Canyon de chellly /albequerque
Apr 9th, 1998, 10:14 AM
#1
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Canyon de chellly /albequerque
First, is Canyon de c as great as everyone says?
I am basically vacationing in Sante Fe /Albequerque/Taos but would like to drive over to it.
Is that too much? what the driving times like?
Should I go on Rte 42 from ALb. or can I go from Taos?
Is there a comparable spot in NM?
Thanks
I am basically vacationing in Sante Fe /Albequerque/Taos but would like to drive over to it.
Is that too much? what the driving times like?
Should I go on Rte 42 from ALb. or can I go from Taos?
Is there a comparable spot in NM?
Thanks
Apr 9th, 1998, 05:55 PM
#2
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Yes, Canyon de Chelly is a great place to visit. Best make it a full day's trip. You can catch all the view points along the North & South drives but cannot go down into the canyon without a Navajo guide or part of a Navajo tour (except at White House view point). No, there is nowhere in NM (or anywhere else) like it. A bit shorter drive would be to Chaco Canyon (north of Grants) but is a fairly bumpy dirt road in & out of there. I go every year. Also, Bandelier Nat'l Monument (west of Santa Fe) is a great place to visit. I'll try to send you some info direct. Enjoy
Apr 11th, 1998, 10:10 AM
#3
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I would discount Canyon de Chelly somewhat in terms of greatness. I was there and found it to be interesting, and probably worth the effort. Getting the Navajo point of view was interesting. We do get taught our history through the winners' eyes.
From that point of view, you are a captive because there is no other way that you can get in other than to take the guided tour.
Our guide, however, had a set speech at each stop and I am not sure he would have repeated any of it.
If you got lost following his description of how to find features on the canyon wall, forget it. He was not going to back up and retrace the route. I got the impression he had memorized the English and could not be thrown off track because he would lose his place. I concluded that his language skills did not permit questions and answers. But perhaps I got the wrong impression.
If you go to Chaco, read up on the history and archaeology. It is tremendous place if you can mentally take yourself back in time to the days when it was a central point for the Anasazi.
But without informing yourself, you may be bewildered by the fact that it is a pile of ruins.
I would rate Mesa Verde ahead of Canyon de Chelly if for no other reason than the fact that the Park Service has done a good job of interpretation.
If I had to select one or the other, my clear choice would be Mesa Verde.
Also there is an Aztec National Monument south of Cortez, which is mis named because it has nothing to do with the Aztecs. It is a kiva type of structure that I found to be interesting.
Bandelier NM is interesting and worth the trip.
From that point of view, you are a captive because there is no other way that you can get in other than to take the guided tour.
Our guide, however, had a set speech at each stop and I am not sure he would have repeated any of it.
If you got lost following his description of how to find features on the canyon wall, forget it. He was not going to back up and retrace the route. I got the impression he had memorized the English and could not be thrown off track because he would lose his place. I concluded that his language skills did not permit questions and answers. But perhaps I got the wrong impression.
If you go to Chaco, read up on the history and archaeology. It is tremendous place if you can mentally take yourself back in time to the days when it was a central point for the Anasazi.
But without informing yourself, you may be bewildered by the fact that it is a pile of ruins.
I would rate Mesa Verde ahead of Canyon de Chelly if for no other reason than the fact that the Park Service has done a good job of interpretation.
If I had to select one or the other, my clear choice would be Mesa Verde.
Also there is an Aztec National Monument south of Cortez, which is mis named because it has nothing to do with the Aztecs. It is a kiva type of structure that I found to be interesting.
Bandelier NM is interesting and worth the trip.
Apr 11th, 1998, 05:47 PM
#4
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My family and I (two girls, 5 and 12) visited Canyon De Chelly last August. We stopped at just about every national park in the Southwest, including Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde and Zion. As far as pure entertainment is concerned, our Navajo guided tour into Canyon De Chelly by 6 wheel drive jeep was probably the highlight of our 2 week adventure. I'm not sure what the last response was talking about because our guide was great! Truly an American character. Travel is all about seeing new things and meeting new people and cultures...Canyon De Chelly was all that and more. We were even treated to a spectacular lightning display. We spent one full day there, but I wish we could have had at least one more day. We stayed at the Thunderbird Lodge, which was very nice. Have Fun!
May 9th, 1998, 01:25 PM
#5
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To re-respond. What the "last response" was talking about is quite simple. Our guide answered no questions other than the most direct ones, like where is the Glen Canyon Dam?. Once he started his spiel on how to follow marks on the canyon wall up to an interesting point, there was no interruption, no interactive dialogue, and no questions tolerated. If you missed the first mark he described, he was not going stop and "catch you up". I could do better by scanning the wall myself to find the point he was going to describe, or had described by the time most of us found it.
This is not to say that the guide was ill informed.
He gave us the Navajo point of view, particularly on the topic of the Spanish invasion and killings. The stories must be true, even if based on folk lore. One arm of the canyon is not known as Canyon del Muerto for nothing. So if you want the history from the Navajo side, de Chelly is one place to hear it.
And I think that when one goes there, remember that you are in the land of someone else. It may be within the territorial bounds of the USA, but it is the Navajo Nation, with its own time zone.
This is not to say that the guide was ill informed.
He gave us the Navajo point of view, particularly on the topic of the Spanish invasion and killings. The stories must be true, even if based on folk lore. One arm of the canyon is not known as Canyon del Muerto for nothing. So if you want the history from the Navajo side, de Chelly is one place to hear it.
And I think that when one goes there, remember that you are in the land of someone else. It may be within the territorial bounds of the USA, but it is the Navajo Nation, with its own time zone.
May 9th, 1998, 07:29 PM
#6
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In all due respect to you, Mr. Brown, you have been fed (and swallowed) a lot of propaganda, some accurate, some semi-accurate, and some downright nonsense. The Navajo are an Athabaskan people who descended on the Southwest from lands in Alberta around the seventh century A.D. The occupying inhabitants, the Hopi, had been here for centuries and conducted a thriving rural economy with trade links as far east as the Mississippi, as far west as the Pacific shores, and down into central Mexico. Today the Hopi are squeezed into a box surrounded by the Navajo lands. Talk about winners and losers, the Navajo are a remarkable people, indeed. But they love to pull the sheepskin over tourists with their tales of the evil white man and how he has ridden rough-shod over "the dineh" ("the people" in Navajo). Whites, Navajo, and Hopi -- we're all Americans, some more "native" than others. But, to help the original inquirer, Canyon de Chelly is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one not to be rushed. Stay overnight in Chinle, enter the canyon with a good guide (sorry that you got a lemon, Mr. Brown), take time to visit the Navajo capital at Window Rock, and while you are around, see the National Park Service lands that straddle Hwy. I-40, Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Monuments. And if you want to see some really "Big League" ruins of a fantastic civilization, by all means drive to Gran Chaco in northwest New Mexico. Sorry to be such a bore, but you can guess we are mighty proud of our land, our people, and our history out here in the West. Once you see it, you will be forever changed.
Jun 14th, 1998, 03:00 PM
#7
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WE FOUND THE CANYON TO BE THOROUGHLY ENJOYABLE AND OUR GUIDE WAS QUITE KNOWLEDGEABLE AND MADE OUR TRIP INTERESTING AND REWARDING. I REALLY GUESS IT DOES DEPEND ON WHAT GUIDE YOU GET - AND REALLY IT IS THE LUCK OF THE DRAW. I WOULD BELIEVE THIS IS THE ONLY JOB THE NATIVE INDIANS HAVE IN THIS REGION - ONCE YOU ARE THERE YOU WILL UNDERSTAND. THE REGION IS BEAUTIFUL BUT I AM NOT SURE I WOULD JUST OPT TO STAY AND ENJOY EXTRA TIME IN SANTA FE AND THE SURROUNDING MOUNTAIN AREAS ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE NOT FOR THE WEST. SANTA FE IS FANTASTIC THERE IS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE THERE.
Jun 14th, 1998, 03:18 PM
#8
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The reservation was massive and beautiful, BUT< the canyon, was NOT what I expected. There was graffiti in the park and the nearby town was very dirty. I felt like an intruder and, also, exploited. I felt if I am visiting their land, I should not be a spectator, but, a helper. We, as Americans seem to visit people and lands that we find "quaint and interesting" and then go home and TALK about it......no action!
