Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Chinle, AZ

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I recently spent a couple of days at Canyon de Chelly National Monument in NE Arizona.  Chinle, AZ is a small town of about 1,000 people located just outside the park's entrance.

Canyon de Chelly is part of the Navajo nation reservation and is jointly run by the National Park Service and the Navajo government.  Entrance is free, although to tour the canyon floor you do need to hire a licensed guide.  Without a guide you are restricted to the rim road overlooks and one hiking trail that takes you down to the White House ruins.  So you want to hire a guide for a half day or full day tour.  Different outfitters run different trips, although most are jeep tours, some offer horseback tours, and a couple offer hiking tours.

Amenities are few in Chinle with only two hotels.  Canyon de Chelly also contains a lodge hotel.  Otherwise expect a handful of chain restaurants, a grocery store and coin laundries.  All three hotels have an attached restaurant.  I stayed at the Holiday Inn in Chinle and the rooms and restaurant are basic but serviceable.  If you have dinner at the Holiday Inn, I recommend the Navajo fry bread smothered in chili.  For breakfast they have a full menu and buffet for an extra charge (ie: breakfast is not included in the room rate).

If you decide to take a tour of the canyon, there are multiple options.  I highly recommend contacting Lupita at Footpath Journeys.  She is born and raised in the canyon, still spends summers at their property on the canyon floor, and spent time as a canyon park ranger.  She specializes in hiking tours, we met up at 9:00am and hiked until 5:00pm.  My tour was midweek and I was her only booking for the day.  So it ended up being a private tour! Just be aware that she doesn't always have the best Internet connection and it might take awhile to get a response.   

If you are in the Four Corners area, Monument Valley area, or even doing the Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelly is well worth the side trip.

  

[Steve R.]

Canyon de Chelly is gorgeous, isn't it?  The Holiday Inn is the better choice -- glad you stayed there.  We've stayed there several times, as well as at the Thunderbird Lodge, since we have friends on the reservation.  By the way, Canyon de Chelly was the location for several Tony Hillerman novels which, if you haven't read any, I highly recommend.

Did you get anywhere else in the area, like the Hopi mesas or Window Rock?  How'd you decide to go there anyway?  Its in the middle of miles of nowhere.

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14 hours ago, Steve R. said:

Canyon de Chelly is gorgeous, isn't it?  The Holiday Inn is the better choice -- glad you stayed there.  We've stayed there several times, as well as at the Thunderbird Lodge, since we have friends on the reservation.  By the way, Canyon de Chelly was the location for several Tony Hillerman novels which, if you haven't read any, I highly recommend.

Did you get anywhere else in the area, like the Hopi mesas or Window Rock?  How'd you decide to go there anyway?  Its in the middle of miles of nowhere.

Canyon de Chelly was excellent.  Taking a hiking tour through the canyon was a fabulous way to spend a day. 

My gf was invited by her sister to go ladies-only camping at Havasupai Falls.  We had also never been to the Grand Canyon, so we decided to start there and then I'd go off on my own adventures while she was camping.  So I hit up Walnut Canyon National Monument and Petrified Forest National Park and then on to Canyon De Chelly.  

I first learned of the canyon at a Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit, which included photography of Canyon De Chelly.  I was like, where is that place, I need to go.