10 Best Sights in Northwestern New Mexico, New Mexico

Ninety-eight miles northwest of Gallup and situated in the heart of the Navajo Nation, Canyon de Chelly—pronounced de-shay—is well worth the drive and a day of exploring. Amid its fascinating Anasazi ruins tucked high into alcoves in the red canyon walls—and spectacular formations like Spider Rock—Diné (Navajo) residents farm and raise sheep on the canyon floor. The visitor center and museum are open all year, and from there, or at nearby Thunderbird Lodge (928/674–5841 or 800 679–2473 www.tbirdlodge.com) you can book tours on the canyon bottom—by vehicle or, even more memorably, by horseback—with Navajo guides, or drive the canyon rim and take the self-guided 6-mi hike on White House Trail. A guide will cost about $40 per hour, per vehicle ($15 per hour on horseback), and is well worth hiring if your budget allows. Campgrounds and a couple of chain lodgings are in Chinle; there is also a campground at the monument visitor center.

The 1928 El Morro Theatre is a shining example of a unique regional building style, Pueblo Deco. El Morro tends to be open sporadically for events and the occasional film fest; on Saturdays it offers a kids matinee—call to find out what's on the schedule. Walk one block south of Route 66 to have a look (while the interior has been refurbished, only the exterior reflects its period glory).

The Gallup Cultural Center, a project of the Southwest Indian Foundation, is inside the restored 1918 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway station. (A quintessential Fred Harvey House—architect Mary Colter's fabulous El Navajo hotel—was added on to the depot in 1923, but has long since been demolished.) Trains still run in and out of the station (this is where riders pick up Amtrak's historic Southwest Chief on its daily run). The cultural center includes a café (where you can lunch or sip coffee out of replicas of the china used on AT&SF trains), a gift shop that sells the work of Native American artisans (many local), and exhibits that reflect the art and history of area native peoples, westward expansion, and the building of the railroads. Stop to appreciate the statue of revered Navajo chief Manuelito, which stands witness as you enter.

Sixty-three miles west of Gallup and en route to Canyon de Chelly, Hubbell Trading Post, in operation since 1878, is still an active purveyor of food staples, clothes, and Navajo rugs, much as it was when John Lorenzo Hubbell was running it (the National Park Service runs it now). With its creaking wood floors, dim lighting, and goods hanging from the rafters, Hubbell provides a palpable sense of what a post was like back in the day; the tours of the Hubbell homestead, complete with original decor intact, offer a glimpse into period home life of a trader of means (who had access to the best Native American handwork).

In summer, Indian dances take place nightly in the artful contemporary surround of the open plaza at the McKinley County Courthouse and Courthouse Square. Come in (after a security check) and tour the marvelous array of paintings and murals (by Lloyd Moylan, Gene Kloss, and other period luminaries) inside the lovely multistory 1938 Pueblo Revival court building—they're all products of the WPA federal arts project, even the courthouse itself.

Here you'll find a complete authentic hogan, as well as small and changing exhibits that explore the culture and history of the tribe.

The Octavia Fellin Library, across the street from the McKinley County Courthouse, further rewards fans of the WPA arts project, with finely crafted woodwork and numerous paintings by Harrison Begay, Allan Houser, and other artists of their caliber casually decorating its walls.

In spring, summer, and early fall, wildflowers add brilliance to the landscape of Red Rock Park, which has two popular hiking trails (the 3-mi Pyramid Rock Trail, connecting to the 3½-mi Church Rock Trail, hits an elevation of almost 8,000 feet, and has knockout views of the surrounding red-sandstone formation), campgrounds, and a museum. The Red Rock Museum contains well-mounted exhibits of jewelry, pottery, rugs, architecture, and tools of the Anasazi, Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo, as well as native plantings.

Clothing, furniture, tools, and typewriters are among the artifacts of the coal-mining era on display at the Rex Museum, operated by the Gallup Historical Society inside the former Rex Hotel, a vintage 1900 building with a history of its own.

Window Rock Monument & Navajo Veteran's Memorial Park, at the base of an immense, red-sandstone, natural arch—truly a window onto the Navajo landscape—is a compelling exhibit dedicated to all Navajo war veterans, but in particular to the Code Talkers of World War II. Designed in the shape of a sacred Medicine Wheel, the spiritual aspect of this profound memorial is apparent to all.