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July 2000
Arizona - Navajo Nation
David Aaronson2005-09-24 19:03:38
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of Sunset Volcano (see next page) and they farmed at least corn and peaches from within the canyon.
There is a river which flows through the canyon to provide water, though it was dry when we visited. When we left the north side of Canyon de Chelley we headed towards the Utah side of Monument Valley. Monument Valley (specifically from Gouldings to Kayenta) attracts a lot of tourists and appears in just about every Western movie ever. Nevertheless, Navajo Route 12 and US 191 provide equally spectacular scenery and considerably fewer souvenir stands.
That didn't stop us from taking a picture of the 'central' area though. This is on the Utah side of the actual Navajo site known as Monument Valley (5). These have names but so does every other butte within 100 miles so we don't remember them. Perhaps the most memorable is actually a balanced rock just outside the town of Mexican Hat known (suprisingly enough) as Mexican Hat Rock. It might require some hallucinogenic drugs to connect with the name but it's still an impressive rock. In Kayenta, one of the larger Navajo towns, we learned that you shouldn't attempt to make reservations at Grand Canyon National Park two hours before you arrive. At least not in July. It took a series of phone calls and some web help from my sister back in Florida to secure the proclaimed 'last' room in the entire park. As a result we didn't spend the night in Navajo nation which is probably for the best. For one thing, there aren't many restaurants and those that do exist close at 9. Incidentally, the Navajo nation (but not the Hopi nation) has decided to follow daylight time, so they are in a different time zone than the rest of Arizona. We determined that our rental car would be in Pacific time from then on regardless of what people outside the car decided to do with their time. This made it simpler for us at least. When you can find a restaurant in the area (most of the Navajo leave the reservation to shop for food and supplies) you'll also be able to find a variety of dishes served on navajo fry bread. This is pretty much the same as other Indian fry breads, though we found the Navajo taco (chili on fry bread) to be particularly worth the effort.
See photographs from:
United States Gallery
