Walnut Canyon NM / Rim and Island Trails

Trail info: Each trail is below 1 mile - the Rim trail essentially has no elevation change - the Island Trail goes down around 240 steps/185 ft into the canyon
Location: About 10 miles outside of Flagstaff off I-40 exit 204

Walnut Canyon combines beautiful canyon scenery and a look at life of the Sinagua people who once resided there some 800 years ago. The canyon with its many overhangs and shallow caves provided ideal places for their homes to be built and remain fairly sheltered from the elements. Up and down the canyon remains of their dwellings are everywhere you look. The rim hike provides overlooks of many of the dwellings as well as the remains of a pueblo and pithouse built at the top. This is an easy, mostly paved hike that anyone can do. The Island Trail has many stairs that descend to a rock island in the canyon which has many dwellings that you can get a closer look at. Information on the canyon, its’ plant life, and the history of the inhabitants is provided. This is an impressive place and features more Indian dwellings than I’ve seen anywhere else in my travels.
While the size of the dwellings aren’t much compared to nearby Wupatki, the number of them in a relatively small area is amazing (probably where the idea for apartment complexes originated). It is definitely worth the trip down the Island Trail to see inside the dwellings as well as to better view the surrounding canyon walls with their many home sites. This definitely would’ve been an awesome place to live (except when it snowed and Sunset Crater erupted.) Oh well, no place is perfect.

• If you are looking to travel to Flagstaff, AZ or anywhere else, be sure to click over to my travel site.