5 Best Sights in Northeast Arizona, Arizona

For generations, the Navajo have grown crops and herded sheep in Monument Valley, considered to be one of the most scenic and mesmerizing destinations in the Navajo Nation. Within Monument Valley lies the 30,000-acre Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, home as well to the View Hotel, where eons of wind and rain have carved the mammoth red-sandstone monoliths into memorable formations. The monoliths, which jut hundreds of feet above the desert floor, stand on the horizon like sentinels, frozen in time and unencumbered by electric wires, telephone poles, or fences—a scene virtually unchanged for centuries. These are the very same nostalgic images so familiar to movie buffs who recall the early Western films of John Wayne. A 17-mile self-guided driving tour on an extremely rough dirt road (there's only one road, so you can't get lost) passes the memorable Mittens and Totem Pole formations, among others.

Be sure to walk (15 minutes round-trip) from North Window around the end of Cly Butte for the views.

Two unoccupied 13th-century cliff pueblos, Betatakin and Keet Seel, stand under the overhanging cliffs of Tsegi Canyon. The largest ancient dwellings in Arizona, these stone-and-mortar complexes were built by Ancestral Puebloans, obviously for permanent occupancy, but abandoned after less than half a century.

The well-preserved, 135-room Betatakin (Navajo for "ledge house") is a cluster of cliff dwellings from AD 1250 that seem to hang in midair before a sheer sandstone wall. When discovered in 1907 by a passing American rancher, the apartments were full of baskets, pottery, and preserved grains and ears of corn—as if the occupants had been chased away in the middle of a meal. For an impressive view of Betatakin, walk to the rim overlook about ½ mile from the visitor center. Ranger-led tours (a 5-mile, four-hour, strenuous round-trip hike including a 700-foot descent into the canyon) leave once or twice a day from late May to early September, and on weekends (weather permitting) the rest of the year. No reservations are accepted; groups of no more than 25 form on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Keet Seel (Navajo for "broken pottery") is also in good condition in a serene location, with 160 rooms and 5 kivas dating from AD 950. Explorations of Keet Seel, which lies at an elevation of 7,000 feet and is 8½ miles from the visitor center on foot, are restricted: only 20 people are allowed to visit per day, and only between late May and early September, when a ranger is present at the site. A permit—which also allows campers to stay overnight nearby—is required. To get the permit, all visitors hiking to Keet Seel must attend a mandatory meeting the day before the scheduled hike.

Trips to Keet Seel are very popular, so reservations are taken up to two months in advance.

Anyone who suffers from vertigo might want to avoid this trip: the trail leads down a 1,100-foot, near-vertical rock face.

An inlaid brass plaque marks the only point in the United States where four states meet: Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. Despite the Native American wares and booths selling greasy food, there's not much else to do here but pay a fee and stay long enough to snap a photo; you'll see many a twisted tourist trying to get an arm or a leg in each state. The monument is a 75-mile drive from Kayenta and is administered by the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation Department. The entry fee is cash only.

The handsome center contains an extensive crafts shop and exhibits devoted to ancient and modern Native American history, including a display on the World War II Navajo code talkers. Most of the independent guided group tours, necessary to go deep into the valley, leave from the center. You can generally find Navajo guides—who will escort you to places that you are not allowed to visit on your own—in the center or at the booths in the parking lot. The center adjoins the stunning View Hotel (and restaurant), which sits on a gradual rise overlooking the valley and its magnificent red rock monoliths, with big-sky views in every direction.

Take a self-guided walking tour through the Navajo Cultural Center of Kayenta, which includes the small Shadehouse Museum and a 2-acre outdoor cultural park. The museum is designed to resemble an authentic shadehouse (these wood-frame, rather crude structures are used to shelter sheepherders in the region's often unforgiving high-desert sun). Inside, visitors will find an extensive collection of Navajo code talkers memorabilia and local artwork, as well as exhibits on the beliefs and traditions that have shaped North America's largest Native American tribe. As you walk through the grounds of the cultural park, note the different types of traditional hogans and sweat lodges.