Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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NAVAJO NATIONAL MONUMENT
110 miles NW of Canyon de Chelly; 140 miles NE of Flagstaff; 60 miles SW of Monument Valley; 90 miles
E of Page
Navajo National Monument, 30 miles west of Kayenta and 60 miles northeast of Tuba
City, encompasses three of the largest and best-preserved Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwell-
ings in the region—Betatakin, Keet Seel, and Inscription House. It's possible to visit both
Betatakin and Keet Seel, but, due to its fragility, Inscription House is closed to the pub-
lic. The name Navajo National Monument is a bit misleading. Although the Navajo do
inhabit the area now, the cliff dwellings were built by Kayenta Ancestral Puebloans, who
were the ancestral Hopi and Pueblo peoples. The Navajo did not arrive in this area until
centuries after the cliff dwellings had been abandoned.
For reasons unknown, the well-constructed cliff dwellings here were abandoned
around the middle of the 13th century. Tree rings suggest that a drought in the latter part
of the 13th century prevented the Ancestral Puebloans from growing sufficient crops. In
Tsegi Canyon, however, there's another theory for the abandonment. The canyon was
usually flooded each year by spring and summer snowmelt, which made farming quite
productive, but in the mid-1200s, weather patterns changed and streams began cutting
deep into the soil, forming narrow little canyons called arroyos, which lowered the water
table and made farming much more difficult.
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ESSENTIALS
GETTING THERE
Navajo National Monument can be reached by taking US 89 north
to US 160 to Ariz. 564 north.
FEES
Monument admission is free.
VISITOR INFORMATION
For information, contact
Navajo National Monument,
HC 71, Box 3, Tonalea, AZ 86044 (
&
928/672-2700;
www.nps.gov/nava). Late May
through mid-September, the visitor center is open daily from 8am to 6pm; in winter the
visitor center is open daily from 9am to 5pm. The monument is open daily from sunrise
to sunset.
EXPLORING THE MONUMENT
A visit to Navajo National Monument is definitely not a point-and-shoot experience.
You're going to have to expend some energy if you want to see what this monument is
all about. The shortest distance you'll have to walk is 1 mile, which is the round-trip from
the visitor center to the Betatakin overlook. However, if you want to actually get close to
these ruins, you're looking at strenuous day or overnight hikes.
Your first stop should be the
visitor center,
which has informative displays on the
Ancestral Puebloan and Navajo cultures, including numerous artifacts from Tsegi Can-
yon. You can also watch a couple of short films or a slide show.
The only one of the monument's three ruins that can be seen easily is
Betatakin
,
which means “ledge house” in Navajo. Built in a huge amphitheater-like alcove in the
canyon wall, Betatakin was occupied only from 1250 to 1300 and may have housed 125
people. A 1-mile round-trip paved trail from the visitor center leads to overlooks of
Betatakin. The strenuous 5-mile round-trip hike to Betatakin itself is led by a ranger,
takes 3 to 5 hours, and involves descending more than 700 feet to the floor of Tsegi
