CANYON DE CHELLY - NAVAJO NATION

The main tourist attraction in this area of the rez is Canyon De Chelly, a relatively shallow canyon compared to others, but rich with Anasazi ruins and petroglyphs. Being entirely located within the Navajo Nation, locals are allowed to live in the canyon, and the only way you can go down in to it is by hiring a local guide and proceeding on foot, horseback, or jeep. We hired a jeep.



Our driver's name was Tulie Yazzie. He spent 20 years as a traveling electrician for some un-named corporation before returning to Chinle and joining the tour guide industry. He was raised in Canyon de Chelly and still lives there to this day. His grandfather was a code-talker in WW2.



To our delight, Tulie knew absolutely everything about the canyon, it's history, and the petroglyphs on the walls. Anne even asked him what bird was represented in one of the drawings, and he informed us there was still much debate among archeologists and tour guides alike over whether it was a turkey or a roadrunner. He came down clearly on the roadrunner side of things.





the Navajo have a cool theory about where the pre-historic Anasazi people disappeared to. They believe they passed through a portal in the cliff walls, following a magical snake in to the parallel dimension from whence they originally came. So they actually still live in a parallel version of the same canyon, but they vacated to make room for the Navajo. Pretty cool of them if you ask me.



These girls emerged from their stone house to sell us some handmade jewelry. Life is hard down in the canyon. No running water. No electricity. No cell phone service. If you don't live near the entrance, the only way to get out is by hiking up the 1000 foot ascent. Most of these trails have been there for well over a thousand years.



Anne bought this necklace in the canyon. The pattern and colors are specific to Canyon de Chelly. The design mimics the ins and outs of the canyon from an aerial view.



This petroglyph was my favorite. The jagged line represents the sound echo in the canyon. Looks just like a computer generated waveform huh?



I got out of the jeep and caught up with some beautiful horses that didn't seem to be owned by anybody.