Lee's Travel Guide

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Canyon de Chelly

February 25, 2006

An unexpected third weekend in Arizona. So I decided to head up to the northeast corner of the state to a place called Canyon de Chelly (pronounced Canyon de Shay). I cropped the first photo to resemble a well-known black and white photo by Ray Atkeson which you see almost every place where there is a reference to the Canyon de Chelly. It is a photo of a ruin called the White House ruin, because the structure in the back is white. The main differences are that mine was taken from a different angle, and in his the sun was shining into the cave so the white building really stands out.

White House Ruins

Around the rim of the Canyon de Chelly

Here are some more photos of Native American ruins within the canyon. When these ruins were first discovered, the discoverers asked the local Native Americans, the Navaho, who the ruins belonged to. They answered Anasazi, which means either Ancient Ones or Ancient Enemies, depending on the inflection used. The Navaho actually only relatively recently moved into this area. The people who these ruins belonged to were actually ancestors of the Hopi tribe. The Hopi do not like the idea of their ancestors being referred to as Ancient Enemies, so they prefer the phrase Ancestral (or Ancient) Puebloans. The park ranger who gave a tour at a ruin in the Petrified Forest explained this and said that they were trying to comply with this request.

I recently saw a show on PBS where the photographer Art Wolfe went to Canyon de Chelly. He had a Navajo guide who referred to the people who lived here several times as the "Anasazi."

The map I picked up showed several places around the rim of the canyon where there are viewing points. So I drove around and took some photos at each point.

Spider Rocks

The first place I stopped was the Spider Rocks overlook. From the plaque at the site: Holy Spider Woman is an important deity in Navajo mythology. It was she who taught the people to weave. There is purity and strength here.

Face Rock

Next was the Face Rock overlook.

Sliding House Ruins

The Navajo know this prehistoric Anasazi village as Kináázhoozhi, which means Sliding House. It is an apt description. The dwellings were constructed upon a steeply sloping ledge, and even the ingenious Anasazi builders were unable to keep many of the walls from slipping.
Despite the precarious footing, evidence suggests that at one time this was a large village of from 30 to 50 rooms.

White House Ruins Overlook

The next overlook was the White House Ruins. When you look at the photo of the White House ruins above you can see some ruins on the canyon floor in front of the ruins on the ledge. These were a part of the White House complex and between them there were about 60 rooms housing about 100 people.

Junction Overlook

From this spot you can see the site known as First Ruin as well as the site called Junction.

Tsegi Overlook

Here are some views of the canyon from the Tsegi overlook.

Tunnel Overlook

A view from the Tunnel overlook.

Massacre Cave Overlook

The Place Where Two Fell Off

Mummy Cave Overlook

Two well preserved mummies were found at this site in 1880. The Navajo name for this site is Tséyaa Kini — House Under the Rock. This was probably the longest occupied site in the canyon, with people living here for nearly one thousand years.

Antelope House Overlook

In these photos, you can see some petroglyphs of antelopes made by the people who lived here. All of the photos I took of Canyon de Chelly were taken from the rim of the canyon. I did not go down into the canyon.