11/28/19: Thanksgiving in Canyon de Chelly

We got up and ate oatmeal in the room and then got ready to explore Canyon de Chelly which is a place I hadn’t even heard about before I looked into places to visit between Santa Fe and Monument Valley. We didn’t leave until about 10 which seems to be typical for us. The canyon gets explored via viewpoints that are on roads that run along both the South and North rims of the canyon. We did the South rim first since that was the side with the most to do. We first hit the White House which is the only place where you are allowed to hike down to the canyon without a guide. The hike was only about 2.5 miles round trip and it descended around 500 feet. But it was a cool trail the had a couple of tunnels and was fairly steep in spots. At the bottom you could get fairly close to an old cave dwelling that is about 1,000 years old. There was a fence to keep people out but it didn’t get in the way of viewing the site. A woman there was selling Indian jewelry and Joyce bought a bit from her. She apparently has places at the bottom of the canyon as well as on top. Once done checking out the ruin we hiked back out and ate lunch in the car. The wind was really blowing and the temps were in the upper 40’s so it was a bit cold.

Joyce before we started the hike down.

View of the trail down.

Caves with no ruins.

Joyce among the sandstone.

The White House.

More views from the hike.

One of the two tunnels on the hike.

Once done with our lunch we hit up the other views along the South rim and there were lots of incredible views of the canyon. At almost all of them we could see houses down on the floor so there are still many Indian families living in the canyon. There are also lots living on top as well. Once done with the South rim we moved on to the North. There were only two stops on this side but I mistakenly thought it was three. The book mentioned three views on this side but I got confused and thought it meant three separate pullouts on the road. One pullout had two viewpoints to visit. My confusion made us drive at least 10 miles out of the way. Though there were only two of them, the stops on this side had some great views of more cliff dwellings so that was pretty cool. The wind never let up all day but it was worth dealing with it in order to see this canyon. For something I’d never heard of it was a really good experience to get to view it. There is an option to view the floor of the canyon but it involves either joining a ranger led tour or hiring a Navajo guide to take you. Apparently you can hire a guide to come along in your vehicle so you can drive the canyon. The next time we’re in the area I want to do that.

Can you spot the cliff dwelling?

Joyce at the Spider Rock viewpoint.

Spider Rock.

The pool of tranquility.

Someday I’ll drive that route down there.

A stage?

Joyce prepared for the wind.

The sun sets over Canyon de Chelly.

More cliff dwellings.

The final cliff dwelling we saw today.

The sun set so we took off back to town and grabbed dinner at the Denny’s in town. A Thanksgiving dinner at Denny’s is something I haven’t experienced since that time with Dave & Doug in Moab years ago. After dinner we headed back to the hotel to rest after a long day exploring. It was a good Thanksgiving day.

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