Canyon de Chelley is located in north eastern Arizona within the Navajo Nation reservation. The name is generally pronounced "Canyon de Shay" even though it is correctly pronounced "de Shay- yee." The pronunciation got corrupted somewhere along the way from the traditional Spanish. This canyon is world famous as one of the most beautiful canyons of all, and it won't disappoint you. It's relatively shallow compared to other canyons, which I think makes it more enticing. Rather than rugged and foreboding like the nearby Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelley seems much more inviting and beautiful, especially because of the tree-lined river which meanders through the mostly level valley floor. Even though it is part of the US National Park Service, the entire canyon belongs to the Navajo Nation, and visitors are not allowed within the canyon without a Navajo or Park Ranger guide. The only exception to this is the short trail from the southern rim down to the White House ruin at the canyon bottom, which visitors can hike at their leisure. You should definitely take this short hike to the heart of the canyon to see the ruins. You'll get lovely views of the sandstone cliffs as you descend, and at the bottom you'll find a very traditional Navajo hut, called a hogan, and sheep pen. A short distance beyond are the ruins themselves, closer to the river. Don't be surprised to find dozens of Navajo vendors parked by the river peddling their jewelry. There is little shade along the way so don't plan to make this hike on a summer afternoon. If you want to take a jeep ride into the canyon, ask for details at the visitor center. Spider Rock is the most famous view in the canyon, so you probably won't want to miss that. On my first visit, in April, we got caught in a white-out snowstorm. On my second visit, in April, the weather was much milder but the viewpoints along the rim were still quite windy and cold. We hiked to White House ruin and back, and in the canyon bottom we made friends with a couple of dogs who were roaming loose. Because dogs roam loose across the entire Navajo Nation, we just assumed these belonged to some of the local Navajos. The dogs were friendly and decided to accompany us back up to the canyon rim. As we were ascending, a Navajo family was descending the same trail, with their herd of sheep. We could seem them above us, coming down. I figured the dogs would be familiar to them, or maybe even belonged to them. However, as we approached each other, the boy who was leading the sheep shouted in alarm when he saw the dogs. The sheep kept coming while the dogs stayed near us. The dogs behaved themselves and the sheep scattered by in mild alarm but without incident. The boy was rather annoyed and asked "are those your dogs?" I said "No, I thought they were your dogs." He scowled and ran to catch up to his sheep. We continued up the trail and soon encountered the family grandmother trailing behind, an old Navajo woman who proceeded to cuss us out in Navajo language because of the dogs. We couldn't understand a word she said but she was clearly annoyed. I just repeated that they weren't our dogs. I was most surprised because, as I said, dogs run loose all over the entire Navajo Nation, so I was amazed that these dogs didn't look familiar to these Navajos, especially considering that they lived in the same area and used the same trial. Oh well, what do I know? I wanted to take a picture of the irate Navajo woman, but Navajos don't like to be photographed, and she probably would have kicked my ass. I was pretty impressed to see her making the canyon hike at her age. She probably does it routinely. Canyon de Chelley official NPS map | 
