Monument Valley, Utah

Roger here...  Doing the blog of Monument Valley is a monumental task (pun intended).  The problem is not the subject.  The problem is not the photos.  The problem is that so much happened during our four-hour twilight tour (led by Bennett, our Navajo guide), that it is extremely difficult to decide what to include.  The opening photo is of a Navajo on his horse with a portion of the Navajo Tribal Park (Monument Valley) in the background.


How to organize all this?  I think I will split it into three chronological parts --- late afternoon, adventures in the back country, and twilight.


LATE AFTERNOON...  Bennett, our guide from Goulding's tours, picked us up at the campground office, driving a huge pick-up truck with a giant, covered, open bed.  Dianne and I climbed the steps to our padded seats in the bed of the truck.  Ten other people (six from Germany) joined us.  Little did we know how valuable the padding on the seats would be.  

Our first stop was at the historical Goulding Trading Post, the home base for countless movies including many starring John Wayne.  Me and John --- Best Buds!  Dianne took this picture the previous day when we visited the original trading post which is now an interesting museum that highlights the lives of the Gouldings, the Navajo people and the movie history --- Stagecoach, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Eiger Sanction, Back to the Future III, How the West was Won, Thelma and Louise, etc. -- all had scenes filmed here.

The view from the trading post (above) provided an intriguing view of the sites that we would soon enjoy.

After riding by a couple of the free-range horses, we spent some time in an authentic Navajo hogan. No photos here because we did not want to offend any of the traditions of the native Navajo people, but what an interesting demonstration we observed.  Lucy, an elderly Navajo woman, demonstrated the process of creating a wool rug.  Bennett talked about the construction of the hogan and highlighted a few of the Navajo traditions that are still observed --- all doorways facing east,  movement always occurs in a clockwise direction within the round structure, when sleeping - all heads are next to the outside wall.... 

After the demonstration we headed to the Tribal Park.  The $5 per person admission charge was included with the cost of the tour.  You can drive the bumpy, dusty roads in your own car, but Dianne and I highly recommend a tour with a Navajo guide.  We would have missed so much had we been on our own.  

EVERY monument and mesa has a name, and I don't remember them all.  In this part of the blog, I will pick out the best-of-the-best photos, and will name them if I can remember the names.  

Blogger is being wonky right now and does not let me post pictures at the side of the text.  So.... I will label the pictures underneath the photos.

The Mittens (left and right)

The Elephant (look for the trunk and the large ear)

Maybe a better view of the Elephant

The Sleeping Dragon (look for the raised snout, the eye, and the straight mouth)

The Three Sisters (representing nuns --- look at the profile of the praying nun with folded hands on the left)  What a difference the position of the sun makes in a photograph.

Most of the photo stops provided an opportunity to

purchase Navajo handicrafts from the original artisans.  At the stop above, Dianne bought a beaded bracelet for herself and a cool necklace for one of our daughters.  (Still looking for something for our other daughter and our granddaughter).  Before we left, a dust devil whirled through the parking area.  Cool.

THE BACK COUNTRY....  As the tour progressed, Bennett informed us that we would be leaving the bumpy dirt road to enter the back country, a more remote area included on the longer tours --- really glad we paid for a longer tour!

Get ready.  Here we go!

Our first stop was an amazing arch named The Eye of the Sun.  It was very difficult to pick the picture that best represented this spot, so here are a couple.

Dianne and I soon realized that the mammoth size of these structures are difficult to represent in photos taken nearby, so we began taken pictures with people in the background to illustrate their true size.  The photo below of the Eye of the Sun gives a different, and more accurate, perspective.

Adjacent to this arch were some very distinct and fascinating petroglyphs.  Looking at them creates the illusion of being there when they were created.

First the eye.  Now the ear.  Our second arch was named the Ear of the Wind.  What a unique formation!

Now the perspective picture....  That little dot in the middle is me.

Our last arch may have been the most interesting.   It is called the Big Hogan.  Like the hogan that I described at the start of this post, the shape of this formation is circular and the entrance is on the east side.  It was a gigantic half dome with a circular hole to the heavens in the middle.  Gives me chills.

Here is the perspective photo.

A really cool kokopelli (pointed out by our Navajo guide), was carved by the Anasazi on the left side of the hogan.

The pic below is of the Totem Pole.  Movie buffs may recognize this as the pinnacle that Clint Eastwood, supposedly, climbed in the Eiger Sanction.

As Bennett drove us out of the back country, he negotiated a road through the sand.  This portion of the tour reminded me of the many times I drove through snow drifts in Indiana --- except that I was warm.  Take a look at this snow drift.

Well, we did not get stuck in the sand, even though we did slide around a bit.  Thanks Bennett, for getting us out of the back country.  

Now for TWILIGHT TIME....  I am not going to label these photos, but due to the lighting, they are probably the best ones in the blog.  Here we go.

The feature on the right side of this monument is known to represent Jesus.  It kind of does.

The pet picture of the day is a little different.  When we arrived back at the motor home, we saw a dog that looked a lot like Bandido.  I went next door to talk to the owners.  Fanny is a Blue Heeler mix, just like Bandido.  Fanny is 13 years old.  Fanny and Bandido (and Tequila) got to meet for a short time.  Here's........ Fanny!

Wow, now THAT'S a morning dog walk!

Dianne here -- The main reason we chose sturdy dog companions, as opposed to smaller, more RV-sized dogs, is that our favorite activity when we travel is to hike.  This morning was a good test of our buddies, to see how they did on some uphill and downhill hiking.

There's a great red rock hiking trail right across from our camp site here at Goulding's RV park.  Roger scoped it out the evening before, and stated that he thought Bandido would have no trouble, but that we'd need to see how Tequila got along.  

Not to worry, Tequila was a champ!  Here's an action shot of her jumping up a rock, one where her mom had to resort to hands-and-knees scrambling.

We crossed a wide ledge to get to the prize -- 

A very cool arch that is only seen if you climb up the trail.  Of course, we scrambled up to get a photo of Roger and Bandido under the arch (opening photo).  Roger then took the following photo through the arch, showing the famous left- and right-mitten formations down in Monument Valley.  

We also took a shot down to the campground below, and could make out our RV in the left foreground, right up next to the rock:

Warning:  My friend, Nancy R. should stop reading NOW!!  (She'll know why!)

While Roger had the camera to take the "mittens" shot through the arch, I noticed Tequila go on high alert.  Following her gaze down below where we were standing, this is what I saw:

It headed right for us, and eventually disappeared under the rock we were standing on:

The checkerboard pattern on its back as it got closer let us know it was not a rattlesnake (and no rattles).  I Googled it when we got home and discovered that it's a gopher snake, a common snake in the desert.  (Non-venomous.)   Here's a short video I took of the snake as it made its way toward where we were standing:



Roger demands that I edit the blog to point out that he was right and I was wrong; the snake was six feet long.   He claims I have no spatial abilities.... 

From now on, I'll be sure to follow Tequila's gaze whenever she goes on alert!


Hard to imagine such a hike right across from us.  In fact, here's a photo Roger took out the window of the RV:

And here's a shot of our RV from the rear, showing our view out the front windshield.  The reviews of Goulding's are mixed; it IS the only rv park in the area, and its prices reflect that.   I was glad I took heed (I had read about the high prices here) and made a laundry run in Cortez, Colorado where I paid $1.75 per wash load.   Out of curiosity, I peeked in the laundry here, and sure enough, each washer took 12 quarters!  $3.00 per load! 

The pet photo of the day is actually a short video of Bandido.  He entertained us this morning as he tried to retrieve his favorite ball out of our magazine rack, where Tequila had deposited it.  He removed a newspaper section, a crossword puzzle book,  and a "Bark" magazine from the rack, but couldn't quite get to the ball.  I wish I had the camera earlier, but I did capture him getting my sudoku book out.  What a smart dog!  I finally took pity on him and reached in with my opposable thumbs to get the ball for him.  I can't imagine ever not having dogs; they make us laugh every day!

Mesa Verde, CO to Monument Valley, UT

Hi all, Dianne here.  On our last day at Mesa Verde we took the Spruce Canyon trail, as suggested to us by a helpful ranger.  We were not disappointed!  I won't give a play-by-play as I did with the Petroglyph Trail, but here are just a couple highlights:

From the trail head we hiked on switchbacks down, down, into the canyon.


We saw some unusual rock formations...

A layer of Coal

We have seen this white flower growing wild along the roadways, and passed one on the trail.  I don't know what it is, but the blooms are very large (about 3") and the plant grows low to the ground.

Well, what switchbacks down must switchback up, so the second half of the trail was up, up, up.  Once again, altitude is not my friend, and I was huffing and puffing all the way up.  


Once we reached the top of the mesa, the trail ended at a picnic area, perfect for a lunch stop. 

 As we made our way back to the ranger station to sign back in, we saw a group of deer.  They were just starting to molt their winter coats.  We saw hoof prints at times along the trail, even though it was not a horse trail.  As we drove out of the area, we passed some horses roaming free.  I wonder if they left the prints?

This trail was also listed as a 2 - 3 hour hike, but for us it seemed much easier (except for the long slog uphill in high altitude) and we made it in 1 3/4 hours.  If you'd like to see the slide show of the entire hike, here's a link.  This link has fewer photos than the one two days ago, so it's fairly short.  


Spruce Canyon Hike


On Tuesday we packed up and headed out for our next stop, Monument Valley, Utah.  

  As soon as we got set up, we took Bandido and Tequila on a short hike near the campground.  


I love red rock country, so here are a few more shots.  I think it's impossible to take a bad photo here!

Tomorrow we plan to take the dogs on another hike, then Roger and I have signed up for a sunset guided tour of Monument Valley.  Each night here at Goulding's, over in the hotel area, they show a John Wayne western filmed here.  We'll probably check that out one evening while we're here.  

The pet photo of the day is my "pet" black-chinned hummingbird that visited my feeder each day while we were at Mesa Verde.  The second pet photo of the day shows Charlie, as he waits for the hummingbird's next visit.  Charlie spent four days stalking this bird, twitching his tail and making chattery cat sounds.