Canyon de Chelly

I had never heard of Canyon de Chelly (pronounced de shay, meaning inside the rock.) I didn't even know it existed. We have traveled to many places around Arizona and New Mexico, but we had never traveled this road before.  I love to see new places and learn about them.  This beautiful canyon was no exception.  No only was it beautiful with breathtaking views, but the Navajo history of this canyon is terribly interesting.  It is/was a sacred canyon to them.  They used it for protection, for gatherings, for raising peaches and other crops, for shelter in the winter months and also as a means to warn them of approaching danger when others came into the canyon.  Sounds and echos can be heard from miles away.
Kit Carson was spooked by the canyon.  As he began his campaign as an army commander, he was given the assignment to drive the Navajo out of the canyon. Outlaw Navajos (called ladrones, Spanish for thieves), as well as other Native Americans, and their neighboring New Mexicans, had raided, killed and enslaved each other since they had lived side by side during Spanish rule. Several treaties were made, but they were ineffectual at preventing violence between Americans and Navajos. It is interesting reading to get an idea of what happened in and around Canyon de Chelly by reading the Wikipedia version of events on Kit Carson, starting HERE. and beginning with "The Navajo Campaign." Kit Carson and his troupes used the "scorched earth policy" to drive the Navajo from the canyon.  A scorched earth policy is a military strategy which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area. It is a military strategy where all of the assets that are used or can be used by the enemy are targeted, such as food sources, transportation, communications, industrial resources, and even the people in the area.
Kit Carson never entered the canyon, but he commanded his troupes to drive the Navajo from the canyon and forced them to walk a distance of over 300 miles to be relocated in Bosque Redondo/Fort Sumner in January weather.  300 Navajo died along the trail and the people refer to this forced walk and relocation as "The Long Walk."  A very long walk indeed.  After four years of starvation and other trials at Fort Sumner they were finally allowed to return home.

This from Wiki:
On June 18, 1868, the once-scattered bands of people who call themselves Dinéh (pronounced
 DeNae), set off together on the return journey, the "Long Walk" home. This is one of the few instances where the U.S. government permitted a tribe to return to their traditional boundaries. The Navajo were granted 3.5 million acres of land inside their four sacred mountains. The Navajo also became a more cohesive tribe after the Long Walk and were able to successfully increase the size of their reservation since then, to over 16 million acres. The map below shows the current land mass of the Navajo Nation.  Interestingly, the green patch on the lower left hand side is the Hopi reservation which is surrounded by the Navajo Nation. Tensions between the two tribes continue to this day.

With all the history in mind, you can imagine the thrill we had in visiting Canyon de Chelly over the Memorial Day weekend.  We were able to see the canyon at sunset and again the next day when we stopped at several look out points to view the canyon and then to hike to the bottom along a mile and a half trail through absolutely beautiful scenery.  Our whole entourage was able to make the hike, including two boys in carrying packs on their father's backs and two four year olds who had the time of their lives.  At the bottom we were rewarded with a close up view of the White House ruins that were build by the Anasazi civilizations. Anasazi is Navajo for "the ancient ones." We also got to see the spectacular Spider Woman Rock.  Navajo lore tells that Spider Woman—one of their most honored deities—chose the top of Spider Rock for her home. It was Spider Woman who taught her people the art of weaving, and through many generations they have remained accomplished weavers. Amazing! We were only able to view a small portion of the canyon (some of the north rim) and hope to some day return and view more of this beautiful canyon.

Our daughter Jordan did a great writeup of the trip on her blog HERE.http://jtrainride.blogspot.com/