The Four Corners Area - American Southwest - page 102

102 MOENKOPI This village is 40 miles to the west of the Hopi mesas. Founded in 1870

by people from Oraibi, Moenkopi sits in the center of a wide green valley where plentiful
water makes farming more reliable. Moenkopi is only a few miles from Tuba City off
U.S. 160 and is divided into the villages of Upper Moenkopi and Lower Moenkopi.

EXPLORING THE WORLD OF THE HOPI
Start your visit to the Hopi pueblos at the Hopi Cultural Center, on Ariz. 264 in Second
Mesa ( & 928/734-6650 ). This combination museum, motel, and restaurant is the tour-
ism headquarters for the area. The museum is open Monday through Friday from 8am
to 5pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 3pm. Admission is $3 for adults and $1
for children 13 and under.
From here, it's just a few miles to the Second Mesa village of Sipaulovi and the Sipau-
lovi Visitor Center ( & 928/737-5426; www.sipaulovihopiinformationcenter.org). At
the visitor center, you can watch a 20-minute video about the Hopi culture and arrange
for a 1-hour walking tour of Sipaulovi. Tours are offered Monday through Friday from
9am to 4pm (Sat-Sun by reservation) and cost $15.
The most rewarding Hopi village to visit is Walpi , on First Mesa. Guided tours of
this tiny village are offered daily between 10am and 3pm (shorter hours in winter).
Admission is $13 for adults, $10 for youths age 14 to 17, and $5 for children 5 to 13.
To sign up for a tour, drive to the top of First Mesa (in Polacca, take the road that says
first mesa village) and continue through the village to Ponsi Hall Visitor Center
( & 928/737-2262 ), where you'll see signs for the tours. The tours, which last 1 hour,
are led by Hopis who will tell you the history of the village and explain a bit about the
local culture.
About 1 1 / 2 miles north of the community of Keams Canyon, in the pretty little canyon
for which this historic community is named, you'll find, carved into the stone walls of
the canyon, an inscription left by Colonel “Kit” Carson. It was Carson who led the war
on the Navajos during the summer of 1863 and who, to defeat the tribe, burned their
crops, effectively leaving the Navajos with no winter supplies. The inscription reads
simply, “1st Regt. N.M. Vols. Aug 13th 1863 Col. C. Carson Com.” To find the inscrip-
tion, turn off Ariz. 264 in Keams Canyon and drive north on the main road through the
community. You'll also find some picnic tables along this road.

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CULTURAL TOURS
To get the most out of a visit to the Hopi mesas, it is best to book a guided tour. With a
guide, you will learn much more about this rather insular culture than you ever could on
your own. Tour companies frequently use local guides and stop at the homes of working
artisans. This all adds up to a more in-depth and educational visit to one of the oldest
cultures on the continent.
Bertram Tsavadawa at Ancient Pathways Tours ( & 928/797-8145; www.experience
hopi.com/tourcompanies.html) specializes in tours to Hopi petroglyph sites. These are
sites that are not open to the public unless you are with a Hopi guide. Three-hour tours
cost $75 for adults and $35 for children under 18; 6-hour tours cost $165 for adults and
$80 for children. One-hour tours of Old Oraibi ($15 for adults and $7.50 for children)
can also be arranged.
DANCES & CEREMONIES
The Hopi have developed the most complex religious ceremonies of any of the Southwest
tribes. The masked kachina dances for which they are most famous are held from January