Some of the best stops on a road trip are the ones you didn't plan. Cliff Dwellers Stone House is one of those — a cluster of stone rooms and outbuildings wedged beneath and between enormous balancing boulders right off Highway 89A in Marble Canyon, Arizona. The Vermilion Cliffs rise behind it. The boulders perch on impossibly small bases, looking like they could topple in the next breeze. And the whole strange assemblage has a story behind it that sounds invented but isn't.

We stopped here on October 7, 2020 — on the way home from a sisters' trip to Zion and southern Utah, the same day as the Navajo Moenave Dinosaur Tracks. I had been by this spot sometime before without stopping. This time we stopped.

The Story — A Car Breaks Down in the Desert

The story of Cliff Dwellers begins during the Great Depression. Blanche Russell was a Ziegfeld Follies dancer — one of the most prestigious performance careers in early 20th-century America. She gave it all up to care for her husband Bill, who was suffering from tuberculosis. The couple packed up and moved southwest, hoping the dry desert air would ease his symptoms.

Crossing the newly completed Navajo Bridge across the Colorado River south of Lees Ferry around 1927, they made it only a few more miles before their car broke down near the big boulders along the highway. Blanche decided on the spot that this was not a bad place to live. They threw up a lean-to against the largest rock and stayed.

The first stone house was built beneath a balanced boulder. A roadside

sandwich stand followed. Then a gas pump. Then an expanded trading post. The Honeymoon Trail — the route traveled by young Mormon couples from northern Arizona to St. George, Utah to register their marriages — ran right past the boulders, providing a steady stream of customers. Blanche and Bill spent about a decade at the site before selling to a local rancher named Jack Church, who turned the restaurant into a bar in the early 1940s.

Art Greene Sr. and his family bought the property in 1943 — by then eight outbuildings had been built into and around the boulder field. The Greenes expanded operations and eventually built the Cliff Dwellers Lodge nearby, offering the first guided boat tours on the Colorado River from Lees Ferry. The original stone buildings beneath the boulders remained.

The stone house site sits along US-89A adjacent to Cliff Dwellers Lodge — the surrounding landscape is within or adjacent to Vermilion Cliffs National Monument managed by the BLM. The site itself appears to be private property associated with the lodge operation. Access has historically been open to visitors at no charge — however as this may be private land, treat it with respect and follow any posted signage regarding access

The Site — What to Explore

The rock formations are the main attraction — massive boulders of Navajo sandstone perching on tiny bases in configurations that look structurally impossible. The farther back into the boulder field you go the more formations there are to find and explore. No official trails — it's a wander at your own pace through the rocks, finding more structures and more balancing formations the deeper you go.

The stone rooms themselves are built into the gaps and overhangs of the largest boulders — walls of fitted stone filling in the spaces between natural rock faces to create enclosed rooms. Walking into them connects immediately to the resourcefulness of Blanche Russell and the ingenuity of building shelter from what the desert provides. Some of the outbuildings are still largely intact. The Vermilion Cliffs rising behind the boulder field provide the backdrop that makes the whole site as photogenic as it is historically interesting.

Watch your step throughout — 13 species of rattlesnake live in Arizona, more than any other state, and the rock crevices here are exactly the habitat they favor. Watch where you place your hands when climbing on rocks.

The Navajo Vendor — and the Bracelet

Navajo vendors can often be found set up at the site — a tradition that continues the trading post history of this corridor along Highway 89A. During my visit I stopped to browse and found a silver bracelet — four strands of heavy gauge wire woven into a cuff — that immediately caught my attention. When the vendor and I started talking and he found out I was also a jeweler, the conversation shifted. He gave me a price I could not pass up. I bought the bracelet that day and have not taken it off since.

Part of the Same Day

This stop was part of the same October 7, 2020 drive home from Utah that included the Navajo Bridge and Navajo Moenave Dinosaur Tracks near Tuba City — a day of unexpected stops along Highway 89A and 89 that turned a drive home into a road trip worth remembering. This corridor between the Utah border and Flagstaff through the Navajo Nation and Vermilion Cliffs country rewards those who slow down and watch for the signs.

More Information

• Free and open year-round 24 hours — no fees, no reservations

• No official parking — pull off highway, space available along the road

• No official trails — explore the boulder field at your own pace

• Open to climbing on and around the boulders — watch for rattlesnakes in crevices

• Navajo vendors occasionally present — not guaranteed, more common on weekends and in warmer months

• Current Cliff Dwellers Lodge nearby on US-89A — restaurant and lodging, separate from the historic stone house

• Vermilion Cliffs National Monument surrounding area — open for dispersed camping on BLM land

• BLM Arizona Strip Field Office: (435) 688-3200

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