Canyon de Chelly is a National Monument located on the Navajo Nation in Eastern Arizona. This area has continuously housed people for five thousand years- from early hunters to modern-day ranchers and farmers. Millions of years of stream-cutting and land uplifts create the stunning and seemingly out-of-place canyon system the Navajo and Hopi people have called home for generations. In 1931 this area was designated a National monument and it is currently managed jointly by the Navajo Nation and NPS. While conducting bird surveys within the Monument in May, I was lucky enough to work down in the canyon on two separate occasions, taking in many sacred landmarks and thousands of years of history in early morning light. Access to this canyon is restricted to the public, where a Dine or NPS tour guide must be present to enter the canyon legally. Even still- some locations are difficult if not nearly impossible to access by car, making my adventures along the canyon bottom even more gratifying. The photos below show this Canyon in the first half of each day, waking up to seize the day ahead.