Canyon de Chelly

Meaning

Red sandstone walls rise high on either side, and along the floor run green fields and peach trees. In the clefts of the walls the stone houses the ancestors built a thousand years ago remain in shadow, and at the canyon's heart a red spire, home of Spider Woman, rises straight toward the sky.

The Navajo (Diné) call this canyon Tséyiʼ, 'inside the rock,' and here, among the cliff dwellings the Ancestral Puebloans left behind, they still tend fields and herd sheep. Spider Rock, a spire rising 230 meters from the canyon floor, is held in tradition to be the home of Spider Woman (Naʼashjéʼii Asdzáá), who is said to have taught the Navajo to weave. Though a national monument, the land belongs to the Navajo Nation, and one usually enters the canyon with a Navajo guide.

Field notes

Location

Navajo Nation · Arizona · N36.1° · W109.5°

Best time

In the early hours, when the morning sun strikes the red walls at a low angle

Getting there

Near Chinle, Arizona, within the Navajo Nation; the canyon floor is usually entered with a Navajo guide, while the White House Trail may be walked freely.

Etiquette

One respects the homes and fields of the families who live in the canyon, and asks permission before photographing people.

Sources

• · National Park Service — Canyon de Chelly
• · Navajo Nation Parks & Recreation

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