Navajoland is also known as the Navajo Nation and it It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah…
Film Photograph by Adam Chrysler
The modern village of Lupton Arizona is know as the “gateway to the Navajo Nation,” and is famous for its painted cliffs, ancient Anasazi history, and Route 66…
Film Photograph by Adam Chrysler
Colorful trading posts began appearing in the late 1950’s when the modern freeway, I-40 was built. This is a modern shop built in 1994…
Film Photograph by Adam Chrysler
Older shops exist today including the famous Yellowhorse Trading Post. It is a tourist attraction mainly opened during the summer and offers authentic Navajo crafts, Route 66 memorabilia, and southwestern clothing…
Film Photograph by Adam Chrysler
Other shops have become historic relics of the 1960’s Americana road-trip culture…
This includes the Indian Village which features native style painted rock in the natural Navajo Sandstone Alcove behind it…
Film Photograph by Adam Chrysler
Amusement style animal statues of deer, eagles, mountain lions, etc… are placed on the ledge of the sandstone cliff above the Indian Village…
Ortega’s Indian Market use to feature a geodesic dome which burned down in 2022, and was one of the most popular stops in Navajoland…
In 1926, Route 66 was aligned through Lupton following the National Old Trails Highway which had been created in the early 1910s…
Film Photograph by Adam Chrysler
The rock formations in Navajoland are part of the Colorado Plateau, and come from the Morrison Formation from the Jurassic period around 150 million years ago…
Film Photograph by Adam Chrysler
Juan and Frank Beasly adopted their Mother’s Navajo last name of Yellowhorse when they went into the crafts business after serving in the Korean War. You can see “Puddy Tat,” the property’s friendly feral guard cat sneaking down the lower-left steps…
Film Photography by Adam Chrysler
Navajo Castle, also known as “Chief’s Cave” was Juan Yellowhorse’s childhood home, designed and built by his father, Arthur Beasley in the 1950s. It sits on historic land dating all the way back to the Anasazi…
Film Photograph by Adam Chrysler
The Arizona-New Mexico Stateline cuts through “Chief’s Cave.” Here we see “Sitting Bull” laying across the Stateline while his nervous buddy “Sasquatch” circles him…
Film Photograph by Adam Chrysler
Ancient fossils, arrowheads, and wild animal bones can be found in and around the Navajo Sandstone Alcove of “Chief’s Cave…”
Film Photograph by Adam Chrysler
Ancient Anasazi Petroglyphs dating back some 10,000 to 12,000 years can be found carved in the Sandstone Alcove…
Film Photograph by Adam Chrysler
This is a traditional Petroglyph of a Pronghorn, which are abundant in this part of northern Arizona and native to Navajoland…
Film Photograph by Adam Chrysler
According to Scott Yellowhorse, Juan “Chief Yellowhorse’s” son, this is a very faint “universal earth symbol,” found many places around the globe…
Film Photograph
There are ancient cliff dwellings in the Sandstone Alcove, which also housed wild buffalo, and ostrich. The cliffs are actually pretty dangerous, especially in Spring and Fall, due to freezing and thawing, cracking and falling rock…
Film Photograph by Adam Chrysler
This is a vintage wishing well explaining that there will be luck for native silver money known as Wampum, but no luck for European settler or eastern pioneer money…
Film Photograph by Adam Chrysler
About 30-minutes north of Lupton, Arizona is the Capital of the Navajo Nation - Window Rock. This is where a traditional Navajo Medicine Man would collect water and perform a Waterway Ceremony for the tribe…
Film Photograph by Adam Chrysler
Window Rock is the site of the Navajo Nation governmental, including the Navajo Nation Council, Supreme Court, and offices of the Navajo Nation President and Vice President…
Film Photograph by Adam Chrysler