Canyon de Chelly, Chinle, AZ

My first visit here (2011) and I hope to return. If you visit one full day isn't enough, and I saw just a small amount of the 2 diverging canyons. There are roads to see from above, with several overlooks, but getting a local Navajo tour guide to see within the canyons is well worth while (besides required). You will be happy to be in a jeep, and not get stuck in mud or lost. The canyons walls go from around 30 feet tall to over 1000 feet, and there is so much beauty and history to see in the rocks, from natural canyon varnish, pictographs and petroglyphs, Anasazi cliff dwellings and kivas, to the present day farms, ranches, homes and daily lives of the people who live here. It was a joy to see young boys, one riding bareback round up some horses, and my guide said it reminded him of growing up there, though he has lived many places since. It is a privilege and pleasure to see this land of the Navajo Nation, managed jointly with the National Parks services.