By MIKE TERRELL
It's my first trip to Arizona, and, beyond the Painted Desert, much of the northeast corner of the state is pretty barren and not overly scenic.
Wide empty valleys are interspersed with rocky scrub-covered mesas. Like the ancient Anasazi that inhabited this land over a millennium ago, you have to look in the canyons.
One of those canyons is Canyon de Chelly (pronounced "shay"), an 83,000-acre National Monument, which is located in the northeast corner of the Grand Canyon State; a state full of canyons. The Monument land is managed by the National Park Service, but is owned by the Navaho Nation.
Canyon de Chelly may not be immediately spectacular like some of the canyons I saw in my tour of southern Utah a couple of years ago, but once you enter the canyon or drive along its rim that quickly changes. Sheer 1,000-foot walls rise from the canyon floor, which was covered with stunning golden cottonwood trees.
Fall was near peak, and it was beautiful. Horses roam free on the canyon floor, which is still home to the Navaho, who inhabit and cultivate the canyon spring through fall. Scenic overlooks abound along the two rim drives, and well-preserved Anasazi ruins are scattered among the cliffs on both sides of the canyon walls.
The Anasazi, who had built cliff dwellings all over the Four-Corners Region, disappeared in masse around 1200 to 1300 AD -- nobody knows for sure what happened to them. The Hopi briefly -- from 1400 to 1600 -- and than Navaho began to occupy the canyon around 1700. They chose to occupy the canyon floor leaving the cliff dwellings to the spirits they believed occupied them. To the Navaho the canyon has a spiritual quality.
Their culture is rooted in this canyon. It holds the cave where 115 of their nation were massacred by the Spanish in 1805. It was where nearly 8,000 Navaho were gathered by Kit Carson and the U.S. Army and forced to march over 300 miles to a new location in New Mexico during the year of 1863. Many died of starvation and disease. After four years of incarceration they were allowed to return to their homeland and Canyon de Chelly where they have remained every since.
I learned much of their proud history from the native guide that took a group of us on a half-day jeep tour through the canyon. You can only enter the canyon with a native guide. You can drive along both the south and north rim of the canyon to quite a few overlooks and see distant views of the ruins. At one ruin you can hike down into the canyon, a little over two miles one way, and view a ruin called the White House close up, but the rest are seen from a great distance. A good telephoto lens for your camera and binoculars will get you close up.
On the jeep tour you get a good narration of the Navaho history, learn about their culture and see many of the fields, orchards and Hogan's (dwelling) that dot the canyon floor. Driving through the colorful cottonwood that covered much of the canyon on a warm late October day in an open air vehicle was special.
You got to see several of the cliff dwelling ruins up close and marvel at how the Anasazi got up and down the canyon walls. There are numerous pictographs and petroglyphs along canyon walls; also a mix of Anasazi and Navaho.
The Anasazi depicted mostly animals, birds, flute players, ceremony and religious symbols. The Navaho drawings depicted things like the Spanish massacre and the long walk their people were forced to endure. Many of these drawings are believed to have been made in the 1800s, while some of the Anasazi are believed to date back nearly 2,000 years.
There is no charge for entering Monument lands and driving along the rim, but it was worth the charge for the jeep tour -- $50 per person -- to learn about the canyon's history and its people. It brings it up close. You get a sense of something sacred that you would never get just observing the canyon from distant rim overlooks. You can also tour the canyon by horseback, also arranged through the Navaho.
In fact, I would recommend doing the single hike that is available down to the canyon floor after the tour. You will appreciate the walk that much more. It has a vertical descent of about 600 feet and crosses the wide canyon floor; not a bad hike if you take your time. It gives you an appreciation of how the Anasazi ran up and down the canyon walls several times a day.
The Navaho call the canyon "tseyi," which sounds something like "shay;" thus the Spanish name Canyon de Chelly. In Navaho it means "within the rock," according to our guide.
The National Monument is open year round, and there is no fee just to drive along the rims or stop at the visitor center. I found fall an absolutely stunning time to visit. You don't see a lot of fall color in Arizona, but along the canyon floor it was like another world. It's located just a few miles north of I-40 not far from New Mexico's western border.
