Navajo National Monument near Kayenta, Arizona in Betatakin Canyon

On the way from Page, Arizona, to Monument Valley on Highway 160, you can not miss the marker for Navajo National Monument. Its about 10 miles diversion from the main highway on top of a mesa. The monument is located within the northwest portion of the Navajo Nation territory. 

The road from Page, home of the famous Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend of the Colorado river, passes through predominantly arid landscape of northern Arizona. Its a wide landscape, and you can see for miles.

The Navajo National Monument has three well-preserved ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings. These are: Keet Seel (Broken Pottery) (Kitsʼiil), Betatakin (Ledge House) (Bitátʼahkin), and Inscription House (Tsʼah Biiʼ Kin). The monument is high on the Shonto plateau, overlooking the Tsegi Canyon. 

The dwellings are now abandoned. Apparently there was a distinct decrease in rainfall during late 1200s, a period of time that is now referred to as the "Great Drought". Near the end of the thirteenth century, the Ancestral Pueblo people migrated towards places with more water sources, which could sustain the population levels that once inhabited this spectacular cave site.

There are multiple ranger-guided tours to go down to the cliff dwellings. We took the self-guided Sandal Trail that ended at the canyon edge, overlooking the Betatakin ruins across the 560-foot-deep Betatakin Canyon. From the vantage point, we could see the ancient Pueblo dwellings inside the large cave.

The Navajo National Monument is remote, in a far away corner in Arizona. The place is especially beautiful in fall, when the Aspens in the Betatakin Canyon change color. If you are visiting Monument Valley, the Navajo National Monument is worthy of a day trip.