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Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni -
Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument
Hull Cabin in Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. Courtesy United States Forest Service.
Associate Pages
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Visitor Statistics
Not Available
Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni -
Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument
Park Size
Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni
917,618 Federal and Total Acres.
Park Fees
Free
Backcountry and roadside camping in undeveloped areas is allowed. It is not clear whether any areas require a permit.
Weather
South of the Grand Ccanyon - 50 to 80 degrees with frequent thunderstorms while the area north of the Grand Canyon is often ten degrees cooler. Some area, particularly in the canyon area of the national monument can see extreme temperatures over one hundred degrees.
Photo above: Grandview Tower near Arizona Trail entrance, 2005. Courtesy United States Forest Service via Wikipedia Commons. Right: Canyon walls and desert at Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni - Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. Courtesy Bureau of Land Management.
Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni
Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni - Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument was pronounced a national monument under the 1907 Antiquities Act by President Biden on August 8, 2023. It surrounds Grand Canyon National Park on two sides in two states, Arizona and Utah. The lands had previously been part of national forests and Bureau of Land Management Lands, that will, or would, still manage the monument. However, will there still be a National Monument here after the administration of Donald Trump, who wants to backtrack on the lands President Biden protected? Well, we hope so, and we think so. While there will be manipulations in the courts to its designation and protection of ancestral Native American lands, the Antiquities Act has stood over a century of time. One caveat, ... the Congress could change that status, eliminate to raise. It would seem hard to believe the Congressmen and Senators of those two states, both with conservative bents, would do that against tribal wishes, even if the court challenge stands. But the government has reneged on Native wishes, as we know well, before.
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Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument Then
It has been sacred heritage homeland for numerous tribes for thousands of years as the earth formed into the buttes, plateaus, canyons, and rivers that would feed themselves down to the Colorado River. And although much of this land had been protected in various national forests, etc., the National Monument designation brings them together. As of today and yesteryear, it is a land of silence, where you can unwind from noise or light, camp in the wilderness, and hike till your heart meets contentment. There are Shinarump cliffs above which condors soar and below which Mule Deer roam as they have for centuries.
Photo above: Stereograph of 1872 Expedition, 1872. Bureau of Land Management. Below: Viewshed of Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument, BLM. Courtesy Bureau of Land Management.
Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument Now
There are two distinct parts to this park. 529,242 acres to the north to be administered by the Bureau of Land Management, with the U.S. Forest Service administering 388,376 acres which lay to its east. It has been federal land before; this is just a new designation which includes additional protections to use. What is included: 388,376 acres south of the Grand Canyon, the entire Tusayan Ranger District of the Kaibab National Forest; and 529,242 acres of Bureau of Land Management lands south of Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. Also land east of the forest's North Kaibab Ranger District, west of the North Kaibab Ranger District, and south of the Kaibab Indian Reservation, and part of the Kanab Creek Wilderness.
The land is rugged and remote. You can taken a drive along routes that spread around its exterior, but if you want to go into the rugged interior, four wheel drive, horse, or hike are your best options.
T-Shirts and Souvenirs
Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument T-Shirts and Souvenirs from the official merchandise of America's Best History. Great for fans of the new National Monument in Utah and Arizona.
Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument
Things You Should Not Miss
1. Drive the Vermillion Highway if you are in the BLM portion of the park.
2. For those that like such things to camp under bright stars, take a hike down a trailhead and find a great place to camp. It will be an experience like no other. But be prepared and be safe.
3. On the United States Forest Service land, there are more man-made uses to view the remnants of ... the Hull Cabin, the old airport, and the logging camp may be worth a visit if you like structures built before Starbucks had competition from the Dutch Brothers.
Visitor FAQ
Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument (USFS East Side)
Sites to See: How about first stopping by the Tusuyan Ranger Station with its six historic buildings, the Hull Cabin, the Grandview Lookout Tower, an old airport that used to bring celebrities to see the Grand Canyon, and the remnants of the Apex Logging Camp.
Hiking: The Arizona Trail runs from various trailheads, including one at Grandview Tower, built in 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The trail is not only confined to the National Monument, it runs for eight hundred miles from Texas to Utah. Other trails are shorter; Tusayan Bike Trails run on old logging roads with loops from 1.1 miles to 17.2 miles long. The Vishnu Trail is a one mile loop with lookouts sighting the Grand Canyon. It starts just north of the Grandview Tower.
Camping: The Tusayan Montane, formerly known as the Ten-X Campground, is the only developed campground in either section of the park. It has been around for over fifty years and recently expanded from its seventy-five original sites to one hundred sixty-five plus group sites to accommodate recreation vehicles and tents. There are no utilities or shower facilities. Vault toilets are available. The Elk Loop is open to first come first serve. Other sites may be reserved. It is located only two miles from the town of Tusayan and only ten miles from the south entrance to Grand Canyon National Park. There are also other campgrounds in the Kanab National Forest, as well as the opportunity to primitive camp throughout most of the national monument. Ask at the ranger station or a Visitor Center what your options are for backcountry camping.
Photo above: Red Butte mountain in eastern section of the Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument, 2004, Curtis Clark. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons C.C. 2.5.
Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument (BLM North Side)
Sites to See: If you are on your first visit to the park, stop at the Public Lands Interagency Visitor Center, 345 East Riverside Drive in St. George, Utah. Not that it is close to either the BLM or USFS National Monument sites, forty-two miles from the BLM and sixty miles to the USFS sections, but it will help you orient until a full management plan establishes just where and which ranger stations will become more like Visitor Centers.
Driving: Traveling along over two hundred miles of road, whether the Vermillion Drive or Highways 59, 389 and 89A will take you past awesome vistas of this land surrounding the Grand Canyon and tributaries to the Colorado River.
Camping: There are no developed campgrounds in the Bureau of Land Management section of the park. Lodging is available in many of the small towns surrounding it, whether in Utah (St. George, Hurricane, Hildale or Kanab) or in Arizona (Page, Marble Canyon, Jacob Lake or Colorado City). Primitive camping, or dispersed camping, is allowed in the backcountry or along secondary roads. Ask for any limitations at the nearest ranger station.
Photo above: Vermillion Cliffs along the Vermillion Cliffs Highway. Courtesy Bureau of Land Management.
Native American History
There are three thousand cultural and historic sites within Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni - Ancestors of the Grand Canyon National Monument. They include the sacred heritage of the tribes of the Havasupai Tribe, Hopi Tribe, Hualapai Tribe, Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, Moapa Band of Paiutes, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Navajo Nation, San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Yavapai Prescott, Pueblo of Zuni, and the Colorado River Indian Tribes who lived on the plateaus and in the valleys of the tributaries to the Colorado River.
It is the ancestors of those nations, twelve tribes, that have pushed for the national monument. Part of the designation made the twenty year moratorium on uranium mining permanent. Let us hope that the national monument remains.
Photo above: Navajo Woman smiling, 1904, Edward E. Curtis. Courtesy Library of Congress.
Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument Links
Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument (BLM)
Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni National Monument (USFS)