Checking the weather on Saturday, September 11th, we realized that we had come to Monument Valley a little too early in the fall. Daily highs of 90 degrees made life a little difficult, combined with the red sandstone dirt everywhere. We struggled a bit this week, but the temperatures did moderate toward the end of the week. As we do on our first day at a new site, we rested and did laundry. The campground did have a pool, an INDOOR pool that was only a little bit bigger than a jacuzzi, but it was nice to get wet.
We met Margorie Grey, our tour guide, on Sunday, September 12th, at The View hotel, for a tour of the Monument Valley Tribal Park and into the Backcountry. The Park is situated just south of the Utah border in Arizona and is run by the Navajo Nation. There are multiple tour guide companies., and they all use trucks with three rows of seats welded onto a steel bed in the back of the cab, with a canopy. This was very similar to the tour in Ouray, but bench seats instead of bucket seats. Marjorie was very entertaining, teaching us some Navajo and singing Navajo songs for us. She often referred to her grandparents as a big influence, passing on Navajo traditions. We traveled past the incredible standing buttes and spires. Most of them have names, e.g. Woman Baking, The Three Sisters, The Owl and even Elvis with a Microphone (I couldn’t visualize that one). We stopped at John Ford Point, where the director John Ford would sit to direct the action in movies such as Stagecoach and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. At John Ford Point, we purchased Fry Bread, a flat dough bread, fried or deep-fried in oil, shortening, or lard, made with simple ingredients, generally wheat flour, sugar, salt, and fat, frybread can be eaten alone or with various toppings (www.allrecipes.com/recipe/17053/navajo-fry-bread-ii/). The tour took us to a Hogan, a traditional dwelling and ceremonial structure of the Navajo Indians of Arizona and New Mexico. A Hogan is a dome-shaped building with log, or occasionally stone, frameworks. Once framed, the structure was then covered with mud, dirt, or sometimes sod. We stopped at several natural arches including Big Hogan and Moccasin. Marjorie was able to tutor Martha on the use of panorama on her Samsung S21 phone camera, including a shot where Martha and Walt circled clockwise around her while she panned counterclockwise, resulting in three images of us in one photo.
The Navajos were settled in the Four Corners area before Columbus sailed in 1492. They have multiple symbols and historical pride, some of which are detailed in www.discovernavajo.com/experience-the-navajo-nation/navajo-culture-and-history/. Of particular interest is the Great Seal of the Navajo Nation which has fifty projectile points or arrowheads symbolizing the Navajo Nation’s protection within the fifty states. The opening at the top of the three concentric lines is considered the East. The lines represent the rainbow and sovereignty of the Navajo Nation. The rainbow never closes on the Nation’s sovereignty. The outside line is red, the middle line is yellow and the inside line is blue. The yellow sun shines from the east on the four sacred mountains; Mount Blanca (Sis Naajiní’ – Dawn or White Shell Mountain in southern Colorado), Mount Taylor (Tsoodził – Blue Bead or Turquoise Mountain near Grants, New Mexico), San Francisco Peak (Dook’o’oosłííd – Abalone Shell Mountain near Flagstaff, Arizona), and Mount Hesperus (Dibé Nitsaa – Big Mountain Sheep or Obsidian Mountain in Southwest Colorado).Two cornstalk with pollen symbolizes the sustainer of Navajo life. A horse, cow and sheep, located in the center, symbolizes the Navajo livestock.
On Monday, September 13th, Walt wanted to hike the Wildcat Trail around the West Mitten monument, but his knees were hurting and it was really hot, so we hung around the motorhome and went to the pool.
We went to the Goulding’s Stagecoach Restaurant at the Lodge for breakfast on Tuesday, September 14th, with a great view out to the north. At the Lodge was the original Trading Post that is now a museum (unfortunately closed for maintenance) and the John Wayne cabin (the cabin used in the movie She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, where his character, Captain Nathan Brittles, lived).
In the afternoon, we were supposed to take a tour of the Mystery Valley, the valley to the west of the tribal park with ancient Indian ruins. However, the occupants of the valley had decided to not allow tours at the current time, so the tour would be of Teardrop Canyon, with Teardrop Arch and ancient ruins. Unfortunately, we were assuming that we would meet the tour at the View Hotel and the tour operator expected to pick us up at the KOA campground. Needless, we missed the tour. Instead, we drove the 17 mile auto tour of the front (north) portion of the Tribal Park. The road was gravel and we were uncertain about taking a Chevrolet Equinox on it, but we had no problems. Martha was hanging out the window taking pictures and when we finished the Equinox was dusty both inside and out.
On Wednesday, September 15th, in the afternoon, we met our guide Larry Team at the KOA campground. We drove past the Goulding’s campground and turned off the pavement on the other side of the mesa to the south of the campground. We traveled in and out of a dry wash multiple times and climbed up to the front of the mesa. We hiked a short distance to the Teardrop Arch and had a great view off the valley below. We also hiked to caves in the rock where the ancients had built granaries to store food.
We planned to go to the Four Corners Monument on Thursday, September 16th, but we slept in, avoided the heat and had a good time just hanging around the campground with the puppies.
We did get up and travel to the Four Corners Monument on Friday, September 17th. The Four Corners is another Navajo Tribal Park, where the states of Colorado (NE), Utah (NW), Arizona (SW) and New Mexico (SE) meet, the only such point in the United States. On the way, we traveled north on US 163 toward the town of Mexican Hat, Utah. Thirteen miles north of the Arizona/Utah border on US 163 is Gump Hill, the spot where Forrest Gump (after more than 3 years) stopped running, stating, “I’m tired! I think I’ll go home now.”, leaving his followers totally mystified. At Mexican Hat, actually named for a rock formation that looks like a sombrero, we turned north on Utah 261. Google Maps said that this was the best route for our next travel to Escalante, Utah. However, researching it further, we discovered that this route climbs Cedar Mesa via the “Moki Dugway”. The pavement turns to gravel and there are 5 mph switchbacks. After seeing it, we decided that there was no way we were taking the motorhome up that route. We continued on through the town of Bluff (both Bluff and Mexican Hat are on the San Juan River which flows from New Mexico into the Colorado River at Lake Powell) and arrived at Four Corners about lunch time. It was a neat little park and we took pictures and bought T-Shirts. We continued to the town of Shiprock, NM, (also on the San Juan) and ate lunch at Nataaní Nez, a traditional Navajo restaurant. Just southwest of the town of Shiprock is the rock formation Shiprock or in Navajo: Tsé Bitʼaʼí, “rock with wings” or “winged rock”. It is a monadnock rising 1,583 feet (482.5 m) above the high-desert plain and plays a significant role in Navajo religion, myth, and tradition. It was a nice, though lengthy (300 mile) outing.
The weather started to moderate, with highs in the low 80s on Saturday, September 18th, and we decided to stay at the campground and relax.
With the cooler temperatures on Sunday, September 19th, we hiked from the back of the campground to another nice rock arch and lookout over the Goulding canyon. Walt also hiked northwest from the campground following the rock walls, looking for springs or seeps in the wall, to identify the source of water flowing next to the campground. There were no springs, the water was just overflow from the water tanks. We decided that we would do laundry before leaving Monument Valley, so that we didn’t have to do it when we arrived at Escalante.
We left Monument Valley and traveled west to Escalante, Utah, on Monday, September 20th. Avoiding the Moki Dugway, we traveled west to Page, Arizona, and across the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. We traveled from Page to Kanab, Utah, and north on US 89 to Red Canyon in the Dixie National Forest. We turned right on the Utah Highway 12 Scenic Byway. Highway 12 travels from Red Canyon, past Bryce Canyon National Park, to Escalante, Utah, in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. It continues through the Escalante River and Calf Creek canyons, over the Hogback (built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930’s, the canyons drop straight off the highway on both sides) to Boulder, Utah, then over Boulder Mountain to Torrey, Utah, and Capitol Reef National Park. We arrived at Canyons of Escalante RV Park (www.canyonsofescalantervpark.com/), our new home for the next 14 nights.