By Richard Jones

 

Canyon DeChelly is one of Arizona?s most interesting areas for Photography. It offers scenic views, Indian pictographs and petroglyphs, and cliff dwellings. This national park is also on the land of the Navajo nation. Other than one exception noted below, all travel within the canyons requires you to be accompanied by a Navajo guide.

 

To get to he park, you can drive north on US 191 from exit 333 on I-70 to Chinle, AZ. If you are coming from the Four Corners, you can take US 160 to the village of Mexican Waters. From there take US 191 south to Chinle.

 

There are two roads along the canyon rim where you can see down into the canyons. Be sure to take both the north and south rim drives and pull off at each of the overlooks for photographs of the canyon and cliff dwellings. Long lenses will be required to photograph some of the cliff dwellings. Some of the overlooks require short hikes to the rim. 

 

At the last overlook on the south rim road is a view of Spider Rock or as it is sometimes called Spider Woman Rock. Here a wide-angle lens is a must to get a full view of Spider Rock and some of the surrounding scenery. Late afternoon is the best light for this view.

 

The one place you can enter the canyon without a guide is via the White House Ruin Trail. This is a steep walk that takes you down the south side of the canyon and through a tunnel. Be sure to carry water. At the end of the trail is a cliff dwelling above the canyon floor and the ruins of a pueblo on the canyon floor. White House ruin is named for the several white walls in the ruin. One of Ansel Adams? most famous photographs, White House Ruin, was made here. If you want to get a similar photo, use a very wide-angle lens and try and get the upper ruin and the canyon wall above it. The wall goes several hundred feet up to the canyon rim. There are usually Navajos selling jewelry at this spot. For a small fee they may allow photography. We highly recommend this trail if you are physically able.

 

For a different view of White House Ruin, stop on the canyon floor as you round the cliff and get your first view of the ruin. You can get the ruin, the wall above it, the creek that flows through the canyon and the cottonwood trees that grow in the canyon. The trip down was easy, going back, is the tough part. The trail is steep and the sandstone (slickrock) can be crumbly. This is the trail that was used in the movie MacKenna?s Gold to get in and out of the canyon.

 

I strongly recommend that you take the time to either take one of the Navajo Guided tours that leaves from the park hotel?s gift shop. One is a half day tour that takes you on a trip along Canyon DeChelly (south canyon), The other tour is an all day trip through both canyons. We strongly suggest the all day tour.

 

On either tour you will see pictographs, petroglyphs and get close to some of the ruins. All of the tours make stops at the major ruins including White House Ruins. They will stop whenever you want to make a photograph. The all day trip takes you all the way to Spider Rock where you can make a photograph with a less common view. You will get a better understanding of how massive this monolith is.

The ruins are similar to the ones found in Mesa Verde and date back to the 13^th century. In many ways they are more photogenic than those at Mesa Verde.

 

As an alternative you may, if you have a four wheel drive vehicle, hire a Navaho guide at the park visitor center to give you a personalized tour of the canyons.

 

There are several motels where you can stay during your visit including a Best Western and a Holiday Inn in the town of Chinle and the Thunderbird Lodge inside the Park. Although we have not stayed at the Thunderbird Lodge, we can say it looks quite "rustic." Both of the other motels are very modern and clean. All of the hotels have good dining rooms. If you want fast food, there are the usual national chains in Chinle.

 

Other nearby places to photograph are the Hubbell Trading Post at Ganado, AZ to the south and Monument Valley to the northwest.

 

Hubbell Trading post is a national historic site. It is the oldest continuously operated trading post in the U.S. and is still open for business. Be sure to take the guided tour of the Hubbell family home which is offered several times each day. When in the home, be sure to look up the ceiling, which is decorated with dozens of Navajo baskets. This makes a great photograph. Also check out the floors for Navajo rugs. The trading post is just to the west of the village of Ganado on US 191 about half way between Chinle and I-70.

 

To visit Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, travel from Chinle to Kayenta, AZ. There are several routes. One leaves the village of Many Farms to the north of Chinle on US 191. Take a left on a Navajo Nation Road (paved) that takes you through a great area of painted desert. This road goes through or around the villages of Rough Rock, and Chilchinbito, before you arrive on US 160. Take US 160 to Kayenta .

 

Monument Valley lies on the Utah-Arizona border. It is reached by taking about a half hour journey on US 163 from Kayenta. Along the road are several massive monoliths including Owl Rock that looks like an Owl perched on a giant monolith.

 

To visit Monument valley you will probably want to stay overnight and there are several hotels in Kayenta including a Holiday Inn and the Best Western Wetherhill Inn.

 

The Blue Coffee Pot in Kayenta is an excellent Navajo restaurant. It serves Navajo, American and Mexican Fare.

 

Near the entrance to Monument Valley is Goulding?s Trading Post that also has a modern motel. On the grounds of the trading post is a small building used by John Wayne as his office in the movie She Wore A Yellow Ribbon. The building is now a museum of John Wayne memorabilia. You may also elect to spend the evening at one of the small motels in Mexican Hat, Utah just to the north of Monument Valley. Mexican Hat is worthwhile to visit. It is located on the San Juan River. On the north side of town is the famous Mexican Hat Rock which looks like an upside down sombrero. It is on the east side of the road. Take any of the dirt roads that lead to it, but also continue down to the river to get some great scenics.

 

On the west side of the road north of Mexican Hat is the entrance to the loop road that goes through the "Valley of the Gods." This similar, although smaller, scale of Monument Valley, is much less photographed.

 

Monument Valley is a Navajo Tribal Park and has a small entrance fee. We usually arrive in the afternoon and photograph the Mittens and other monoliths that are in good afternoon light and then return again the morning for the remaining parts of the park that benefit from morning light. At John Ford?s Point there is a Navajo who rides his horse out on an elevated point whenever the tour group from Gouldings stops. He asks for a $1 for photographing his horse. Of course he is on the horse so it gives you a view of earlier times.

 

Any vehicle can normally take the self-guided tour road, but sometimes the dust gets several inches thick on the road. After a rare rain the road may be impassable. Guided tours are offered by Goulding?s Trading post and by Navaho tour operations at the park visitor center. The Navajo tours will take you to areas off limits to those on the self-guided tour and you may also take tours of Mystery Valley.

 

Monument Valley is best known for the mittens, two giant monoliths that resemble mittens complete with thumbs. These are best photographed in the late afternoon sun from either the patio of the visitor center or from the tour road bellow the visitor center. To get them both in the same photo you will need a wide-angle of about 17mm.