Walnut Canyon Visitor Center — Attraction in Four Corners States

The park is extremely beautiful and a 5/5 but this visitors center is not at all prepared for the amount of traffic it receives. The parking lot is very small and the cars end up parking in the RV lane thus leaving the RVs no place to go.

The bathrooms are clean but very small.

Once we walked inside the visitors center it was HECTIC. People everywhere.

We arrived right when the gates opened at 9:00am and we were already fifth in line and it consistently became busier after that. It seemed to quiet down a bit at lunch time.

The trails are all very well preserved. The rim trail is an easy walk to two look out points that are dotted with benches. The route to the Pueblo is a short detour with a slight uphill climb but quickly flattens out. There are plenty of benches along this wall as well.

The island trail is beautiful. It’s 736 stairs round trip. My husband and I made the climb back up in 10 minutes but we saved all the plaques to read for the way up as a place to take a breather. There is railing and benches scattered throughout. We are 30 and mildly athletic to paint a picture. Not avid hikers...

Overall I found this visitor center not suited for the amount of traffic it faces.

Once my wife and I walked inside on a Tuesday morning in March to find there was major congestion making for a pretty crazy environment. I also found there to be not enough restrooms as well as parking. All of the regular car size spots were full so cars began parking in the RV/Trailer spaces. For overflow parking they have you park on the dirt shoulder a good walk away from the visitor center. Considering all of this, I could not imagine visiting on the weekend during busy season.

I also did not like that the exhibit portion was dual purposed as the video area. The seating for the video took up a quarter of the space, the TV was blocking several information plaques, and the lights were dark so you could see the video but this made it difficult to see the exhibits.

With all that being said, the place was well-kept, bathrooms were clean, it was wheel chair accessible, and the staff were very friendly. I would recommend this National Monument...

My first experience with sitting at the top stair crying because I was too scared to try and walk down them being that I have crazy dizziness with heights. A couple of women actually offered to hike down with me and I took them up on it… I’m back now, a year later and much braver! I come now just for the exercise and all alone and I love this trail I’ve come three days in a row! Today will be four! It’s a lot of stairs but extremely good exercise for those who want it and lots of education to be had about cliff dwellings and canyon formation. Bonus, if you come on Friday there’s a guy to tell you all kinds of cool stuff while you’re on the island trail! I love walnut canyon because it is in walking distance from the walnut canyon forest road and so easy to walk up from your campsite! All the volunteers are super friendly as well! Stop in when you come to flagstaff and see the past...