Travel the Trails

Trip 9: AZ-264 East: Keams Canyon to Window Rock

70 miles (113 km) from Keams Canyon to Window Rock

Disclaimer: NANACT trip guides are based on information from Native Roads: The Complete Motoring Guide to the Navajo & Hopi Nations, 2nd Edition by Fran Kosik (Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2005). Some information may have changed since the publication of the book. While NANACT will attempt to maintain current information, consider verifying the current operation/existence of businesses, accommodations, dining and similar interests before planning your trip.

Scenic & Historic:

NOTE: If entering the Navajo Nation from April through October, change to daylight saving time (MDT).

Mile 427.5 Steamboat Canyon (North)

About one mile (1.6 km) from this community on the north side of Highway 264 is a sandstone formation that looks like a steamboat, hence the name.

MM 441 Ganado

This settlement was originally named Pueblo Colorado for the wash of that name that runs by Hubbell’s Trading Post. Lorenzo Hubbell changed the name to Ganado to honor his close friend and ally, Navajo leader Ganado Mucho. Hubbell also worried that people might confuse his town with Pueblo, Colorado, also a thriving community of the time.

Hubbell Trading Post (South)

Hubbell Trading Post is now a National Historic Site managed by the National Park Service. It’s open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (MDT) in summer and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (MST) in winter. It’s closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and January 1. Guided tours of the Hubbell home are offered on a daily basis. Check at the visitors center for the daily schedule or call ahead, (928) 755-3475. This free tour is limited to fifteen people. You can borrow, or purchase for $1.00, a self-guided tour book for the exterior grounds, and there is a slide show about Lorenzo Hubbell available for viewing upon request at the visitors center. Navajo rug weavers and silversmiths demonstrate their arts daily in the visitors center.

Ganado Red Rug Design
Hubbell was influential in helping Navajo weavers of the area develop the Ganado Red rug style. He promoted it through his successful mail-order catalog. This design always has a red background with a diamond or cross pattern in the middle. On the edges of the diamond are geometric designs and shapes such as zigzags and crosses. Hubbell encouraged the use of large, heavy Navajo rugs on the floor. You can see copies of Hubbell’s original floor rugs during the tour of his home.

Ganado Mission and Sage Memorial Hospital

Heading east on Highway 264, about one mile from Hubbell’s Trading Post on the north side of the road, you’ll find the largest Presbyterian mission to the Navajos, started in Ganado in 1903.

St. Michaels Mission (South)

This 440-acre (1.78 sq km) Franciscan mission was started in 1896 by Rev. Mother Katharine Drexel.

You can visit the Saint Michaels Historical Museum from Memorial Day (last Monday in May) to Labor Day (first Monday in September), Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.to 5 p.m. (MDT). No admission fee, but donations are welcomed. Mission telephone number: (928) 871-4171.

Window Rock

Window Rock is named for the large window in the Cowsprings Sandstone behind the Navajo tribal government offices. John Collier, the federal commissioner of Indian affairs, centralized the headquarters for Navajo Indian affairs here in the 1930s.

Navajo Library, Museum, and Visitors Center
Opened in 1998, this 58,000-square-foot museum is one of the largest museums dedicated to Native American history in the country. It has a library, a children’s museum, and Miss Navajo Nation’s office. In the future, it will house thousands of valuable and sacred artifacts waiting for repatriation from museums all over the country. The facility is open Tuesday through Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Monday and Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call (928) 871-7941.

Tso Bonito Park
Follow the pink bear signs to find the park, directly behind the new museum and library. The Navajo Nation Zoological and Botanical Park opened in 1962 to care for a bear abandoned by its owners while it was on display at the tribal museum. The mission of the zoo is to exhibit plants and animals important in the Navajo culture. But traditional thought does not condone keeping wild animals on display in cages or allow the zoo to purchase animals. All of the animals in this zoo were brought here because they were hurt or found abandoned and would not survive if left in the wild.

The zoo has grown to include cougars, Mexican wolves, coyotes, deer, elk, bobcats, Navajo churro sheep, rabbits, and a pony. Birds of prey, wild turkeys, and roadrunners are also on display, along with an assortment of snakes, lizards, and turtles. Open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Donations are accepted.

Accommodations (Hotels/Camping/RV Parks):

St. Michaels / Window Rock - Lodging

Navajoland Days Inn

Just opened in 1998, this motel sits almost directly across from St. Michaels Historical Museum. It has an indoor pool, sauna, and cable television. Rooms cost around $75 for a double in winter but much more in summer. National reservations (800) DAYSINN; local (928) 871-5690.

Quality Inn (formerly Navajo Nation Inn)

Moderately priced, this motel is decorated in a Southwestern style. The curtains and bedspreads have Navajo pastoral scenes. This is the only motel in Window Rock. A drive to Gallup, about thirty miles (48 km) away, is the only other option if the Days Inn in St. Michaels is full. Because this is the capital of the Navajo Nation, it is often difficult to reserve a room here. Reservations: (928) 871-4108 or (800) 662-6189.

Tours:

Food & Dining:

Ganado

Café Sage

A cafeteria style restaurant that offers two or three entrees, an excellent soup and salad bar, and wonderful desserts. The prices are probably the lowest you will find on your travels. Open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

St. Michaels / Window Rock

Quality Inn (formerly Navajo Nation Inn) Dining Room: This is the place to have lunch if you want to see members of the Navajo Tribal Council and the president having lunch. Open from 6 a.m.–9 p.m. (928) 871-4108 or (800) 662-6189.

Services (Auto/Gas/Repair/Emergency):

St. Michaels/ Window Rock

Sage Memorial Hospital

Because this is a private hospital, unlike Indian Health Service hospitals, anyone can be seen here. Emergency room: (928) 755-3411.

KTNN Radio

If you haven’t had the chance to hear spoken Navajo, tune in to KTNN at AM 660. It is a very powerful radio station owned by the Navajo Tribe. Primarily a country western station, it also plays traditional Native American chants, and some of its advertising and interviews are conducted in the Navajo language.

Navajo Police Station: (928) 871-6113 or 911.

Art & Culture (Galleries/Trading Posts/Museums):

Ganado

Hubbell Trading Post (South)

Hubbell Trading Post is now a National Historic Site managed by the National Park Service. It’s open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (MDT) in summer and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (MST) in winter. It’s closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and January 1. Guided tours of the Hubbell home are offered on a daily basis. Check at the visitors center for the daily schedule or call ahead, (928) 755-3475. This free tour is limited to fifteen people. You can borrow, or purchase for $1.00, a self-guided tour book for the exterior grounds, and there is a slide show about Lorenzo Hubbell available for viewing upon request at the visitors center. Navajo rug weavers and silversmiths demonstrate their arts daily in the visitors center. 

St. Michaels

ST. Michaels Mission (South)

You can visit the Saint Michaels Historical Museum from Memorial Day (last Monday in May) to Labor Day (first Monday in September), Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.to 5 p.m. (MDT). No admission fee, but donations are welcomed. Mission telephone number: (928) 871-4171.

Window Rock

MM 475 Navajon Nation Fairground (South)

The Navajo Nation Fair is held the first weekend after Labor Day each year and features an intertribal powwow, a Miss Navajo Nation contest, and a rodeo. For more information, call (928) 871-6478.

Navajo Library, Museum, and Visitors Center

Opened in 1998, this 58,000-square-foot museum is one of the largest museums dedicated to Native American history in the country. It has a library, a children’s museum, and Miss Navajo Nation’s office. In the future, it will house thousands of valuable and sacred artifacts waiting for repatriation from museums all over the country. The facility is open Tuesday through Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Monday and Saturday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call (928) 871-7941.

Tso Bonito Park

The zoo has grown to include cougars, Mexican wolves, coyotes, deer, elk, bobcats, Navajo churro sheep, rabbits, and a pony. Birds of prey, wild turkeys, and roadrunners are also on display, along with an assortment of snakes, lizards, and turtles. Open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Donations are accepted.

Permissions

• Trip information is condensed with permission from Native Roads: The Complete Motoring Guide to the Navajo and Hopi Nations, by Fran Kosik, Rio Nuevo Publishers, Tucson, Arizona, 2005. Trip numbers generally coincide with chapter number in the book. Fran's full book contains much more wonderful information on traveling our Native roads. For more detailed information, the book can be purchased from:

  Museum of Northern Arizona bookstore, 3101 N. Ft. Valley Rd., Flagstaff, AZ 86001; phone #: 928-774-5213 or direct 928-774-5211 + Ext 261. Or, contact the publisher, Rio Nuevo Publishers, PO Box 5250, Tucson, Arizona 85703; phone #: 520-623-9558 or 800-969-9558. Trip numbers generally correspond to chapter numbers.