Canyons of the Ancients Road Trip

The legend of Canyons of the Ancients National Monument weighed on my mind all summer. By early Fall the urge to explore the mysteries of ancient peoples was so overwhelming as to require immediate release. So without much planning I loaded my car with a minimal of supplies and I was on the road.

Although the monument is a mere ten hour drive from Tucson, I decided to split the drive up into two days. With my Rand McNally on my passenger's seat and a general idea of where I wanted to go I made my way via Highway 79 towards northern Arizona.

At city of Globe, my instincts lead me west along Highway 88 where I soon stumbled upon Tonto National Monument overlooking from Roosevelt Lake. Inside the single-room Visitor Center, I learned about the major attraction of the small park -- ancient Native American village ruins built out of stones, sticks and mortar under the protection of a rock outcropping on a side of a cliff.

The walk up the short, steep trail to the ruins was physically and emotionally breathtaking. The view on the trail included the bare, yellowish, cliff side, surrounding hills covered with Giant Saguaros and other flora typical of the Sonoran Desert and placid Roosevelt Lake, which would not have existed at the time the structures were built. Instead the inhabitants, now known as the Salado Indians due to their proximity to the Salt River, would have had a nice view of the Salt River and the crops of corn and squash they planted in its valley.

To wonder about what life must have been like for the builders of these dwellings is to transport one's self back seven or more centuries to a time when life was much simpler and at the same time much harder. Like many ancient southwest native tribes, the Salados disappeared from the face of the earth seven hundred years ago. No one knows where they went, but many tribes disappeared about the same time leaving only their stone ruins behind as evidence that they had ever been there.

The trip up Highway 188 to Payson and then east on Highway 260 included passing through a thunderstorm that darkened the afternoon sky with black clouds. When the rain cleared I stopped at Black Canyon Lake -- a small reservoir in the midst of a pine forest which had been blackened by Arizona's worst forest fire of a year before. The small, pristine lake is the result of a man-made dam at the mouth of a tight canyon. No evidence of human existence disturbed the peaceful walk along the grassy shore amongst groves of oak and pine trees mile reflecting in the pools mirror-like surface.

An isolated campsite in the deserted US Forest Service campground on top of the ridge above the lake made for an ideal place to sit around the campfire and listen to a loon calling its mate and other night sounds. The area is reminiscent of the Eastern Oregon high desert with well-thinned pine tree forests and scare underbrush.

The next day an early morning visit to Canyon de Chelly (pronounced de Shay) National Monument in the middle of the Navajo Reservation peaked my interest. Each of the half dozen overlooks on each side of the canyon rim provided their own uniquely spectacular views of the red rock canyon walls, flat valley floor, and ruins of ancient villages. Standing on the rim of the thousand foot deep canyon and looking down the nearly perpendicular natural walls is a dizzying experience and causes one to stand in awe and wonder at the power and creativity of nature.

The hour and a half long hike to the bottom of the canyon to visit the set of ruins known as the White House, so named because its inner walls were covered with white plaster by the ancient people, provided more than just a view of an ancient stone structure but gave the feel of an ancient pastoral lifestyle practiced by few today. The steep climb into and out of the canyon is well worth the effort for its ability to transport one back in time and to bring one closer to the beauty of the natural formations.

The early afternoon sun beat down on the Navajo Reservation traveling north on Highway 191 towards the Four Corners area, the only place in America where four states intersect at the same spot. The monument marking the spot of the intersection is not much more than a metal plaque on a stick at the end of a parking lot, but still attracts many visitors each year.

By mid-afternoon the small town of Cortez, Colorado rose up out of the mountains. On Highway 145 North, the landscape and temperature had changed since early morning. Flat, dry desert landscapes and violent, hot winds gave way to rolling grassy hills and views of snow covered mountains in the distance as the Anasazi Heritage Center outside the town of Dolores drew near. The Anasazi are probably the most famous group of Native American tribes that disappeared around seven hundred years ago. Legends surrounding the group are featured in Tony Hillerman's novels. In fact the whole area I passed through from Holbrook through Cortez has been featured in one or more of his novels and is known by some as Hillerman Country.

A trip through the Anasazi Heritage Center's museum resulted in a greater appreciation for the family-oriented lifestyle of the ancient agrarians. The visit also produced a nice selection of maps and brochures describing the area covered by the National Monument. A short trail near the Heritage Center leads to the top of a knoll on which the ancient Escalante Pueblo overlooks McPhee Reservoir. The pueblo consists of a small structure, not much bigger than a modern studio apartment, with a central circular room known as a Kiva and several small rectangular rooms that served as individual quarters. From their cozy home the ancient people had a tremendous view of the valley below and Sleeping Ute Mountain on the western horizon.

Canyon of the Ancients National Monument consists of four major Pueblo ruins spread out over fifty miles of modern day farmland. In addition to the major Pueblos, the six and half mile long Sand Canyon Trail on the southern end of the monument passes by dozens of cliff dwelling ruins.

The sun was setting behind the Lowry Pueblos as I drove along a narrow gravel road to reach the ancient decaying structure. Although they say the single structure probably housed around forty people, by today's standards the size of the structure would comfortably house a single family.

The three story building is made of many small rooms about eight feet square and five feet tall. A circular Kiva served as the common area for inhabitants to dine and hold meetings. As one crouches to enter through the small entryway, one is immediately transported back in time imagining what it would have been like to come home to the structure after a hard day in the fields seven hundred years earlier. The ancient people built the pueblos around the time they started growing corn in earnest. One only needs to stare at the setting sun to imagine the surrounding rolling hills, now covered in sagebrush, covered with fields of corn.

A short trip back towards the Heritage Center yielded the discovery of a little walk-in campsite on a hilltop overlooking the reservoir. Alone with the night sky and campfire again and one's mind wanders back to those ancient times when native families gathered in their Kiva's for dining and socializing.

As I had pledged to return home to Tucson on the second night, the next morning I skipped trips to Painted Hand and Sand Canyon Pueblos and headed for Sand Canyon Trail south of Cortez. Starting on the southern end of the trail the path was steep enough to convince me to cut my mountain bike ride short after four. Along the way a dozen dwellings made of stone and mortar built into the eroded cliff sides were visited up close. The experience leads one to believe that taking the time to hike the trail rather than bike it would be well worth the effort.

Hovenweep National Monument on the southeast corner of Utah stood out as an easy side-trip on the way home. Little Ruin Canyon contains an amazing variety of structures in a small area.

An hour or so walk along the two mile long trail along the rim of the canyon can be a spiritual experience. Along with the pueblo-style dwellings like the ones at Escalante and Lowry, there were various towers and other odd shaped buildings left by the ancient people. Based on the layout of the structures, we can assume that for some reason the lives of these people revolved around that small canyon. The towers were two and three stories high and the most curious structures I had seen so far. Scientists still are not sure what the towers were used for but they have speculated on a half a dozen theories or so. Their resemblance to grain silos may be too simplistic an explanation for archeologists.

Passing through the Navajo city of Chinle near Canyon de Chelly and then through Show Low, Arizona and down Highway 79 to Tucson thoughts of the ancient dwellings were still on my mind. I arrived home late in the evening wishing I could live the kind of simple life I imagined those ancient Indians to have lived.

Better planning and staying another night would have yielded many more wonders. There is still plenty left to see in the area to justify another trip. A better route to take may be to visit Hovenweep after Canyon de Chelly and then head up to Painted Hand and Lowry Pueblos before camping at McPhee Reservoir. Next one could visit Sand Canyon Pueblo and hike the entire length of Sand Canyon Trail before heading for Mesa Verde National Park, exploring it and camping out for the night. BLM has more information on Canyons of the Ancients and NPS has a more information on Canyon de Chelly.