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Arizona

Hopi Mesas & Navajo Lands of Canyon de Chelly & Monument Valley

Program No. 18591RJ
Gain a deeper understanding of Hopi and Navajo cultures as you visit their reservations to experience the landscapes, artifacts and traditions that have shaped their ancient story.

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Prefer to enroll or inquire by phone? 800-454-5768
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Price will update based on selection
Prices displayed below are based on per person,doubleoccupancy.
DATES & starting prices
PRICES
Filling Fast!
Mar 17 - Mar 23, 2024
Starting at
1,899
Mar 31 - Apr 6, 2024
Starting at
1,899
Apr 14 - Apr 20, 2024
Starting at
1,899
Sep 22 - Sep 28, 2024
Starting at
1,899
Filling Fast!
Oct 6 - Oct 12, 2024
Starting at
1,899
Oct 13 - Oct 19, 2024
Starting at
1,899
Mar 16 - Mar 22, 2025
Starting at
1,999
Mar 30 - Apr 5, 2025
Starting at
1,999
Apr 13 - Apr 19, 2025
Starting at
1,999
Sep 21 - Sep 27, 2025
Starting at
1,999
Oct 5 - Oct 11, 2025
Starting at
1,999
Oct 12 - Oct 18, 2025
Starting at
1,999
DATES & starting prices
PRICES
Filling Fast!
Mar 17 - Mar 23, 2024
Starting at
2,269
Mar 31 - Apr 6, 2024
Starting at
2,269
Apr 14 - Apr 20, 2024
Starting at
2,269
Sep 22 - Sep 28, 2024
Starting at
2,269
Oct 6 - Oct 12, 2024
Starting at
2,269
Oct 13 - Oct 19, 2024
Starting at
2,269
Mar 16 - Mar 22, 2025
Starting at
2,399
Mar 30 - Apr 5, 2025
Starting at
2,399
Apr 13 - Apr 19, 2025
Starting at
2,399
Sep 21 - Sep 27, 2025
Starting at
2,399
Oct 5 - Oct 11, 2025
Starting at
2,399
Oct 12 - Oct 18, 2025
Starting at
2,399

At a Glance

Stay on both the Navajo and Hopi reservations and immerse yourself in these cultures with exposure to native speakers and artisans who share insights into their life ways. Visit one of the oldest Hopi villages atop a windswept mesa. At Canyon de Chelly, field trips visit both North and South rims and the inner Canyon. Experience Monument Valley’s iconic formations and sweeping vistas.
Activity Level
Keep the Pace
Walking up to one mile daily over varied terrain. Optional longer hike at Canyon de Chelly to Ancestral Puebloan ruins. Elevations up to 7,300 feet.
Small Group
Small Group
Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 13 to 24 participants.

Best of all, you’ll…

  • Enjoy two Navajo/Diné-led 4x4 adventures to see ruins, petroglyphs and natural beauty.
  • Enjoy a docent-led field trip to Phoenix’s famed Heard Museum, telling the stories of the Native American peoples of the Southwest.
  • Visit Hubble Trading Post and hear from Navajo/Diné and Hopi speakers about their cultures and challenges.
Featured Expert
All Experts
Profile Image
Eric Kee
Eric Kee was born and raised on the Navajo Reservation in Tuba, City, Ariz. In addition to sharing his Navajo culture, Eric enjoys spending his spare time building Native American flutes, working with silver and enjoys hiking, kayaking, camping with his family. He met his wife in Florence, Italy during his three years teaching English and working Italian camps for kids. He, along with his wife and three children, currently reside in Tuba City, Arizona.

Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.

Profile Image of Eric Kee
Eric Kee was born and raised on the Navajo Reservation in Tuba, City, Ariz. In addition to sharing his Navajo culture, Eric enjoys spending his spare time building Native American flutes, working with silver and enjoys hiking, kayaking, camping with his family. He met his wife in Florence, Italy during his three years teaching English and working Italian camps for kids. He, along with his wife and three children, currently reside in Tuba City, Arizona.
Profile Image of Robert Sanford
Robert Sanford View biography
Buck Sanford graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in natural resources and spent several years working in Costa Rica as a freelance tropical biologist and research station manager. After a Ph.D. at UC Berkeley, he held positions at Stanford, NC State, and Colorado State. He was a biology professor at Denver University for several decades. Following a stint as a program director at the National Science Foundation, Buck worked as a professor and an administrator at Northern Arizona University, retiring in 2021.
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Warriors: Navajo Code Talkers
by Kawano, Kenji
The American offensive in the Pacific during World War II [was] hampered by the Japanese ability to crack the most secret U.S. Codes. Navajo was virtually unknown outside the reservations, ... and [their] code proved uncrackable. Kenji Kawano's striking photographs capture the quiet dignity of the surviving veterans as they recall their actions --Los Angeles Times 128 pp
Me and Mine: The Life Story of Helen Sekaquaptewa
by Udall, Louise
An energetic Hopi woman emerges from a traditional family background to embrace the more conventional way of life in American today. Enchanting and enlightening—a rare piece of primary source anthropology. 262 pp
Diné: A History of the Navajos
by Iverson, Peter; Roessel, Monty
This comprehensive narrative traces the history of the Navajos from their origins to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Based on extensive archival research, traditional accounts, interviews, historic and contemporary photographs, and firsthand observation, it provides a detailed, up-to-date portrait of the Diné past and present that will be essential for scholars, students, and interested general readers, both Navajo and non-Navajo.
Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West
by Sides, Hampton
In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched through Santa Fe, en route to invade and occupy the Western territories claimed by Mexico. Fueled by the new ideology of “Manifest Destiny,” this land grab would lead to a decades-long battle between the United States and the Navajos, the fiercely resistant rulers of a huge swath of mountainous desert wilderness. In Blood and Thunder, Hampton Sides gives us a magnificent history of the American conquest of the West. At the center of this sweeping tale is Kit Carson, the trapper, scout, and soldier whose adventures made him a legend. Sides shows us how this illiterate mountain man understood and respected the Western tribes better than any other American, yet willingly followed orders that would ultimately devastate the Navajo nation. Rich in detail and spanning more than three decades, this is an essential addition to our understanding of how the West was really won.
The Fourth World of the Hopis: The Epic Story of the Hopi Indians As Preserved in Their Legends and Traditions
by Courlander, Harold
Folklorist Courlander traces Hopi legends from the tribe’s search through the wilderness for its home location to its settling on the Hopi Mesas and development thereafter. 239pp
Native Roads : The Complete Motoring Guide to the Navajo and Hopi Nations
by Kosik, Frank
Using the mile markers of the US, Arizona, and Navajo highways and routes running through the Navajo and Hopi nations as her organizing principle, the author offers a travel guide to the sites found in the area. Natural, historical, and cultural points of interest are covered, along with some information on lodging and services. 280 pp
Hisat’sinom: Ancient Peoples in a Land Without Water
by Downum, Christian E. (Editor)
The national monuments of Wupatki, Walnut Canyon, and Montezumas Castle showcase the treasures of the first people who settled and developed farms, towns, and trade routes throughout northern Arizona and beyond. The Hopis call these ancient peoples Hisatsinom, and Spanish explorers named their hard, arid homeland the sierra sin agua, mountains without water. Indeed, much of the region receives less annual precipitation than the quintessential desert city of Tucson. In Hisatsinom: Ancient Peoples in a Land without Water, archaeologists explain how the people of this region flourished despite living in a place with very little water and extremes of heat and cold. Exploiting the mulching properties of volcanic cinders blasted out of Sunset Crater, the Hisatsinom grew corn and cotton, made and traded fine cotton cloth and decorated ceramics, and imported exotic goods like turquoise and macaws from hundreds even thousands of miles away. From clues as small as the tiny fingerprints left on childrens toys, postholes in the floors of old houses, and widely scattered corn fields, archaeologists have pieced together an intriguing portrait of what childhood was like, the importance of weaving cotton cloth, and how farmers managed risk in a harsh environment. At its peak in the late 1100s, Wupatki stood as the region's largest and tallest town, a cultural center for people throughout the surrounding region. It was a gathering place, a trading center, a treasury of exotic goods, a landmark, and a place of sacred ritual and ceremony. Then, after 1200, people moved away and the pueblo sank into ruin.
Roadside Geology of Arizona
by Chronic, Halka
The 18th printing of this book in the Roadside Geology Series offers a mini-course in geology, focusing on what can be seen from Arizona highways. Although written especially for those with little or no geologic training, there's plenty here for the professional geologist as well--a great introduction to Arizona and its past. Geologic terms are defined where first used and again in the glossary. Inside the front cover is a legend to geological symbols and abbreviations commonly used by geologists. 321pp
Following the Sun and Moon: Hopi Kachina Tradition
by Secakuku, Alph
A guide to Kachinas written by a Hopi author





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