Walnut Canyon Cliff Dwellings!!!

6 June 2019


Day 12
We spent two nights outside Flagstaff, at the Twin Arrows Casino Hotel.  It turned out to be a really nice hotel, and Richard enjoyed his casino time.

We picked this hotel because it was close to Walnut Canyon National Monument - an amazing wooded but rocky canyon that had been home to a large community of Native Americans roughly 1000 years ago.  These are some of the Ancient Ones to whom modern Native American nations trace their origins; for example, Hopi clans as well as other groups trace their migrations through Walnut Canyon and the dwellings there.  We aren't sure if they called themselves any particular name, but the Spanish referred to these peoples as the "Sinagua," the people without water, because the various groups developed farming techniques in dry desert areas, using little water.  So the term Sinagua is used in most of the park information about these various ancient First Nations.

Some of the Sinagua lived around the rim of the Grand Canyon.  But the Sinagua people living in Walnut Canyon built amazing pueblos in the canyon cliffs!  And then created trails between the dwellings, so that people could interact with each other!  The Walnut Canyon National Monument protects these wonderful cliff dwellings - and some of them are open for people to enter and walk around inside (albeit VERY carefully!)!!!   Their website:  www.nps.gov/waca/index.htm

This was a MAJOR hike!  First, even though the beginning is walking down stairs into the canyon, this is walking down 273 stairs starting at an elevation of 6,690 feet (2.04 km).  The stairs form a steep 1 mile (1.6 km) trail which drops 185 vertical feet (56 m) into Walnut Canyon.  Once down on the somewhat level loop trail, it follows the cliff edge and has some railings, but not they are not continuous. On the loop trail, there are another 190 steps spread out over its length. 

On the hike down the long series of stairs, I looked across the canyon.  At every turn, there were cliff dwellings that were visible.  They were easy to pick out: rock overhangs with lighter beige rock walls creating the rooms.  It seemed as if there were a whole city built into the walls of this canyon!

I hiked along, stopping to read every information sign, look in every room, watch the circling vultures, and listen to the calls of the ravens echoing around the canyon.  It was peaceful, relaxing, and I could definitely imagine why a community of people would live here.  There were plenty of fir and pine trees to provide shade, Arizona walnut trees and edible cacti to eat.  I imagine winters would be really cold here, but in early summer it was lovely.  (Yes, Walnut Canyon is named for the Arizona walnut that is abundant here.)

So I hiked up and down, knowing that at the end I'd have to climb back up those 273 or so stairs.  Eventually, right about the time I arrived at the biggest cliff house, I realized I was beginning to wheeze.  Yeah, hiking at some 6000 to 7000 feet elevation isn't the best thing for asthmatic people.  But I REALLY like cliff dwellings.  But at the point I started to wheeze, well, I figured I probably should turn around and head back.  Turns out that I was nearly at the end of the trail, and that I increased my distance by retracing my steps.  Oh well.

It was a wonderful day, and I had a great time.  I'm amazed by the ingenuity of the people who lived here, who were able to bring stone to these ledges to build their walls, carry clay from the riverbed to cover the stone walls, and hauled water from the river.  These people climbed back up to the canyon rim daily to farm corn, squash, beans, and such.  They combed the canyon for firewood, hunted game in these forests, foraged for the Arizona walnuts, berries, and those edible cacti.  They lived in this gorgeous place for generations.  And for unknown reasons, eventually moved on.

From the info signs:

"The curving walls of Walnut Canyon served as an oasis in a dry landscape for the people who lived here over 800 years ago.  The presence of water made this a rare and valuable place, a place to call home.  With alcoves carved by geologic forces into the canyon walls, the builder had ready-made roofs.  By adding walls and a door, they had a safe, dry place to sleep, to store food and water, and to raise a family."


"Before Euro-American settlement, the landscape of the San Francisco Peaks, which includes Walnut Canyon, was an area used by all of the region's tribal groups (Hopi, Zuni, Navajo, Yavapai, Havasupai, Hualapai, Western Apache, and Southern Paiute).  Walnut Canyon remains a favorite place to collect plants for medicinal, ceremonial, and everyday use.  The canyon's wildlife, including birds, has important roles in many native traditions and lifeways.

"Walnut Canyon was known and used by people for thousands of years before it became a focal point for a community during the 1100s.  Changing natural and social conditions across the region undoubtedly played into the decision to settle here.  By 1100 the Southwest's population had swelled.  People were looking for new places to live and farm. 

"There may have been other attractions.  Some tribal consultants believe people built here for refuge and protection, or for isolation and ceremonial preparation.

"As recently as the mid-1200s, families lived, worked, and played in Walnut Canyon.  Tending crops on the rim, travelling to gather food, and collecting water from the canyon bottom were part of a daily routine.

"It may be difficult to imagine living here, constantly negotiating the rugged terrain.  Our motorized lives make it easy to forget that, throughout most of history, peoples' existence was much more physical.

"Walnut Canyon's farming community flourished between roughly 1125 and 1250 Common Era.  By this time, people across the Southwest were united by corn cultivation and village life.  But their architecture, pottery, and tools differed across space and time.

"Archaeologists used these differing traits, which occurred in patterns on the landscape, to describe and label cultural traditions such as Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) and Sinagua.

"Walnut Canyon, with its compact villages of adjoining, rectangular room blocks (called pueblos by the Spanish) and plain brown pottery, lies within the heart of the Sinagua tradition.

"For each room tucked into this rock alcove, nature provided the back wall, floor, and leak-proof ceiling; no excavation was needed.  Builders simply laid up unshaped blocks of limestone for side walls, enclosed the front, and opened their doorway to the canyon.  

"Many hands have been at work on these walls: the women who first skillfully plastered them, the vandals who defaced them [in the 1800s with dynamite, and in more modern times with graffiti], and the preservation specialists who now repair them.  

"All of the dwellings along this trail have been either stabilized (stones reset and mortar patched) or restored (partially rebuilt).  Still, original mortars remain in many walls.  They are brown, red, gray, and gold-colored, have hairline cracks, and incorporate small pebbles and charcoal.

"Originally, inside walls were plastered too, making the room well sealed and a bit brighter.  Inside the rooms, the walls are smoke-blackened, perhaps from the warming fires.  But fire was also used to fumigate and to harden the clay.

"Rooms were added as families grew or storage needs increased.  Some rooms in Walnut Canyon show a surprising degree of remodeling at various times suggesting generations of reuse.

"Layers of clay turned uneven bedrock ledges into smooth level room floors.  As floors wore, new layers were simply applied over old.  The clay floors have all eroded in the rooms by this time.

"Most rooms in this community did not house people.  Archaeologists think many rooms were used to store tools, food, and water.  Residents could have stored a 100-day water supply without much difficulty, given large pottery vessels and the abundant storage rooms found in the canyon.

"The larger rooms here are typical of living spaces, where people slept and sought shelter from bad weather.  Family size is unknown, but several people probably lived together in one room.  Most work took place outside, weather permitting.

"During the spring thaw, snowmelt rumbled through the narrow passage below.  Water flowed again during the summer monsoon.  Shaded pools heald precious water after the flow ebbed.  Walnut Creek was the lifeblood of the community.

"Still, people had to store large quantities of water for the dry months.  They likely supplemented their supply by packing snow into large pots and collecting runoff from over hanging cliffs.

"Women and children probably had the task of retrieving water from the creek.  Hopi women are the expert potters and piki bread makes, while Hopi men plant and tend the fields.

"Perhaps people living here 800 years ago called this place Wupatupqa ("long canyon"), as it is known to some of their descendants, the Hopi.  It was no doubt known as a place of abundance, given its wealth of plant and animal life and the presence of water.

"A creek flowed intermittently through the gorge below.  Walnut Creek rarely flows anymore, its waters impounded for use by the city of Flagstaff."

"Overhanging ledges protected rooms from snow and rain, and shaded them during summer months.  Thick walls of stone and mud insulated them from harsh winds and retained essential heat in winter.

"Small doors were covered with animal skins, mats, cotton cloth, or sticks woven together.  Air entered at the bottom, circled past a small fire, and carries most of the smoke out a hole above the door.

"Walnut Canyon was once filled with the sounds of a busy community as families hunted, planted, and harvested with the seasons.  Children were born, grew up, and raised children of their own.  They were neither the first nor the last to use and value what this canyon has to offer.  But they left behind the greatest legacy.

"When they moved on they did not give up their responsibility to care for this ancestral village and those left behind.  Sites were and are revisited by descendants.  Prayers are still offered.  Plants are still ritually gathered.

"Walnut Canyon was - and is - a place that resonates with life."

"....where people stopped and built homes are all sacred places.  No matter if they passed on, the people who couldn't travel stayed in the homes.  Their spirits are there in all the sites.  All the sites are sacred to us."       - a Zuni tribal member

There definitely is a feeling of awe and reverence in this place, something spiritual.  More than just inspiration at the ingenuity of the people who lived here.  But something almost sacred, almost religious.

Walnut Canyon really is a very special place.

Maps of our route from Tuscon to Las Cruces, around New Mexico, and then across northern Arizona: