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Navajo National Monument is not only a cultural mecca of the Southwest,
but encourages active visitation and participation -- not just tourism.
Visitors to Navajo hike or walk to explore the ancient Anasazi cliff dwellings
of Betatakin and Keet Seel. No ruins are visible from the road so visitors
must escape from their air conditioned cars and experience on foot the land
that was similarly traversed by the Anasazi.
Many of the park staff are Navajo, all fluent in the language native
to the land. Navajo National Monument continues the traditions of the
American Indians and invites visitors to step into a sweatlodge or try
weaving a Navajo rug!
Navajo National Monument preserves three of the most-intact cliff dwellings
of the ancestral Puebloan people (Hisatsinom). The Navajo people who live
here today call these ancient ones "Anasazi." The monument is
high on the Shonto Plateau, overlooking the Tsegi Canyon system in the
Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona. The monument features a visitor center,
two short self-guided mesa top trails, two small campgrounds, and picnic
area. In the summer, rangers guide visitors on tours of the Keet Seel
and Betatakin cliff dwellings. Tours are usually available during the
spring and fall months as well. |
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