We are in the USA and as we drive from one stunning destination to another, I am in awe.
Everyone knows about the Grand Canyon but there are so many other incredible natural wonders here.
One such place isMonument Valley. It is so underrated that even the Americans we spoke to had never been there. A few minutes with me and they were making plans to get there!!
This vast desert area is slightly north east of the Grand Canyon in Arizona in Navajo Indian country.
It is when you turn off the road at Kayenta and drive between pillars of rocks, your mouth starts to drop……until you reach the valley proper.
That’s when you take a gulp!
Oh how I love that country. In a nutshell it is a colour palette of red and blue and that is it. But what a vision!
Our hotel was the newly built Hotel View which snugged onto the edge of a decent sized hill looking out across the park.
The Valley View at Sunset
Staying at the Hotel View is an absolute must if you really wish to savour your experience. The rooms were wonderful and the restaurant served reasonably priced and delicious food. But apart from that, sunset and sunrise are spectacular moments that are not to be missed.
This photo is from our bedroom window. You don’t get much better than that anywhere in the world.
We decide to take a tour as we did not think our rental car company would appreciate us dragging their brand new Mazda around the dirt tracks.
Jeremy and the Jeep
Jeremy meets us at the tour ‘box’ where the tour operators (local Indians) are playing cards. We are soon signed up with him and he leads us to the most ‘desert’ bashed open jeep I have ever seen.
It is about 4pm. Mr G and I scramble in the back seat and Jeremy takes off. The next few hours will be very interesting if the comfort is anything to go on! There is one thing I will be eternally grateful for though is my good sense to take a scarf to wrap around my hair and my Gortex jacket.
We drive down the hill and towards the colourful tall, red sandstone buttes, mesas, and arches created by thousands of years of erosion.
And so began ‘project photo album’.
From my research I have found that Monument Valley actually encompasses approximately 5,180 sq km northeastern Arizona and southeastern Utah.
This is Indian Reservation territory and a protected Navajo Tribal Park. The Navajos have occupied the valley since the 1860s and is still home to their people.
You can take a drive around the main spires but if you want to go the surrounding areas you need to book one of the official Navajo guides. Jeremy is our way to ‘behind’ the scenes and like noone else on tour, we are zipped around in his zippy little jeep (not the more open top truck we notice others in)
We find out Jeremy is an avid photographer and will be heading out in the early morning light for some autumn sunrise snaps. He tells us he is taking the National Geographic out for a tour of the Puebloan art, that we are also privy to on this trip. 1,000's of years old Puebloan art
We turn off the main road and enter the ‘private’ road area. Here we come across the area that holds the art work by the ancestral Puebloans (also known as the Anasazi Indians). A large number of people lived in the area from about AD 500 to AD 1300 before they just disappeared. They are well known for their rock art, stone masonry buildings, ornate pottery and woven baskets. The beautiful petroglyphs and pictographs they left behind are well preserved
Here in the late afternoon, the colours are warm and the rocks are glowing.
As we are guided around the rock formations we find out some of their names. If you look long enough you see for yourself that they resemble animals or other images such as bears or rabbits
See the Indian head in profile
Here are some of the names of the rock formations.
Mitchell Butte and Merric Butte were named after two soldiers serving under Kit Carson. They were killed for attempting to mine for silver in the sacred area.
The Right Mitten looks like a mitton (some automobile commercials were filmed on top)
There are Three Sisters because they look like nuns dressed in habits.
Jeremy showed us the Rain God Mesa with a platform on top for "medicine men" to pray for rain. He swore it worked.
The Totem Pole
The Totem Polespeaks for itself. It is a 400 feet high scarlet rock formation that reaches into the sky. We see the Hub, the thunderbird Mesa and so many more. You will see them too when you come here.
John Wayne 'lived' here
We noticed a small house in the middle of a flat area which is purportedly used in a film starring John Wayne and directed by John Ford. In fact there is a John Ford’s Point in honour of him.
Countless major films and TV episode and commercials have been shot here. Some films you might know are:
Kit Carson, Billy the Kid, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Searchers, How the West Was Won, The Legend of the Lone Ranger, Back to the Future II and III, Forrest Gump, Wild, Wild West and the list goes on…..
As we leap in and out of the jeep to take photos the sun slowly goes down and the rocks start to build in colour. The sight is awesome.
I am in a photo taking frenzy
But it is here my gortex jacket has come into its own. It is freezing. Mr G is in unsatisfactory clad but he still manages to put aside the chill factor to embrace this glorious place.
It is time to return to the View Hotel where we say goodbye to our host. We head up to our room and there from the balcony awaits a scene I’ll never forget.
