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Navajo National Monument protects three hidden Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings. It’s located in northern Arizona within Navajo Nation and there’s no fee to visit.
Tsegi Overlook
We entered the park and made a quick stop at the Tsegi Overlook to get a good look at the landscape.
Visitor Center
Next, we stopped at the visitor center where we learned a bit about the cliff dwellings. There’s a replica hogan behind the building as well as three short self-guided trails.
Betatakin Cliff Dwelling
The most interesting trail is the Sandal Trail, which is 1.3 miles round-trip. It leads to the Betatakin Overlook, where you can view the Betatakin Cliff Dwelling from a distance. The Sandal Trail is the only trail from which you can see the cliff dwelling.
The Betatakin Cliff Dwelling had about 120 rooms at the time it was abandoned, but only 80 remain today due to rock falls. It was populated between 1267 and 1286 and it’s estimated about 125 people lived there.
Two guided tours of the dwelling are available daily from around mid-May through mid-September. They take three to five hours and do not enter the alcove for safety reasons. Reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis, and the hike is strenuous.
Canyon View Trail
The Canyon View Trail is an easy 0.8 mile round-trip trail with views of the Betatakin Canyon.
At the end of the trail is a historic contact station originally built in 1939 as a cook shack for park staff. In 1941, it was converted into the monument’s first visitor contact station and functioned as such until the current visitor center was built in 1965. The contact station became a storage shed and fell into disrepair but was renovated in 2007 as an interpretive center.
Aspen Forest Overlook
The third trail is the Aspen Forest Overlook, which is a strenuous 0.8 mile round-trip trail to view a forest. I didn’t take this trail.
Keet Seel Tours
There are two other cliff dwellings at Navajo National Monument. Inscription House is closed to the public but there are guided tours of Keet Seel, which is larger than Betatakin. The only way to reach Keet Seel is via a difficult 17 mile round-trip hike.
Keet Seel is open Thursday through Monday. Hikers have the option to stay overnight at a designated campground near the site (except Mondays), or hike back the same day. A free backcountry hiking permit and reservations are required, as well as attendance at a mandatory meeting at 3pm the day before the hike.
Campgrounds
There are two free campgrounds near the visitor center. Sunset View Campground has 31 sites on a first-come, first-served basis. It’s open year-round and has a modern restroom facility. Canyon View Campground is open from April through September and is a primitive tent campground with 14 sites and a pit toilet.
Conclusion
I enjoyed my short visit to Navajo National Monument. Next time, I hope to visit in-season for the opportunity to join a guided tour of Keet Seel. I was happy enough seeing Betatakin from a distance.
