Walnut Canyon National Monument

Walnut Canyon National Monument protects a series of ancient cliff dwellings built between 1125 and 1250 CE.
Since time immemorial, Indigenous Peoples have lived and traveled throughout Walnut Canyon’s dynamic landscape. Vibrant communities built their homes in the cliffs and farmed along the canyon’s rim. Today the park preserves this landscape, and the ancestral homes in and around the canyon.
Map showing location of park.
Walnut Canyon's cliff dwellings are illuminated by the afternoon sun.
Photo by NPS Photo
sunlight illuminates stone walls in a canyon cliff dwelling
Photo by NPS Photo / Marge Ullmann
a common raven landing on a barren juniper branch
Photo by NPS Photo / Case Griffing
warm sunlight illuminates a cliff dwelling wall beside a snowy trail
Photo by NPS Photo
a visitor looks out over Walnut Canyon from the trail
Photo by NPS Photo / Case Griffing
a circular overlook at the edge of the canyon rim
Photo by NPS Photo / Marge Ullmann