Coal Mine Canyon, a study in contrasts

Coal Mine Canyon is a study in contrasts. It is a relatively small place with unworldly beauty. It is almost entirely unknown and yet is located only a short distance from a major highway. There are no signs marking the turnoff or identifying the canyon. No interpretive sites. No visitors' center. No guardrails. No signs telling you not to fall into the canyon. No vendors. No IMAX movie. No Japanese or European tourists. No shuttle buses. No Rangers in uniform. No hikers. No campers. No newlyweds taking each others' pictures. No curio shops. Not much except the canyon.

You can see Coal Mine Canyon in the morning and be to the Grand Canyon National Park by lunch if you want all the other things listed above. Or you can spend a week exploring its nooks and crannies.

It is one of the jewels of Arizona and it is hard to find. Even if you know where it is, it is hard to find. The roads are not only not marked they are dirt and don't go directly to the canyon. It cannot be seen from any paved road. It is not on any map of Arizona. Here are some pictures.

The rim of the Canyon and the view points are extremely unstable and undercut. Walking too close to the edge could dump you 200 feet down to the bottom of the canyon.
The upper edge of the Canyon is a low grade coal. The Hopi Indians used to come here to mine coal. The red rock is shale and is said to have oxidized as a result of the burning of the coal. In examining the beds of shale, I disagree, they are highly oxidized but the shale is in narrow bands separated by other clay bands that do not appear to have any coal content. The read shale beds have fossils.

This site is on the Navajo Indian Reservation and subject to Navajo Nation laws and police. A Navajo Nation permit is required to camp anywhere on the Reservation. The Canyon is practically in the backyard of someone's home and they would certainly be aware if you were camped there.


The wind blows all the time and there are no restrooms, water or anything resembling civilization other than five cement picnic tables. Some of the accounts mentioned a lot of garbage, we didn't see much, it must have been removed by the Navajos or some other civic minded people.