April 10 - Walnut Canyon National Monument

The Sinagua lived in this canyon over 700 years ago.  It is fascinating, and a bit scary, to see how they built their homes in the small caves and outcroppings that line Walnut Canyon.  In the midst of the canyon, there is an "island" and there are several cliff dwellings along its walls as well as small pueblo ruins on its crown (not accessible to the public).

The hike down into the canyon and along its walls is short but not for the unhealthy.  There are over 285 steps and some steep inclines - that aren't so bad going down but the trip up is a doosey!  

Here are a few pics from our journey.

Bryan on one set of the stairs 

we had climb

The small hole at the top was to allow smoke to leave the room.  The door at the bottom had small walls built up with a small slit to walk through.  A covering filled the top part of the doorway with just the slit open to draw in fresh air.

 

If you look closely, you can see cliff dwellings 

across the canyon

Inside one of the cliff dwellings

Walnut Canyon - dry now, but used to have 

a creek running through it.  The water was 

diverted several years ago.