The Navajo Nation happens to be the largest Native American reservation in the United States. So it should be no surprise that I visited more than one national park site there. My second national park site in the Navajo Nation was Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site. The site, which preserves an old western trading post, is the oldest trading post within the Navajo Nation. Unlike Canyon de Chelly, though, this park is run solely by the National Park Service.

The park was an easy drive from Canyon de Chelly and quite short too as it only took thirty minutes to travel from one to the other. Upon first entering the park I crossed the Pueblo Colorado Wash by bridge. I ended up being disappointed that I never got closer to it as it looked like a classical western river. Beyond the bridge was the park sign, which I quickly snapped a picture with. The park’s visitor center is at the main compound, just like most of the features of the park. The visitor center was rather small, but when I was there, there were many park rangers on hand to answer any questions. The exhibit there also did a good job of informing you on the history of the site, the life of John Hubbell and the techniques that the Navajo use to create many of their crafts and artworks.

The main highlight of the park though is the trading post itself, which is right across from the visitor center. The place still feels like a real old west mercantile. The trading post is composed of three rooms. The main room is a traditional old school shop with goods such as groceries and local candies and treats. I had to buy myself some of the Hubbell Trading Post branded salsa as well as some local Navajo chocolate with chiles inside. The chocolate was spicy but not overly so and provided a nice kick when I had a little bit each morning on the rest of my trip. I didn’t try the salsa until I got home from my trip and this was a lot hotter than the chocolate. It was just tolerable enough to eat in moderation, but I, ultimately, quite liked it. The next room was an old western stylized room with actual 19th century style rifles and some jewelry, which made for an interesting mix. The final room, in the back, was filled with Navajo rugs, which are quite popular. It was tempting to get one, especially after seeing Aftersun (really good movie if you haven’t seen it and at one point the main character contemplates buying a Turkish rug after visiting a shop while on vacation), but there was no way I was going to be able to transport it home.

I spent some time after visiting the trading post trying to explore outside on the property, but there just wasn’t much that caught my eye. There was no path that made its way to the wash at the edge of the property and I didn’t want to go off trail on Navajo land. The Hubbell home property was nothing special and you needed to do a ranger tour to go inside. That being said, there were quite a lot of people at the park for a place that seemed to be a bit out of the way. The trip was ultimately short but sweet (just like the chocolate on sale there).