4 Best Sights in Navajo Nation West, Northeast Arizona

The tribe operates this enlightening 7,000-square-foot museum, which is set inside a geodesic dome–shaped structure that is meant to recall a traditional Navajo hogan. Inside the dome is a vast trove of artifacts, photos, artwork, and memorabilia. One of the more poignant exhibits tells of the infamous "Long Walk" of 1864, when the U.S. military forced the Navajo to leave their native lands and march to an encampment at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where they were confined for more than four years. Admission also includes entry to the small Navajo Code Talkers Memorial Museum in the back of the Tuba City Trading Post next door. Both facilities are adjacent to the Quality Inn Navajo Nation.

About 5½ miles west of Tuba City, between mileposts 316 and 317 on U.S. 160, is a small sign for the Dinosaur Tracks. It's free to see these tracks that a dilophosaurus—a carnivorous bipedal reptile over 10 feet tall—left in mud that turned to sandstone, but Navajo guides will often greet you as you arrive and insist on taking you around the site. They're very friendly and helpful, but if you take them up on their offer, they expect to be tipped, usually at least $20. Ask them about guiding you to the nearby petroglyphs and freshwater springs.

The junction of U.S. 160 with U.S. 89, 4 miles west of the Dinosaur Tracks, is one of the most colorful regions of the Painted Desert, with amphitheaters of maroon, orange, and red rocks facing west—it's especially glorious at sunset.

The octagonal store, founded in the early 1870s, sells groceries and authentic, reasonably priced Navajo rugs, pottery, baskets, and jewelry—it's adjacent to the Quality Inn Navajo Nation and Explore Navajo Interactive Museum.