Monument Valley's Monumental Views

While we are in this part of Arizona, we wanted to visit Monument Valley. We originally thought that we would move the motor home down the road closer to the valley. But we like our camping spot at Navajo National Monument so much that we decided to make Monument Valley into a road trip. We knew we were getting closer to this famous valley when we drove by this mammoth monolith on the side of the highway. No sign, no name--just grand and beautiful scenery.

Monument Valley Tribal Park is owned by the Navajo tribe, so our national park pass didn't get us in free today. After a long series of national parks and monuments, we realized this was the first place that we had to pay to visit in a very long time. We paid our $20 entrance fee, then took this picture at the visitor center. We can see the road below that winds by some of the most famous rock formations in the park. Those tiny cars on the road help us to get an idea of the size of this special place.

But before we drive, we're going to hike while it's still cool this morning. This is the most photographed rock formation in the park, can you guess its name?

Here is a hint. Think cold weather hand covering.

Correct! This is the West Mitten, and we're going to be able to get closer on our hike than those people in their cars.

In fact, Mark scrambled as close as he could, just to give a sense of scale to how big this mitten is. If you haven't spotted Mark yet, look at the very bottom center of the picture below. He's standing beside a 15-foot boulder. Now it's easier to get an idea of the grandeur we are experiencing.

It's hard to imagine that this is a picture of the same rock formation. As we made the 4-mile hike that loops around the mitten, we got this side shot.

Literally, on the other hand, the loop hike brought us closer to the other mitten. Denisa's up the gnarly old tree that nicely frames the East Mitten.

This park is on the Navajo reservation, and it is interesting to see houses here in the shadow of the mitten. What a place to live!

As we continue hiking our loop, we get behind the mittens to see some of the rock formations in the distance. If some of these silhouettes look familiar, you might be a fan of old western movies. Monument Valley is best known as the place where many western movies were filmed in the 1930's and 1940's.

We certainly didn't need our jackets by the time we got finished with our hike. Now it was time to get in the car for the other activity included with our price of admission--driving the 17-mile loop in the park among more of these giant rocks.

This road starts out sandy, and then gets rough and pot-holed. We're pretty sure the Navajos choose not to fix the road. They are hoping a lousy road will convince most people to purchase one of their tours in the back of a four-wheel-drive truck. But our trusty little car took us around the loop, even though it wasn't easy.

One of the first formations we drove by was named "The Three Sisters." Denisa was thinking it might look like her and her two older sisters. But instead, our description said it was a "Catholic nun facing her two pupils."

These giant rock formations just suddenly arise from the desert floor. It reminds us of the landscape we saw when we visited Wadi Rum desert in Jordan. It's hard to tell just how big they are in a picture. Let's just say that full-size white SUV in the picture below certainly doesn't look very full-sized.

We pulled into one of the parking areas to see the "totem poles" and the "dancers emerging from a hogan" in the distance.

But it turns out the vendors were hoping we turned in to see their wares. We've looked at a lot of Navajo jewelry in the last week.

We saw some of the juniper berry bracelets and necklaces--or as our Navajo guide taught us, ghost bead jewelry.

After we lurched and bumped our way around the driving loop, we stopped for one last look at some of the best of Monument Valley. We have been wandering through the same wonders that John Wayne has wandered.

For those that don't want to spend the $20 to enter into the park, there are some great formations for all to see along the highway. They are even named, but we found you had to be at just the correct angle to identify them. For example, at this angle we can see "the sitting hen" in the center of the picture; but "the sleeping bear" to the right just looks like an oversized bump to us.

Monument Valley sits right at the state line. In the course of the day we drove from Arizona into Utah into Arizona into Utah and then back into Arizona. Denisa wanted to take pictures each time we crossed the state line, but even she thought that was a little excessive. We made the hour-long drive back to our camp site. In our three-night stay we have learned the best place to watch the sunset. It's a gathering place to meet our camping neighbors, and we've had some splendid night-time skies.

But after three more nights with no hook-ups, we are heading on down the road. For the last week we have been using the water in our tanks and the electricity from our generator. This has been a beautiful trek through the Navajo reservation, and we are getting used to living like pioneers.