Navajo National Monument is worth the detour

Often overlooked by travelers zipping to southwest Utah from New Mexico, Navajo National Monument highlights three cliff dwellings — one being the most accessible and impressive of the Pueblo people’s homes — and it has a free, first-come, first-serve campground with running water.

Sites were open when we arrived on a Thursday night in October during the federal government shutdown.

In past years, we were among the throngs who drove past massive red rocks along U.S. 160 from Kayenta in the Navajo Nation on the way to Kanab, Utah, without a thought. The eight-mile paved turnoff — Arizona (or Navajo) 564 — to Navajo National Monument pays off with amazing views and ruins. AZ 564 did not have gates that could block visitor access to the area, which is open year round.

Though the visitors center was closed, the less than one mile Sandal Trail to view Betatakin cliff dwelling was open. Two other short trails start at the visitor center.

Rangers lead tours directly to cliff dwelling sites. Some require reservations, and all, especially overnight hikes, are educational and strenuous, according to the National Park Service.

Even descending to the nearer Betatakin cliff dwellings site that you can see from the Sandal Trail overlook requires a hike of more than three miles and a descent of more than 700 feet into the canyon.

“Do not underestimate this hike,” rangers say. “People have joined tours who could not hike all the way to the bottom or had difficulty hiking back out of the canyon. Do not put yourself at risk in an area that is remote and located an hour’s drive from the nearest medical facility. “

To visit Keet Seel, the largest ancestral Puebloan structure in the state of Arizona, requires a 17-mile roundtrip guided hike over the course of two days. Each hike is limited to 20 participants, first come, first served, and is offered two times a month in April, May, September and October.

Three self-guided trails are located behind the Navajo National Monument visitor center building. All self-guided trails are open from sunrise to sunset and are open year-round.

Betatakin is a Navajo word that translates to “Houses on the Cliff.” Though the area is now surrounded by Diné homesteads, the houses on the cliff predate the Navajo.

“The Navajo, or Diné, have lived in this region for several hundred years,” placards along the trail say. “Sheep and cattle ranching are an important part of life for the Navajo, which is visible on the landscape today.”

Before the Navajo started arriving in the area, the Hopi, San Juan Southern Paiute and Zuni people lived in the canyons, according to the monument’s website. “Springs fed farmlands on the canyon floor and homes were built in the natural sandstone alcoves. The cliff dwellings of Betatakin, Keet Seel and Inscription House were last physically occupied around 1300 A.D., but the villages have a spiritual presence that can still be felt today.”

According to the National Park Service website, “the ancestral Pueblo culture emerged as these early farmers began to depend on farming for most of their food. They built above-ground masonry houses, farmed the canyon streambeds, and interacted with far-reaching communities across the Colorado Plateau.

“Betatakin, Keet Seel, and Inscription House were all built in large, natural alcoves which formed in the towering Navajo Sandstone Formation due to the local geological conditions. As water moves through the porous Navajo Sandstone, it hits the less porous Kayenta Formation of shale and limestone, and moves horizontally. This movement causes cracking, sheeting, and spalling of the rock, resulting in eroded alcoves, as well as seeps and springs inside the canyons. For villagers living here and farming the canyonlands, the alcoves offer shelter from the elements, as well as natural spring water.”

We will return to learn more when rangers are back to present interpretive hikes and allow permits and guided tours to the other backcountry sites at the monument.

Navajo National Monument is worth the detour