooks. The north road has only three overlooks now, although one overlooks a very interesting set of Native American Ruins. In fact, the canyons contain many ruins in various states of decay. They are not Navajo ruins, but rather Anasazi, that enigmatic tribe who inhabited the southwest for many, many years, then suddenly disappeared.
The two most well known overlooks on the south road are the White House Ruins and Spider Rock. The White House Ruins, again built by the Anasazi, from the overlook, are off in the distance and you can almost miss them from the overlook. However, this is the one place that tourists can hike down into the canyon to see the ruins close-up. It is a 1,000 foot drop into the canyon at this point and these old legs chose not to do it.
The last stop on the south road overlook is Spider Rock, a very famous rock that rises up about 900 feet into the air from the canyon floor. If you ever watched the movie "Mackenna's Gold," you know that Spider Rock is a very important element of the film (In fact, IMDB shows that 18 films have been partially filmed in Canyon de Chelly). It's a quite awe-inspiring site to see this site, even from the overlook.
The three photos included here show Spider Rock, the view from the Tseyi Overlook, and the Anasazi Ruins at Mummy Cave Overlook on the north road. It is hard to get any scale when you are shooting down into a canyon, but all the green plant life you see in the first two pictures are actually full size trees. Hope that helps put some scale into the images.
No comments:
Post a Comment