After leaving the Grand Canyon, we drove for what felt like days through the Navajo reservation. I know this isn’t news, but the US sure did screw the Navajo. I’d never been on a reservation before, and it is just miles and miles of nothing. Boiling hot sun on dirt, and not so much as a tree to be seen. We got to the little town of Chinle in the evening. We drove in and looked at the White House from the overlook. Then, we made some calls, arranged a guide for the next day, and went to dinner at the town’s restaurant.
Next morning bright and early, we met our guide, Bryan, at the trail head. He would drive us around to the various sites in his van. Canyon de Chelly is entirely owned and managed by the Navajo Nation, so you have to have a Navajo guide to go look at most of the ruins. It’s very well maintained – there’s no graffiti or damage anywhere. I don’t know how they keep people from climbing up into the cliff dwellings. If I was a teenager that lived around there, that’s all I’d ever want to do, especially since there’s nothing else to do. But somehow, nobody trespasses or damages anything.
The tour was really interesting, but I waited too long to write this post and forgot everything, so if you want to learn about Canyon de Chelly, you’ll just have to go yourself!
Accismus 