Walnut Canyon National Monument in Flagstaff rounded out our stay in the area. We hiked about a mile into the canyon passing 25 cliff dwelling rooms constructed by the Sinagua, a pre-Columbian cultural group that lived in Walnut Canyon from about 1100 to 1250 AD. Sinagua is Spanish for “without water”, an acknowledgement that the Sinagua people were able to live in such a dry region.
Right out of the visitor’s center, stairs lead down into the canyon. I think the round trip had more than 700 steps so if mobility is a problem, skip this and just do the rim hike. We spend a lot of time at altitude and are very active so the hike was easy for us but some may consider it strenuous. (the top of the canyon is 6690′). It’s a breathtaking canyon and I don’t use that overused descriptor often. The path and stairs continue as you encircle a clifftop. Dwellings are literally everywhere you look. The Sinagua built their homes under limestone ledges, deep within the canyon, taking advantage of the natural recesses in the limestone cliff walls which were eroded over millions of years by flowing water.
The vegetation in the canyon is incredibly diverse. Fir, pine, oak, walnut, cottonwood, elder, aspen and every kind of cactus cover the canyon sides and floors. This capped off a great stay in Flagstaff.
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