Canyon de Chelly

Another author that mentions many southwest locations is J. A. Jance...

One other tip for Southwest trips: Download some Tony Hillerman audiobooks for the drive. It's fun to listen to a whodunnit and recognize the names of all the locations as you drive through them.

Here is some of which you will miss if you skip Canyon de Chelly, including a photos of site 55 in Cottonwood. While I didn't take the jeep tour (and wish I had), it is a beautiful canyon.

About 10 years ago when we visited Canyon de Chelly, we opted to leave the RV at another RV Park (I don't remember where??) and stayed in the local motel. Worked great for us. And we have used that plan for other site visits that fit that situation--no available nearby RV Parks and we could visit with an overnight in a local motel. Hope you get to visit!

rbtglove wrote:
If you don't mind dry camping you might try Chaco Canyon in NM. We have visited most of the ancient sites and this is in our opinion the most impressive. Very rough slow drive in, from north or south route, never very crowded was a no reservations but plenty of room even for bigger rigs. A small store but only drinking water available Camp very close to the ruins. When the sun goes down the canyon becomes almost mystical. Unlike a lot of the others this one is largely untouched.

^^^^^Good Advice^^^^^^

And true it is Very Slow in on the WashBoard!

I am the original poster. Thank you all for your suggestions. We didn’t make it there on our planned date due to bad weather, but hope to still work it into our trip. If so, we will try to stay in the campground there. I appreciate all your help and suggestions. We love the Southwest.

If you don't mind dry camping you might try Chaco Canyon in NM. We have visited most of the ancient sites and this is in our opinion the most impressive. Very rough slow drive in, from north or south route, never very crowded was a no reservations but plenty of room even for bigger rigs. A small store but only drinking water available Camp very close to the ruins. When the sun goes down the canyon becomes almost mystical. Unlike a lot of the others this one is largely untouched.

The Canyon is on our bucket list and we don't mind dry camping at all. I understand the tours to see the incredible rock formations are outstanding and informative. From there we want to go Navajo National Monument to see more cliff dwellings and I understand the Visitors Center sells some mighty fine Navajo silver

jolooote wrote:
Sounds like we should just skip it and go elsewhere.

IMHO that would be a BAD Decision - It is Beautiful and One of the Highlights of the Southwest. .:)

We have been often and have always enjoyed the area ad the People.

Best of Luck,

The Navajo Nation (Hopi & Zuni too) does not have a huge budget to spend on attracting folks in big smog producing vehicles clogging up small reservation roads. Thus, the campgrounds are located either along more built up areas, or remote enough to deliberately keep the large RVs away. But that doesn't mean there are no campsites, you just have to know where they are. Additionally, they are regulated in that they may be closed for conservation or environmental reasons. So, contacting the Navajo Nation Tourism Dept to inquire what is open, camping restrictions, and if designed or RV's or just backpacking is the first step. You can also follow the Campground and RVs link under the "Relax" tab on DiscoverNavajo.com