Arizona
Hopi Mesas & Navajo Lands of Canyon de Chelly & Monument Valley
Program No. 18591RJ
Gain a deeper understanding of Hopi and Navajo cultures as you visit their reservations to experience the landscapes, artifacts and traditions that have shaped their ancient story.
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Itinerary
While we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of our published materials, programs are typically advertised more than a year prior to their start date.
Read More.
While we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of our published materials, programs are typically advertised more than a year prior to their start date. As a result, some program activities, schedules, accommodations, personnel, and other logistics occasionally change due to local conditions or circumstances. Should a major change occur, we will make every effort to alert you. For less significant changes, we will update you during orientation. Thank you for your understanding.
Duration
7 days
6 nights
What's Included
17 meals (
6B, 5L, 6D
)
6 expert-led lectures
7 expert-led field trips
An experienced Group Leader
6 nights of accommodations
Taxes and customary gratuity
Road Scholar Assurance Plan
Day
1
Check-in, Orientation, Welcome Dinner
Location:
Flagstaff, AZ
Meals:
D
Stay:
Courtyard By Marriott Flagstaff
Activity Note
Hotel check-in from 3:00 p.m. Remember to bring your nametag (sent previously).
Afternoon:
Program Registration: 5:00-5:30 p.m. After you check in and have your room assignment, join us at the Road Scholar table to meet with program staff, get any updated information, and confirm the time and location of the Orientation session. If you arrive late, please locate your Group Leader and let them know you have arrived.Orientation: 5:30 p.m. The Group Leader will greet everyone and lead introductions. We will review the up-to-date program schedule, discuss roles and responsibilities, logistics, safety guidelines, emergency procedures, and answer questions. On the Road programs are journeys that take participants to multiple study sites in a region with several overnight stays. Lectures, talks, discussions, field trips, and on-board commentary amplify the program theme. Some journeys involve great distances and may take hours, and others are much shorter. Long or short, On the Road journeys are learning experiences that make the most of our time together. Our Group Leader, a seasoned and experienced naturalist who will also function as our Study Leader, will conduct field trips unless noted otherwise. We will travel via comfortable passenger vans unless otherwise specified. Periods in the schedule designated as “Free time” and “At leisure” offer opportunities to do what you like and make your experience more meaningful and memorable according to your preferences. The Group Leader will be happy to offer suggestions. Program activities, schedules, personnel, and indicated distances or times may change due to local circumstances/conditions. We will alert you as quickly as possible in the event of changes. Thank you for your understanding.
Dinner:
In the hotel restaurant.
Evening:
At leisure. Continue getting to know your fellow Road Scholars, settle in, and get a good night's rest for the day ahead. Prepare for check-out and transfer in the morning.
Day
2
Museum of Northern Arizona, Wutpatki National Monument
Location:
Tuba City
Meals:
B,L,D
Stay:
Navajoland Hotel
Activity Note
Getting in/out of vans. Walking and standing for approximately 1.5 hours at Museum of Northern Arizona. Driving about 30 miles, over 1/2 hour riding time to Wutpatki National Monument. Walking about 1/2 mile, approximately 1 hour at Wutpatki. Driving 61 miles to Tuba City, approximately 1 hour riding time.
Breakfast:
At the hotel.
Morning:
To facilitate a better understanding of the prehistoric cultural development of the Southwest, we will enjoy an insightful and informative docent-led field trip at the Museum of Northern Arizona (MNA) after arriving by van. The MNA has evolved into a regional center of learning with collections, exhibits, educational programs, publications, and research projects. The Museum of Northern Arizona is the premier museum dedicated to the cultural and natural history of the Colorado Plateau. Afterwards, we’ll take some time for independent exploration in the museum.
Lunch:
At a local restaurant.
Afternoon:
After lunch, we’ll board our vans and begin our transfer from Flagstaff to Navajolands with a stop at Wutpatki National Monument. Nestled between the Painted Desert and ponderosa highlands of northern Arizona, Wupatki National Monument is an unlikely landscape for a thriving community. The early 1100s marked a time of cooler and wetter weather, when the ancestors of contemporary Pueblo communities created a bustling center of trade and culture. For indigenous peoples, these sites represent the footprints of their ancestors. Then, we will make our way to Tuba City, Arizona. The largest community in the Navajo Nation, Tuba City offers many culturally significant attractions to explore.
Dinner:
At the Hogan Restaurant.
Evening:
Gathering after dinner, we’ll enjoy a local Navajo presenter that will share culture and music.
Day
3
Navajo Cultural Museum, Code Talkers, Petroglyphs
Location:
Tuba City
Meals:
B,L,D
Stay:
Navajoland Hotel
Activity Note
Walking about 1/2 mile total throughout the day; unpaved, uneven ground with a few steps; no benches. Getting in/out of vans; driving about 15 miles one way, approximately 1/2 hour riding time each way.
Breakfast:
At the Hogan Restaurant.
Morning:
The Explore Navajo Interactive Museum approximates the journey Navajos take through life. At over 7,000 square feet, the museum features a traditional Navajo Hogan (home) and Navajo stories of creation. Here we’ll go on a self-led exploration before convening for a video on the Navajo Code Talkers. These Marines are now credited with helping to score significant victories in World War II by using a code based on their native language to transmit and decipher messages that proved to be highly secure. The Navajo code was never deciphered before its declassification in the late 1960s; even after the code was made public, recognition of the code talkers was slow in coming. At the start of the new millennium, the Najavo code talkers were presented with Congressional Medals; only five of the original 29 code talkers lived to see the honors.
Lunch:
At the Hogan Restaurant.
Afternoon:
We’ll take a field trip to Tutuveni, Newspaper Rock. Recognized as a sacred site by the Hopi people, the Hopi “Tutuveni" petroglyph area contains 5,000 petroglyphs of Hopi clan symbols and is the largest known collection of clan symbols in the American Southwest.
Dinner:
At the Hogan Restaurant.
Evening:
At our dinner location, we’ll have a Q&A on Hopi preparation from the Group Leader or a local presenter. Afterwards, prepare for check-out and transfer in the morning.
Day
4
Hopi Pottery Demonstration, Hopi Village Visit
Location:
Chinle, AZ
Meals:
B,L,D
Stay:
Holiday Inn Canyon De Chelly (Chinle)
Activity Note
Walking about 1/2 mile total throughout the day; unpaved, uneven ground with a few steps. Getting in/out of vans; driving about 15 miles one way, approximately 1/2 hour each way.
Breakfast:
At the Hogan Restaurant.
Morning:
After checking out and loading our luggage, we’ll make our way to the Hopi Reservation. The Hopi trace their history in the Southwest to long before the Spanish arrived in 1540 and many villages have been occupied since the 1100s CE. With a Hopi expert, we will explore either Oraibi or Walpi village, depending on local circumstances and conditions. Each is one of the oldest continuously inhabited villages in the country. Oraibi, also referred to as Old Oraibi, is on Third Mesa on the Hopi Reservation and has been a place of habitation since circa 1100 CE. The way of life here has changed little over the centuries. Orabi is not typically open to tourists. Walpi dates from circa 900 CE. It also has changed little since moving to its location higher up on the mesa in 1680. The community embodies traditional lifestyles and preserves Hopi architecture, history, and rituals. Despite some structural “improvements” in the 1970s, Walpi offers an excellent sense of what life was like centuries ago, as evidenced by its lack of electricity and running water. Also, as it has been for centuries, the Hopi are organized into matrilineal clans, and home ownership passes from mother to daughter. Visiting a Hopi community is a privilege. As anywhere else, we will be polite and sensitive to the surroundings, the people, and their beliefs. Photography is not permitted. Upon arrival at the Cultural Center, we’ll enjoy a fascinating native arts demonstration (pottery making, Kachina carving, or other) presented by a Hopi tribal member and artisan. We’ll then enjoy some time exploring the exhibits and photographs in the Hopi Tribal Museum independently and checking out the native arts and jewelry.
Lunch:
At the Hopi Cultural Center.
Afternoon:
After lunch at the Hopi Cultural Center, we’ll enjoy a fascinating native arts demonstration (pottery making, Kachina carving, or other) presented by a Hopi tribal member and artisan. We’ll then head to Chinle, stopping at Hubbell Trading Post. Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site is considered a meeting ground of two cultures between the Navajo and the settlers who came to the area to trade.
Dinner:
In the hotel restaurant.
Evening:
At leisure.
Day
5
Canyon de Chelly South Rim, 4x4 Drive
Location:
Chinle, AZ
Meals:
B,L,D
Stay:
Holiday Inn Canyon De Chelly (Chinle)
Activity Note
Getting in/out of vans; driving about 30 miles on rim exploration, approximately 3.5 hours riding time with frequent stops for short walks to rim viewpoints. Getting in/out of four-wheel drive vehicles; driving about 10 miles, approximately 3.5 hours riding time; bumpy terrain. Walking less than 1 mile total throughout the day. The National Park Service may limit access into the canyon in case if hazardous conditions or for resource protection.
Breakfast:
In the hotel restaurant.
Morning:
Setting out from the hotel via our regular vehicle, we’ll drive to the starkly beautiful South Rim of Canyon de Chelly, making stops at multiple viewpoints, taking some short walks, and enjoying vistas at Canyon de Chelly National Monument. Before returning, we will offer some time to explore the Canyon de Chelly National Monument Visitor Center independently.
Lunch:
We’ll enjoy a traditional lunch in a local Navajo home.
Afternoon:
At the hotel, we’ll board four-wheel-drive vehicles for a field trip into Canyon de Chelly with certified local Navajo/Diné experts. During our adventure, we’ll see stunning scenery with sandstone cliffs, canyons, petroglyphs, and ruins. Compared to the millions of years it took for natural forces to create the landscapes we see today, humans have lived here only a relatively short 4,000 years. There are people today who continue to make a living as the “Ancient Ones” did by planting crops within the national monument’s 84,000 acres. The National Park Service works in conjunction with the Navajo Nation to manage Canyon de Chelly. Of the more than 2,700 archaeological sites, some 700 are standing ruins and only about a dozen of these have been protected. At the end of our adventure, we’ll be dropped off back at the hotel in time for dinner.
Dinner:
At the hotel.
Evening:
In the hotel meeting room, we’ll settle in for an expert-led presentation on one or more fascinating aspects of Diné (Navajo) history and culture, such as the special connection between the people and Canyon de Chelly, or a demonstration by a native artisan accompanied by a discussion of inspiration and technique.
Day
6
Monument Valley, Goulding's, Cameron Trading Post
Location:
Cameron, AZ
Meals:
B,L,D
Stay:
Cameron Trading Post Motel
Activity Note
Getting in/out of vans; driving about 212 miles total to Cameron, Arizona, approximately 3.5 hours riding time with a stop in Monument Valley. Getting into/out of four-wheel drive vehicles; driving about 10 miles, approximately 3 hours riding time with frequent stops for short walks to viewpoints in Monument Valley. Walking less than 1 mile total throughout the day.
Breakfast:
At the hotel.
Morning:
After checking out, we’ll load our luggage into the vans and set out for Cameron via Goulding’s Lodge and Trading Post in Monument Valley. In 1938, Harry Goulding got movie director John Ford to visit here by showing him evocative photographs of Monument Valley. It started a lifelong friendship, and Monument Valley served as the iconic backdrop for Ford’s western movies. While here, we’ll also have a look around the Trading Post Museum independently.
Lunch:
At historic Goulding’s Lodge and Trading Post with magnificent views of Monument Valley's red rock splendor.
Afternoon:
We’ll then be picked up for a field trip aboard four-wheel drive vehicles with Navajo/Diné experts, during which we’ll see famous monuments including The Mittens — red sandstone buttes seen in countless movies and TV shows. We’ll also have a special visit to the Monument’s restricted area. This area contains many rock windows and arches of unique shapes and sizes, which make for unparalleled photo opportunities in one of the American West’s most photographed destinations. Carrying on, our journey will move through a scenic section of the Navajo Reservation past Comb Ridge, Tsegi Canyon, Black Mesa, the Elephant Feet, Tuba City, the Little Colorado River Canyon, the northern end of the Painted Desert, and wide open sweeping vistas. Upon arrival at the historic Cameron Trading Post, we’ll check in to our hotel with time to freshen up and relax before dinner.
Dinner:
In the Cameron Trading Post restaurant. Alcohol is prohibited on the Navajo Reservation. The restaurant is decorated with beautiful Navajo rugs, baskets, pottery, antique cabinets, and stained glass — all topped with a pressed tin ceiling. Share favorite experiences and enjoy camaraderie with new Road Scholar friends during our farewell dinner.
Evening:
We’ll gather at the hotel for a program wrap-up, impressions from the week, and final reflections. The remainder of the evening will be at leisure. Prepare for check-out and departure in the morning.
Day
7
To Flagstaff, Program Concludes
Location:
Flagstaff, AZ
Meals:
B
Activity Note
Getting in/out of vans (may be substituted with a motorcoach); driving about 60 miles, approximately 1 hour riding time. 8:30 a.m. lodge check-out and departure; expected arrival at Flagstaff approximately 9:30 a.m.
Breakfast:
At the hotel.
Morning:
After checking out of the hotel, we’ll load our luggage and depart for Flagstaff.
Afternoon:
We will make drop-offs at the starting hotel, Flagstaff airport, and the Flagstaff Amtrak visitor center if taking Groome Transportation. This concludes our program. If you return home, safe travels. If you are staying on independently, have a wonderful time. If you are transferring to another Road Scholar program, detailed instructions are included in your Information Packet for that program. We hope you enjoy Road Scholar learning adventures and look forward to having you on rewarding programs in the future. Don’t forget to join our Facebook page and follow us on Instagram. Best wishes for all your journeys!
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Please Note:
This program has itinerary variations on certain dates.
Apr 05, 2026 - Apr 11, 2026
Sep 21, 2025 - Sep 27, 2025
Oct 05, 2025 - Oct 11, 2025
Oct 12, 2025 - Oct 18, 2025
Mar 15, 2026 - Mar 21, 2026
Mar 29, 2026 - Apr 04, 2026
Apr 05, 2026 - Apr 11, 2026
Apr 12, 2026 - Apr 18, 2026
Sep 20, 2026 - Sep 26, 2026
Oct 04, 2026 - Oct 10, 2026
Oct 11, 2026 - Oct 17, 2026
