b'THE OLD STORYTELLERThe Magic of Canyon de ChellyBy Hank Sheffer, The Old Storyteller" S ome folks like to get away,a very long time. I still have articles from the Arizona take a holiday from theHighways magazines from the 1970s that spoke of the neighborhood. Hop amarvelous canyon and the people who inhabited it.flight to Miami Beach or to Hollywood.".immortal wordsA good friend of mine had been a school teacher on the from Billy Joels New Yorkreservation many years before. He related stories about State of Mind. But while he was destined to be on athe Chinle area and its people, but I had just never found Greyhound on the Hudson River line," my thoughts forthe time to get up there. So, nally, after all these years, I getting away from the daily humdrum and chaos, wewas going to get to see what I had missed for so long.all are forced to endure from time to time, always turn toward visiting any of the wonderful sites to be foundWhen we travel we strive to stay away from the right here in Arizona. I particularly love seeing the oldinterstates as much as possible. That allows us to see a ways and people from our varied and distant past. Mywhole lot more of the unspoiled, unfettered countryside. wife, Sharyn, and I climb in the truck for a "road trip"In this case, we headed North on AZ-87 up through and off we go. Payson from our 50-50 Ranch in Apache Junction. against the far wall. There were people we could see on All in all the trip is slated at 5 hours on the web but ithorseback playing in the trees in the distance.This particular road trip had several purposes attacheddoesn\'t take quite that long. It is a far more fun route for to it. We have friends in Cody, Wyoming, we wanted totaking in the sites than folks in a big hurry get to see asIn many places, the sandstone is streaked with brown visit. We eventually got there and Sharyn surprised methey go whizzing by. stains called desert patina that curl like long ngers by having booked Buffalo Bill Cody\'s suite in the famousdown the walls of the canyons. There is a geological Irma Hotel for our stay, but that is another whole story inOnce you get a little further north, spotting wildlife getsexplanation for these streaks, but the Navajo explain it itself. There were a few places along the way we had neverto be like a big game. While some travelers will speak ofas thats Changing Womans hair, which is a reference seen before and wanted to include them in this go-round.seeing an elk, deer or whatever here and there, on thisto the Navajo matriarchal deity who changes her Canyon de Chelly had been on my bucket list for quitetrip we actually saw herds of antelope as well as elk. Theappearance with the seasons and supposedly leaves her experience was beautiful and nothing short of amazinghair all over the place. just watching them. And yes, at a distanceyou leave them aloneand they\'ll leave you alone. Next was White House; my favorite overlook. I needed two pictures in opposite directions attempting to do First let me explain a little bit about this amazingjustice to the immense landscape and canyon below. canyon itself and then clear up why we get Canyon deIt was just so beautifully large and wonderful. From Chelly to come out pronounced, Canyon de Shay (kan- there and a little further east was an area where one of yuhn duh shey). the large planting areas was evident. You can see where everything follows the river path that travels a great "Canyon de Chelly National Monument was establishedportion of the length of the deep canyon. Sometimes it\'s on April 1, 1931, as a unit of the National Park Service.difficult to know what to look at rst because you don\'t Located in northeastern Arizona, it is within thewant to miss anything. Well somebody gured that out, boundaries of the Navajo Nation and lies in the Fourtoo. There are pieces of pipe welded on stands that you Corners region. People have lived in these canyonscan peek through that will direct your line of sight to for nearly 5,000 years, longer than anyone has livedspecic areasthings you would probably miss on your uninterrupted anywhere in North America. It preservesown. It was pretty clever the way they were set up.ruins of the indigenous tribes that lived in the area, from the Ancestral Puebloans, formerly known as AnasaziWhite House is the only ruin that is at ground level. to the Navajo. To date, there are roughly 40 familiesThis multi-story village, named for its top layers of white who still inhabit the canyon. The monument coversstone, is the only ruin you can visit on foot without 83,840 acres or 131.0 square miles. It encompasses thepermit or guide, hiking a trail that in a mile and a half floors and rims of the three major canyons: de Chelly,descends 500 feet from the mesa top along the overlook.del Muerto, and Monument, none of which is federally owned" (Excerpted from Wikipedia). I must interject here for people who love to hike; there are opportunities all over the park to do that. Now, about the name. Chelly is a Spanish borrowingBut make no mistake.you need to take ample water of the Navajo word Tsyi, which means "canyon"and take your walking seriously. Some of the trails are (literally "inside the rock" ts "rock" + -yi\' "inside of,quite strenuous and all are lengthy. Also available are within"). Navajo pronunciation is [tsyi]. Sounds likehorseback tours as well as jeep tours (located at the "shey."There, that clears that up, right? intersection of the two routes where you come in) that will take you into the deep canyon itself. Be advised, From the hotel, we drove the short distance to thethough, you are not allowed to wander into the canyon Visitor\'s Center.The people were friendly and moreon your own. You must be accompanied by a guide or be than willing to share information with us. Just past theon one of the formal tours.center was a junction of two tour roads (North R64 and South R7). We chose the southern route as thereSpider Rock is an 800-foot spire stabbing the air that was easier walking access to the outlook areas. We rstflows between the canyon\'s walls, it stands as a sort stopped at Tunnel Overlook. One could see all the wayof unofficial icon of Canyon de Chelly and is a red-into the canyon to an area where there was a homesteadsandstone survivor of epic erosion. It\'s also the address Photos by Hank Sheffer10 September 2019'