For Navajo and Hopi Tribes, Daylight Savings Is Confusing

Above, the Navajo Nation's Hubbell Trading Post in Ganado, Arizona. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Whenever I go into Arizona during the summer months, I have to be mindful that the state is not observing Daylight Savings Time. 

Arizona is under Mountain Time, the same as New Mexico, but with the exception of the Navajo Nation within the state, Daylight Saving Time is not observed. The Navajo Nation in Arizona observes Daylight Savings Time.

However, the Hopi tribe does not observe Daylight Savings Time. 

As one can imagine, this causes a lot of confusion.

The Arizona Daily Sun has posted an article on how bad the confusion gets.

They begin with:

Those who live on the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation — the largest Native American reservation in the U.S. — endure mind-bending calculations every March through November.

The Navajo Nation, which also stretches into Utah and New Mexico, reset its clocks for one hour later despite being situated between two territories that remain on standard time: the rest of Arizona and the neighboring Hopi reservation.

It's made for an especially unique situation with the Hopi reservation, which is landlocked within the Navajo Nation and goes by standard time year-round. A stretch of U.S. 160 in Tuba City is the de facto border between the two reservations and two time zones.

To read the full article, go here.