Monument Valley - November 2016
As I mentioned already in my previous post (November 2016), we explored some of Southern Utah and Northern Arizona during our first long Thanksgiving weekend here in the US.
In this post I'll cover our first stop, Monument Valley. Again another must see park, located on the Utah-Arizona border, and a 7 hour (very scenic!) drive from where we live.
As we left wednesday in the afternoon after school/work, we were not able to reach Monument valley that same day on a reasonable hour, so we spent a night in Bluff, a small town on the southern boundary of the Bears Ears national monument (the first national monument that is currently under review by Trump, remember (October 2016 - Local hike & Trump)? We stayed in a very nice hotel ('Desert Rose Inn & Cabins') with a great view, and had an ok dinner (and breakfast) in the 'Twin Rocks cafe'. We would have preferred the 'Comb Ridge' restaurant across the street from the hotel, which was recommended to us by friends, but this was closed.
The next day, we only had another 49 miles to do to reach our destination.This road is called the 'Monument Valley to Bluff Scenic Byway', and the last 25 miles are among the most attractive and famous highway stretches in the US ...
... and who are we to disagree?
If you have time, it could be worth to do a small de-tour to Gooseneck State Park which offers a fantastic overlook on a deep meander of the San Juan river. As we only had a few days and already a lot on our agenda, we didn't do it ... yet 😏
The difference with many of the other parks in Utah, is that this one is not a National Park (so you cannot make use of you annual NP pass if you would have bought one) but a Navajo Tribal park, owned and operated by the Navajo Nation.
The valley is still inhabited by 10 to 12 Navajo families.
The traditional 'dwelling' of the Navajo people is a hogan, a structure made of wooden poles, tree bark and mud, and with a door opening to the East to let in the morning sun as wel as good blessings.
You can only see and visit such a hogan if you book a tour with a local guide. And to get a real authentic experience, you can even book an overnight in one of them. One of our friends did this and raved about it!
Today, most of the Navajo's in the park live in (weather beaten) trailers or other very simple housing without power or running water, but all of them still have a hogan for ceremonies and to stay in balance. Because of the harmony in which the hogan is built, the family comes together in these hogans to endure hardships and grow as part of the harmony between their sacred mountains, under the care of "Mother Earth" and "Father Sky". This respect for the universe is part of their culture and being in balance with it is believed to bring them a clean soul ... talking about some Native American Wisdom, right!?
Navajo's are very superstitious and believe that a house is accursed when a human being dies in it ... so they abandon and never enter this home again ... probably the main reason why they still don't build permanent dwellings.
There is a 20$ per car (up to four people) or 10$ per person entrance fee, but this is totally worth it!
The valley hosts towering dramatic sandstone formations which have become real icons of the American West thanks to Hollywood's long love affair with this valley. Hundreds of movies and commercials have been shot at this location, but it was John Ford's western 'Stagecoach' (1939) with John Wayne, which put Monument Valley on the map.
In this post I'll cover our first stop, Monument Valley. Again another must see park, located on the Utah-Arizona border, and a 7 hour (very scenic!) drive from where we live.
 |
| Stunning views while on the road |
As we left wednesday in the afternoon after school/work, we were not able to reach Monument valley that same day on a reasonable hour, so we spent a night in Bluff, a small town on the southern boundary of the Bears Ears national monument (the first national monument that is currently under review by Trump, remember (October 2016 - Local hike & Trump)? We stayed in a very nice hotel ('Desert Rose Inn & Cabins') with a great view, and had an ok dinner (and breakfast) in the 'Twin Rocks cafe'. We would have preferred the 'Comb Ridge' restaurant across the street from the hotel, which was recommended to us by friends, but this was closed.
 |
| Twin Rocks cafe |
 |
| View from our hotel room |
The next day, we only had another 49 miles to do to reach our destination.This road is called the 'Monument Valley to Bluff Scenic Byway', and the last 25 miles are among the most attractive and famous highway stretches in the US ...
... and who are we to disagree?
If you have time, it could be worth to do a small de-tour to Gooseneck State Park which offers a fantastic overlook on a deep meander of the San Juan river. As we only had a few days and already a lot on our agenda, we didn't do it ... yet 😏
The difference with many of the other parks in Utah, is that this one is not a National Park (so you cannot make use of you annual NP pass if you would have bought one) but a Navajo Tribal park, owned and operated by the Navajo Nation.
The valley is still inhabited by 10 to 12 Navajo families.
The traditional 'dwelling' of the Navajo people is a hogan, a structure made of wooden poles, tree bark and mud, and with a door opening to the East to let in the morning sun as wel as good blessings.
You can only see and visit such a hogan if you book a tour with a local guide. And to get a real authentic experience, you can even book an overnight in one of them. One of our friends did this and raved about it!
Today, most of the Navajo's in the park live in (weather beaten) trailers or other very simple housing without power or running water, but all of them still have a hogan for ceremonies and to stay in balance. Because of the harmony in which the hogan is built, the family comes together in these hogans to endure hardships and grow as part of the harmony between their sacred mountains, under the care of "Mother Earth" and "Father Sky". This respect for the universe is part of their culture and being in balance with it is believed to bring them a clean soul ... talking about some Native American Wisdom, right!?
Navajo's are very superstitious and believe that a house is accursed when a human being dies in it ... so they abandon and never enter this home again ... probably the main reason why they still don't build permanent dwellings.
There is a 20$ per car (up to four people) or 10$ per person entrance fee, but this is totally worth it!
The valley hosts towering dramatic sandstone formations which have become real icons of the American West thanks to Hollywood's long love affair with this valley. Hundreds of movies and commercials have been shot at this location, but it was John Ford's western 'Stagecoach' (1939) with John Wayne, which put Monument Valley on the map.
While driving through the park on the 17 mile dirt road (passenger cars can ride this road, although you'll have to watch out in the rocky areas), it really feels like you're in a one of these Western movies. You have several viewpoints where you can stop and take in all these stunning views, however no hiking or driving of that road is allowed as you don't want to disturb the people living there.
It's no surprise that one of these view points is named the 'John Ford point'.
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| Geert and the boys standing on the 'John Ford point' |
If you want, you can recreate the iconic image of a lone rider on a horse at the spot where they are standing in the pictures above ... there is a guy standing there all day who borrows his horse for this purpose for merely 2$ ... however, none of us wanted to bother the horse 😊, so no lone rider picture for our archives!
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| The horse we didn't want to bother 😏 |
But we have enough other pictures for our archives though 😁
Our next stop was in Page, Arizona ...
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