Walnut Canyon National Monument

Walnut Canyon Road
Flagstaff, AZ 86004-9705
Phone: (928)-526-3367

Leave I-40 at Exit 204, 7.5 miles (12 km) east of Flagstaff; drive south 3 miles (5 km) to the canyon rim. Warning: Tight turn around for towed vehicles; 40 feet (12 meters) maximum length adviszory.

Hike down into Walnut Canyon and walk in the footsteps of the people that lived here over 900 years ago. Under limestone overhangs, the Sinagua built their homes. These single story structures, cliff dwellings, were occupied from about 1100 to 1250. Look down into the canyon and imagine the creek running through. Visualize a woman hiking up from the bottom with a pot of water on her back. Imagine the men on the rim farming corn or hunting deer. Think of a cold winter night with your family huddled around the fire...

Come out and see millions of years of history unraveled in the geology of the rocks. Listen to the canyon wren and enjoy the turkey vultures soaring above. And if you look closely, you may even see an elk or a javelina. Different lifezones overlap here, mixing species that usually live far apart. In this canyon, desert cacti grow alongside mountain firs. A truly beautiful place to see!

And it is a sacred place. The people that lived here moved on to become the modern pueblo people of today. Walnut Canyon is one of their ancestral homes. Travel through quietly and carefully. And please, leave no trace.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) provided a work force to implement the National Park Service's Master Plan. In order to preserve the natural character of a landscape, roads, trails and buildings were designed to blend with the natural setting. Construction materials were quarried on-site. Native materials were used to blend the new with the old. 

The built environment envisioned by National Park Service landscape architects and implemented by the CCC shaped the visitor experience throughout the park system and still does today. Large parks and small monuments from Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Yellowstone to Sunset Crater, Walnut Canyon and Wupatki all benefited from this great legacy.