Monument Valley

The day we left Bryce Canyon was the day of their half marathon. We were warned by the hotel that announcements would begin at 5am. By 6.30am any disruption would be over, roads would be clear and movement would be back to normal. We heard nothing and were actually later than was usual for us going to breakfast. We hit the road to Monument Valley around 8.30, planning a detour to Zion National Park along the way.

An easy drive, times all good, roads quite clear ended in the first queue we had been part of to enter a park. It moved fast and was not a problem. However, learning the shuttle ride we had intended to take to see more of the park than is possible in a car started after another 13 miles we began to wonder what we would manage. The roads were good – as we thought the vast majority were, especially in the parks – but not very wide and there were loads of hairpin bends to manoeuvre so travel was quite slow. But the colours were spectacular – paler than some reminding me of raspberries and cream, like raspberry ripple ice cream. See why?

We drove down to the Visitors’ Centre where the shuttle started, couldn’t find a parking spot, saw the queue for the shuttle and decided actually we were being too ambitious, so we drove back up the hills, through the tunnels and continued the journey to Monument Valley.

Perhaps this image makes it even clearer why the rocks reminded me of raspberry ripple. The colours, too, seemed gentler than in some of the other canyons and the jagged rocks added shape and a kind of texture.

There were various points to view the expanse of colour as we travelled back through the park, along a road which hugged and cut through the mountains and was an amazing feat of engineering

Work started on the 1.1 mile tunnel through the sandstone mountains started in 1927. It was completed two years and ten months after the project began and on July 3, 1930, the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway and Tunnel was officially dedicated and opened to the public. Visitors travelled along the new scenic route in the comfort of an automobile and enjoyed views of the high desert landscape along the way. 

I was intrigued, too, by the ‘checkerboard’ and was pleased there was a chance to stop and look again as we drove back.

Those paler colours again! I was glad we hadn’t missed Zion altogether.

The drive to Monument Valley would be another three hours and I was keen to arrive in time for sunset. But we needed to eat! So, aiming to avoid the ever present ‘chains’ like Burger King and Wendy’s, we stopped at Honey’s Marketplace in one of the small communities we drove through. This was great – we were able to buy fresh food – even sushi – pay for it and eat there or take away. We did both: ate some there and bought salads which we enjoyed later sitting on the balcony of our hotel room enjoying the evening sun. Somjit’s best buy of the trip so far was a huge bag (2.4lbs) of really delicious cherries for less than $5 – a treat!!

The onward journey was straightforward: easy driving on reasonable roads with sensible speed limits. This drive was a constant reminder that it’s the whole area that is red sandstone, not just Monument Valley with its huge rock formations. The land seemed pretty barren though at one point we noticed something that looked like a storage silo: we couldn’t think what might be stored in it.

Room 212 at Gouldings Lodge has a great view at sunset!

Some may think even better at sunrise….

Getting up in time for sunrise is no problem when it’s guaranteed!

We had booked a morning tour of the valley through Gouldings and I have to confess to being disappointed: I had hoped for some information about the culture of the Navajo people, but, other than a visit to a demonstration ‘hogan’ all we got was a list of the names of the various rock formations as we passed them – and even that seemed a bit cursory with absolutely no opportunity to ask questions or to seek clarification. Shame!

The hogan was interesting, though.

Apparently the hogan is built for a couple when they marry. It is theirs for life, for bringing up children, marrying children and welcoming grandchildren. When one of the partners dies the other leaves them in the hogan and after the appropriate ceremonies the hogan and its occupant are left to their fate together. I wondered what happened to the other partner?!

The monoliths are huge.

The Three Sisters do, indeed, have the stance of three nuns walking through the desert and the Totem Pole to the left of the image below is a very fragile looking structure that was climbed by Clint Eastwood when he was making ‘The Eiger Sanction’.

And then there were the caves with holes in and the rock walls with ancient painting – but no detail about the significance of either:

According to one writer I found, Ansel Adams photographed these same petroglyphs in 1958. You can see his image here .

After lunch in the restaurant, tasting a typical Navajo taco that was the most difficult thing I’ve ever tried to eat – even though it tasted good – an afternoon taking stock and retreating from the intense heat was needed before we ventured to The View for sunset: a different perspective.

I couldn’t help admiring the dedication of one photographer who was already shooting a time lapse panorama on a two camera set-up when we arrived and was still at it after we left. I hope his results were what he wanted.

Goulding’s Lodge was an interesting place to spend time with a small museum of movie memorabilia on site recording the films of John Wayne and others. ‘She Wore a Yellow Ribbon’ was made here as were many classic westerns of that era. More recently, commercials and Back to the Future 3, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Mission: Impossible 2 and 2001: A Space Odyssey have used the area.

Onward after another sunrise: next stop the Grand Canyon.