Round Trip Distance: 0.4 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 6411 - 6442 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: Sliding House Overlook
Fee: none
Attractions: Scenic views, ruins
The Sliding House Overlook is located along the South Rim Drive in the Canyon de Chelly (pronounced Shay) National Monument near Chinle, Arizona. The location is one of seven overlooks that are spread out along the south rim of the monument. This is one of the few sites where there weren't any Navajo vendors selling their crafts.
It is 9 miles to the Sliding House Overlook Road along the South Rim Drive, Indian Route 7, measuring from its intersection with the North Rim Drive and then about another mile and a half to the trailhead.
Follow the signs that lead from the parking area to where the trail commences. Another sign at this point warns of the approaching sheer cliffs.
The primitive trail crosses broken slickrock enroute to the overlook with an opportunity to stretch your legs a bit more than at some of the other stops.
There are actually two different overlooks at this location. The first one looks into the canyon toward Antelope Point.
Over the course of a day the shadows cast by the sun present an ever changing scene when viewing the canyon.
The second overlook is a short distance away.
The ruin gets its name from the precarious slope upon which it was built that eventually resulted in most of it sliding off the side of the cliff. If you zoom in on the photo you can see pictographs that were painted on the cliff that were probably made from the rooftops of rooms that are no longer there.
This is a picture of more of the ruin that is to the right of the first.
To appreciate what this photo is of you will need to click on it and zoom in to see a hiker on a very narrow trail that traverses around the sandstone outcrop. We believe that the hiker is on the White Sand Ruin trail which is a ruin that is hidden out of view below where we were standing when this photo was taken.
Another view of the canyon where time seems to have stopped and all that have called it home over the past millennia still seem to be present with their stories being carried up the breezes that whisper against its walls. A person's life was probably never easy here but every breath and every beat of the heart was surely worth all the toil that it took to sustain it just to be able to live in such a beautiful place.
