Hike down into Walnut Canyon and walk in the footsteps of the people that lived here over 900 years ago. Under limestone overhangs, the Sinagua built their homes. These single story structures, cliff dwellings, were occupied from about 1100 to 1250. Look down into the canyon and imagine the creek running through. Visualize a woman hiking up from the bottom with a pot of water on her back. Imagine the men on the rim farming corn or hunting deer. Think of a cold winter night with your family huddled around the fire… Come out and see millions of years of history unraveled in the geology of the rocks. Listen to the canyon wren and enjoy the turkey vultures soaring above. And if you look closely, you may even see an elk or a javelina. Different lifezones overlap here, mixing species that usually live far apart. In this canyon, desert cacti grow alongside mountain firs. A truly beautiful place to see!
And it is a sacred place. The people that lived here moved on to become the modern pueblo people of today. Walnut Canyon is one of their ancestral homes. Travel through quietly and carefully. And please, leave no trace.
Introduction
In the pine forests near Flagstaff, Arizona, a steep canyon severs the rolling plateau. Twenty miles long, 400 feet deep and 1/4mile wide, it was carved by Walnut Creek over a period of 60 million years. Within its winding walls are natural riches an abundant mix of plants and animals drawn there by water and varied topography. It seems a timeless place. Walls of buff sandstone form the canyons inner gorge; the rock contours reveal their origins in the wind-scoured dunes of an ancient desert. The limestone ledges of the upper canyon contain delicate marine fossils, remnants of a later sea. Much later, the people of this canyon built their sturdy homes in shallow alcoves along these ledges.
For a brief time, from about 1100 to 1250, the canyon echoed with the rhythmic beat of a stone axe, the voice of an aged storyteller, children laughing on the rocky slopes. Masonry walls hint of this past, of a time when 100 or more people made their homes and livings here. These people well understood the gifts of the natural world. Deer, bighorn sheep, other wild game, and wild plants supplemented the corn, beans, and squash grown in fields on the canyon rim. Water flowed intermittently on the canyon floor, providing the lifeblood of the community. Shaded pools in the bottom held precious water between rains. In spring, silty snowmelt rumbled through the narrow passage.
Today the canyon resonates with birdsong. Jays yammer, solitaires peep, and canyon wrens whistle their musical songs. There have been changes, but the canyon remains. So does the diversity of plants and animals that sustained a human community.
As a national monument, Walnut Canyon now serves as sanctuary for a larger community. Six miles of the canyons length are protected within the monuments 3600 acres. For thousands of people every year, Walnut Canyon offers the perfect opportunity to admire nature and to learn from the past. With continued protection, and cooperation from visitors, this intimate canyon will educate and inspire for years to come.
Nature & Science
Geology
Walnut Canyon National Monument was established in 1915 specifically to preserve the prehistoric ruins of ancient cliff dwellings. Since that time, we have come to realize the importance of the canyons natural features, both in that ancient world and in ours today. The presence of water in a dry land made this canyon singularly rare and valuable to its early human inhabitants, and to a variety of plants and animals. The canyons natural abundance and diversity provided home sites, building materials, and a storehouse of foods, medicines, dyes, and other raw materials that sustained a prehistoric civilization. This is a biological hot spot a place of concentrated biological productivity because of its varied exposures and elevations, together with seasonal water, all compressed into a narrow band within a surrounding pine forest. The canyon twists and turns, creating a patchwork of sun and shadow. Hot dry desert-like slopes and shaded forests, normally separated by thousands of feet in elevation, are found here almost side by side. With these overlapping habitats come unusual assortments of plants and animals, and a high concentration of sensitive species. At the same time, the canyon serves as an important wildlife migration corridor, linking higher elevation forests with lower pine-juniper woodlands to the east.
Ecology
For a relatively small area, Walnut Canyon National Monument harbors a rich assemblage of wildlife. This is due in part to its rugged canyon terrain, vegetation cover, minimal human disturbance, and the presence of water. Also, several different ecological communities overlap here, creating a variety of microhabitats and mixing species that are usually found in different places and at different elevations. Scientists have identified at least 69 species of mammals in the monument, as well as 28 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 121 species of birds.
Animal populations at Walnut Canyon vary with the seasons and from one year to the next, depending on temperature, rainfall, snowpack, and other environmental conditions both locally and throughout the region. Larger animals, especially, can move about the landscape in search of the best food and water sources. In some seasons, Walnut Canyon suits these needs; in others, it provides a protected natural corridor for wildlife on the move. In all seasons, it is a natural sanctuary and scenic resource located near an expanding area of human development.
Recreation
The Walnut Canyon National Monument offers two pleasant trails that wind around cliff dwellings and mesa ruins. The Rim Trail is flat and paved, and winds for nearly a mile along the canyon rim. Lookout points and interpretive signs describe the cliff dwellings, flora and fauna of the area. A side loop brings you to the remains of a small but interesting mesa-top village, complete with a pueblo and pithouse. The mile-long, paved Island Trail leads down the canyon itself and through 25 ancient Sinaguan dwellings. This trail offers many interpretive signs enroute, as it wraps along scenic limestone ledges. While many rooms were blasted in the 1880s by pot hunters and recreational looters traveling through Flagstaff in the glory days of the railroad era, others are in nearly pristine condition.
Soot lines the walls and ceilings of these well-constructed rooms, which were large enough for families to stretch out at night, store a few necessary household items, and build a fire. The rooms were small because most Sinaguan daily activities happened outside, along the sunny ledges and in the surrounding forest.
Traveler Facts
Contact Information
Flagstaff Area National Monuments – Walnut Canyon
6400 N. Highway 89
Flagstaff, AZ 86004
Phone: 928-526-3367(Visitor Information)
Phone: 928-526-1157 (Visitor Information, HQ)
Fax: 928-526-4259
Operating Hours & Seasons
Walnut Canyon National Monument is open year round. The Visitor Center is open daily except December 25.
Weather/Climate
Be prepared for abrupt weather changes in any season at Walnut Canyon National Monument. Expect windy conditions most of the year. Spring is usually mild but heavy snowfall can occur. Summer days are warm with temperatures in the eighties. Afternoon thunderstorms likely July to September. Winter days can be cold, snow and ice can cause temporary closure of the Island Trail.
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