The Navajo Nation, covering sections of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, is America's largest reservation. The Nation's 27,000 square mile territory, approximately the size of West Virginia, is famous for its striking sandstone buttes, red desert sands and haunting rock spires. Sharing its beautiful scenery with the rest of the world, the Navajo Tribe offers access to Monument Valley Tribal Park, the Navajo Nation Zoological and Botanical Park, Window Rock Monument and the Four Corners Tribal Park.
   Here at Canyon de Chelly the Navajo also allow visitors to explore the Rim Drive, open from dawn to dusk. For close up views down in the canyon, Navajo tour vehicles propel visitors along the canyon floor (Tsegi) and retell old stories of the land. Intriguing legends of the ancient ones convey the culture and heritage of this proud Native Tribe.
   Pictured here is Spider Rock, a stone spire that continues to defy gravity, rising 830 feet above the canyon floor. This sacred place of the Navajo is the lair of the mythical Spider Woman (Na'ashje'ii Asdzaa). In the story of the Third World, Spider Woman descended to the top of Spider Rock. From here she spun her silken web and draped it to the ground. She lived in a crack between the two rocks and came out every day, snaring naughty children, and snatching them up to eat. Other variations of the legend tell that it was Spider Woman who taught her people the fine art of weaving.
   Here in the canyon Navajo continue to tend sheep and grow a variety of vegetables and fruit trees. This canyon still holds age old cliff dwellings, petroglyphs and centuries of Native American folklore.

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