Walnut Canyon National Monument Revisit

I had visited this National Monument 2 years earlier, but since Kerri had never been here and I had failed to acquire a lapel pin back then, it was revisiting time for Walnut Canyon National Monument.

A view of the “island”

The park is actually quite small, with only two trails to choose from; The Rim Trail leads you a short distance out from the Visitor’s Center along the rim of the canyon(duh) while the Island Trail drops you down into the canyon itself to tour some of the cliff dwellings.

Two years ago half of this trail was closed, so this time I got to hike the full loop, all 0.9 miles of it. It is not the length that is the hurdle, it is the 200+ stairs that must be traversed to go down, then back up out of the canyon.