Llama trip in Tsegi Canyon, near Navajo National Monument, Sept. 7-15

Trip is full.  Email Bill to be put on the wait list.  In early September, we will explore a new piece of the canyon country: Tsegi Canyon, tributaries of which hold Betatakin and Keet Seel ruins. This area is located just west of Monument Valley, and is full of small, medium and large cliff dwellings. The canyons are scenic, but the main attraction are the sites. With an elevation of about 6300 feet, we can go earlier in the fall than our regular canyon trips. The two photos below show some of the scenery and ruins.

Llamas will be provided by Bevin McCabe of Red Rock and Llamas, who has restarted her business, now based in Sedona. Bevin writes "you could spend easily 5 days or more in that canyon. It’s a large canyon system and the cliff dwellings and surface sites are Numerous! Also, the cliff dwellings tend to be off the canyon floor and up in the alcoves, many of which are hundreds of feet off the floor of the canyon. Most of them are accessible however. In a week you won’t feel as if you’ve seen it all."

The relevant topo quads are Keet Seel Ruin and Marsh Pass. The canyon in which we will camp is called Dowozshiebito  (ask a Navajo to pronounce it!).  FYI, legally one would not be able to visit Keet Seel on one's own. The map below gives some of the lay of the land. Bevin writes: "the side canyon that we hike in on from Kayenta is the canyon that the K in Skeleton covers, also near the 2328 demarcation on the map, and the base camp is opposite where that side confluences with the main canyon, actually in the mouth of a canyon opposite and downstream from that side."

This will be a week-long trip. We will leave Los Alamos on Saturday Sept. 7, and drive to Kayenta where we will overnight. We then into the canyon on Sunday Sept. 8, hiking a strenuous 8 miles to camp. This will give us 6 nights to explore, hiking out on Saturday Sept. 14, staying in Kayenta or somewhere along the drive back home, and completing the drive back to Los Alamos on Sept. 15 (Sunday). I expect the usual wonderful canyon adventure.

I expect that the cost will be $2000 for the packer, or $250 per person if we fill the trip with 8 participants, plus gratituity. We will have a guide (Leonard) who lives locally, and will stay with us for the whole trip. If you would like to join in, please send me a deposit of $150 to hold your slot, with full payment by July 1.