On June 18th and 19th, 2016 I finally did the backpack to visit the Keet Seel Ruin in Navajo National Monument. NNM is located within the Navajo Nation and contains two very large ruins, Betatakin and Keet Seel. Ironically, these two ruins are ancestral to the Hopi and probably other Pueblo tribes who have been largely displaced by the Navajo. The pueblo ancestors who lived in these ruins, and in places like Mesa Verde and Chaco, predate the Navajo by at least 500 years and possibly more. There are still some bad feelings between the two groups as the Navajo were quite a bit more successful at negotiating the borders of their reservation than were the Pueblo groups. It doesn't help that the Hopi reservation is entirely contained within the Navajo reservation, a consequence of persistent Navajo encroachment on their lands.
Keet Seel is only accessible to the public by way of a round trip hike of about 19 miles (according to my GPS). Some folks opt to do it in a single day, but there is a nice campsite in a grove of oak trees about 1/2 mile or so from the Keet Seel ruin. As a consequence, I decided to do it as a backpack. In order to visit the ruin you need advanced reservations and to attend an orientation given by a park ranger. We were told to carry our own water, even though there are perennial streams that flow through Long and Keet Seel canyons. There is active livestock grazing in most of this area by the Navajo people and ample evidence in the streams of it too.
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| View of Long Canyon |
The hike in begins along an old road and then drops quickly to the canyon bottom, from about 7800 ft to 6600 ft or so. The trail is well marked, except at the junction for the Betatakin ruin, where you should take the left fork (there is no sign for either site). The trail is a mix of switchbacks and deep sand, I was happy to have high top boots on, otherwise I'd have been pouring sand out of my shoes every few hundred yards. Keet Seel Canyon is a box canyon, with a spring fed stream, that intersects Long Canyon both are part of the Tsegi Canyon complex.
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| Keet Seel Canyon |
The hike up the canyon takes requires many stream crossings, seldom more than an inch or two deep, but if you don't watch your step you could step into deeper pockets along the bank. After a storm or during one, it would be an interesting adventure, complete with quicksand pockets.
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| Waterfall in the desert |
I was really surprised by how much water there was in the canyon, but the overlying rock is Navajo sandstone on top of Kayenta sandstone, the porous Navajo formation allows water to seep through it and the harder Kayenta acts as an aquitard creating many springs.
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| Another surprise |
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| Approaching Keet Seel Alcove |
Unlike most of the wet canyons I am familiar with on the Colorado Plateau, The Tsegi Canyon complex seems to have a species of oak (Gambels Oak, Q. gambelli) in place of cottonwoods. Unfortunately the main grass in the above photo is Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) a highly prolific invasive grass that can quickly crowd out native species and also generate a great deal of fuel in the event of fires in the area. My general impression of the canyon bottom is of a highly overgrazed and poorly managed landscape. The Navajo Nation may be working to address these issues, but the invasive weeds are so prevalent that it may be difficult to manage them at this point. In spite of this, the combination of water, high sandstone cliffs and plentiful birds makes for a great hike.
I felt pretty worked by the time I got to the campsite, surprisingly so, I thought. After a lot of carrying on in my head about what a wimpy backpacker I had become, I was stunned to realize that it had been about 11 years since Tony and I were on a climbing trip to the Tetons, which was the last time I had a backpack on. How time flies when you're getting old! I was definitely feeling sorry for myself by the time I took off my pack, and was cursing myself for dragging in 16 pounds of water. I had been warned to not drink the water in the canyon because of the presence of livestock, but I think filtering and treating the water with iodine would have done the trick.
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| Keet Seel Ruin |
Keet Seel and its alcove are impressive. The cliff-villa contains about 150 rooms, kivas and storage rooms. Unlike many ruins which have been extensively rebuilt, Keet Seel is about 90% unrestored and is in remarkable condition. The villa was built and occupied from about 1250-1300 CE, a relatively short period of occupation, and may have had a population of up to 150.
After dropping my pack off at the campsite, I hiked up to meet the ranger who would guide me through the ruin. As you approach the ruin you will find the ground covered with pottery shards.
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| Black on white, corrugated and polychrome pieces. |
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| Detail of a spiral motif |
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| More polychrome, black and white, corrugated |
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| An intact handle |
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| Entrance |
The wooden ladder that is used to enter the ruin is placed over some carved foot and handholds that were originally used to get in and out, although ladders were also likely to have been used. The hand and footholds are similar to the ones in the following photo that travel up the face to the left of the ruin and give access to the mesa top. The large log across the top is a white pine log that was dated to about the time of the last occupancy (1300 CE). The Hopi, whose ancestors occupied Keet Seel, claim that the log was placed to indicate that the villa was closed, but might be reoccupied at a later date. The log is massive and it must have required a great effort to transport it to the site and to get it up the sandstone face.
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| Carved steps |
Three ledge systems to the left of the main dwelling are connected by sets of carved steps. The steps and ledges lead to the mesa top giving access to pinyon-juniper forest and other canyons in the Tsegi complex. I estimated the vertical gain to be about 750 feet. It looked to me like the ancestral pueblo people were comfortable climbing up to modern 5.6 without ropes (presumably) or steps because as the angle eases off the steps disappear and natural features must have been used to climb. Due to foreshortening the angle in the photo appears to be much less steep than it actually is, there were clearly sections that were greater than 70 degrees in places. I was really itching to explore these a bit more, but they were definitely off limits.
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Inside the Villa
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| Keet Seel Pottery |
Keet Seel was originally excavated (some would say looted) by Richard Wetherill and family. The Wetherills collected, sold and exhibited countless artifacts, including human remains, recovered from these sites, but this was probably not out of line with the practices of others at the time. Wetherill is credited with the discovery of the Chaco Ruins and Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde. He was killed near Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, most likely by a Navajo rancher. There are, of course, several versions of the reason for his shooting, one is that a Navajo debtor shot him in a dispute over debts owed, the other suggests that he was a bit of a cattle rustler and was shot when the rightful owner of the cattle caught up with him. That said, Wetherill did propose that Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon and other ruins in the southwest be protected as National Parks. Wetherill and his wife are buried in Chaco Canyon not far from Pueblo Bonito.
As the photos show, the ruins are in spectacularly good condition. Interestingly, they contain several different building styles, the majority is a type that is similar to that used in Mesa Verde. But there also other styles, such as pit house, circular towers and walls constructed of willow branches covered in adobe.
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| Pit House Style Construction |
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| Atypical Construction Style for Cliff Dwellings |
My guide said that the different styles suggest that people from different cultures may have been accepted into the Keet Seel community and built in a style that they were most familiar with.
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750 Year Old Corn Cobs in Rock Bins
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The vertical poles in the picture above may have been used to tether birds to. Macaws, falcon and Red Tail hawk remains were found in the ruin. Birds were evidently a common feature in ancestral pueblo culture. Elaborate blankets woven of turkey feathers and other birds have been found at several sites, often in association with burials and funeral artifacts. These finds are distributed throughout North America with each region having distinctive weaving styles and feather composition.
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| Blue Handprint (illuminated by flashlight) |
It was common to decorate the inside of dwellings and especially kiva's. Keet Seel was remarkably free of rock art, which I found surprising. There was certainly some, but not a lot.
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| Keet Seel Rock Art |
Keet Seel is probably only second to Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde in terms of size and complexity. Given the long approach, there are few people who visit, unlike Mesa Verde. In fact, I was the only person during my guided tour of the ruin, although several other folks had been there that day. The hike is very pretty and surprisingly wet. The hike out is a bit of a grunt over the last 3 miles as it climbs out of the canyon. It is best to do it early in the day before it gets too hot. I left my campsite at about 6:00 AM and was back to the car at 10:00 and most of the walk was quite comfortable (other than the pack, that is). https://www.nps.gov/nava/index.htm
