Monument Valley (1 July)


On the road again for a fairly short journey to Monument Valley. We considered a diversion to see Four Corners (where the states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona join) but we decided it might compromise a scheduled trip on the Navajo reservation at 4 pm.

The journey itself was beautiful. It seemed that we would drive across a plain or through a canyon or across a plateau and then leave it by turning a corner around a hill, or exiting the canyon, or crossing the pass and suddenly enter a new world. Our trip took us across salt bush plains, through deserts in which very little grew, through canyons with beautiful colours and shapes, past cultivated farmland, through small villages, some of which were tidy and organised while others were little more than a collection of shacks, broken down motorhomes, and sheds.


We had to stop at Bluff and looked for the port and signpost to Antarctica but couldn't find them. Instead we found a cafe tucked in under the hill. They didn't have espresso, only cona coffee, so we made our own with the Aeropress in the motorhome.




We arrived at Mexican Hat, a feature with a small stone in the shape of an upside down sombrero balanced on a pillar. We were impressed.



We were more impressed when we began the approach into Monument Valley. The pictures below are a cliché but they are also iconic and we took them!!






Our tour included a tour on the reservation. At 4pm we left in a 4x4 truck. The driver had an air-conditioned cab and we sat up in the back. It was a bumpy ride into the reservation where the metal roads hadn't seen a grader for some time and some of the roads weren't even metaled and made the 4x4 work hard to get through the sand.


Tours in Monument Valley begin at the top of a plateau and then descend down into a steep sided valley.


The driver's narration began with numerous film references, especially John Wayne and the director John Ford. Apparently Ford produced six films into which he always managed to insert a scene that had a particular monument called the totem pole.



We saw several examples of holes in the monuments and arches.
 



We also saw a petroglyph.


 But mostly we just enjoyed the monuments and the valley.

Three Sisters:







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