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SCENIC BYWAY

Canyon de Chelly Scenic Rim Drive

34.4 miles: 0 hours, 41 minutes

Entirely within the Navajo Nation, Canyon de Chelly National Monument boasts a beautiful landscape of sheer cliffs and ancient ruins. Red sandstone walls plummet to the verdant canyon floor, down to 1,000 feet in some places. This route traces the North Rim to Chinle, home of the monument's visitor center, and then continues along South Rim Drive.

flickr/Fred Moore

This byway traverses Canyon de Chelly National Monument along the top of a desert plateau, offering only tantalizing glimpses of the canyon. Several overlooks just off the road, however, provide breathtaking panoramas, and one offers amazing views of Spider Rock, a free-standing spire 800 feet tall. Others reveal cliff dwellings dating back a thousand years.

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