Monumental Monument Valley

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Geo: 37.1394, -110.207

We got up for another early start this morning but after last night's ingenuity in bedding terms, I was feeling fabulous! It had felt like lying on a pillow-top mattress and I had the best night's sleep of the trip so far! On waking, we were treated to an incredibly early morning performance. The campground backed onto a high school playing field and at 7.30am the marching band were out on the field practising! The rhythmic drumming and brass gave us a good beat to pull the tents down to and kept us motivated. We had our briefing that today was going to be a long one but with interesting sights all the way round. However, it was also going to be a day of difficulties, we just didn't know it yet!
We hit our first snag before we had even set off. The van would not start. The battery was completely dead - the engine ticking over and over but never quite catching. We had expected this as the battery had been flashing a warning sign all week and we had been careful not to leave the van doors open for prolonged periods of time to try and conserve it. However, last night, it must have somehow run down and we were stranded at the camp site. Luckily, Jen had jump leads and managed to find a helpful man to jump start the van. Sadly, the helpful man didn't know how to use jump leads on his car and so, connected wrongly, we continued to hear the click click click of the engine as it failed to start. Then Jen managed to find a woman who did know how to jump start a car and we were off!
Our first stop was only around 25 minutes down the road and was called Hole In The Rock. It was a bizarre place with old road signs, quirky attractions and a petting zoo with a camel that would give you a kiss. Into a crevice in one of the vast walls that surrounded the buildings had been carved a statue of President FDR, a tribute to the man who had commissioned the Civilian Conservation Corps, responsible for constructing so many of the roads and trails in the national parks. Smaller buildings around housed a Navajo art and handicraft gallery and gift shops, but my favourite two areas were the wall of license plates, one from each state and the piece de resistance was a jeep made entirely of scrap metal. The seats, steering wheel and wheels were all constructed out of twisted iron bars and coils, but the body of the car was the most impressive part. License plates had been riveted together to form a shell which covered the bare bones of the car, creating a skin of armour in a multitude of colours and patterns.
We left the kooky and kitsch place and continued on our way. After around three hours on the main roads, we took a sharp right turn and went off-road, bouncing along a dusty road, pot-holes making the car shudder and shake. At one point, we found ourselves stuck, literally between a rock and a hard place. Well, a rock and a wet place. One one side of us was a sheer rocky drop down the side of the mountain a good 100 metres down. On the other was a huge puddle, the depth of which would have meant a certain engine flood and break down. Between the two was a narrow track, probably just about wide enough to get the van and trailer down we decided. So, with everyone leaning heavily to one side, we crawled through the middle of our very own Scylla and Charybdis. Fortunately, we made it through unscathed and continued onwards towards our lunch stop. By this point, the bumpy road had left many of us crossing our legs in desperation for a bathroom break. I saw a Winibago parked where we were due to have lunch and decided that this was no time for modesty and so I knocked on the door, surprising the guests inside. They were European, and when I asked if I could use their bathroom, they said, "We usually use the bushes. But ok. Take your shoes off though." This campervan was like a mini home. Everything was immaculate - a far cry from some of the vans we have seen while we've been around this area. I rushed through the business and as I left, she asked me if I was from LA. When I told her I was from the UK, she scolded me, "Puh, I thought that Europeans knew how to squat in the bushes!" I hurried my thank yous and apologies and fled the van!
We grabbed our packed lunches and walked for around 45 seconds to Muley Point. Suddenly, the view in front of which we would be enjoying our lunch revealed itself. Miles upon miles of stacked chunks of layers of flat rocks, in every colour of the red spectrum lay before us. A huge gorge had been carved in the rocks in front of us, and far below, we could see the glistening waters of the San Juan River meandering through the valley. In the distance we could see the ghostly outlines of the incredible rock formations of Monument Valley. It was an absolutely jaw-dropping spectacle. Basking in the sunshine on the rocks that gave us the most outstanding viewpoint, we ate in awed silence, taking in the vista before us.
We left the canyon behind us, traversed the death-defying puddle-and-sheer-drop combo and then journeyed along another beautiful drive. The road itself was incredibly rugged. There had clearly been heavy rainfall here in the last week as parts of the road had been washed away down the mountain, which dropped off steeply into an abyss on our right hand side. As we twisted down the mountain, we were treated to stunning views ahead of us each time we turned a corner. The sandstone around us was bright orange and vibrant multi-faceted rocks were perched precariously on the hillsides. Further around the bends of the road, we were greeted by two deer who were grazing by the side of the road. As we slowed down so as not to disturb them, they raised their heads, looked at us for a while and then elegantly gambolled up the hill to our right. They stood, posing on the rocks for about five minutes, allowing us to get their best side and then leapt away.
We passed a sign for a small town called Mexican Hat. It wasn't long after the sign that we saw the reason for the town's name. On the left of the road was a group of eroded rocks, stacked naturally one on top of another. When viewed from a certain angle, the rocks made a tableau of a man, sitting on the ground and wearing a sombrero. At this point, the land around us began to flatten out, and though the majority of the land was arid, shrub-covered land, dotted around the landscape were enormous mesas, buttes and spires. Made of sandstone that has eroded over time, there are four types of sandstone in this environment. Each one weathers and erodes differently, forming varying shapes and sizes of the statues and monuments that give this area its name. We had finally entered Navajo land and the much-anticipated Monument Valley.
Our first stop in the valley was one I had been most excited about, and one I needed to grab my Bubba Gump hat for. When Forest goes on his epic run across America in the movie, there is a montage of the diverse but instantly recognisable landscapes that he runs through. The last landscape we see him run through, before he announces that he's pretty tired is a long, tarmacced road, leading from empty, red sands in the foreground, to the distant shapes of Monument Valley. It is here that we stopped the bus, jumped out and recreated the scene. Running along the road towards the camera, jumping up and posing as a group, we got into the spirit of the film, listening to the soundtrack as we pulled away. Later on in the journey, we learned that over 100 films have been made in the area. Thelma and Louise took their final drive over the edge of a canyon here, scenes of desolate planets in several sci-fi films were shot here and most importantly for me, huge sweeping shots of the landscape were used in Back to the Future 3. I now have another excuse to watch the final part of the trilogy to recognise areas that we passed through.
After this, it was time to head to our camp site, right in the heart of the valley. Driving along the road, we all took a communal sharp intake of breath when we saw where we would be pitching our tents. Directly on the edge of the campsite, we had an unobstructed view of undulating sand which stretched out towards the unmistakable iconic stone mittens that are such an instantly recognisable part of the park. After a brief visit to the visitor centre to try and hack off the broken trailer lock, which slowed us down by a good hour, we were able to set up camp. We pitched our tent right on the rim of a small canyon, facing the monuments ready to wake early and gaze out of our tent at the sunrise, which would glow red over the sandstone formations. It was, quite simply, the most beautifully situated campsite I have ever seen. This trip has really opened my eyes to the wonder of camping, being able to get so close to such stunning scenery is a major draw to getting out of the comfort of hotels and back to the wilderness.
Once we had pitched our tents, pegging them in extra tight due to the wind that roars over the rim at this part of the park, we joined the tour that looked set to be a highlight of the camping trip. We met our guide at the visitor centre and then jumped aboard our jeep ready for our sunset tour of the monuments, we careered over huge bumps in the road, round sharp bends and alongside steep sided canyons, rising and falling with the road as it curved around the park, through, past and around the majestic monuments of the landscape. Our tour guide, Lorenzo, was a Navajo artist who had been born on the reservation and had moved away in his late teenage and early adulthood to go to college. However, once he was there, and began producing his art, he realised that he belonged on the reservation and moved back there. He told us stories of Navajo life and about the customs and cultures. We headed out to John Ford point, named for the director of the early western films. Here we could gaze out at the dust road winding through the park. We could also see at least twenty of the incredible monuments, all given names and purposes by the Navajo, which are still in place and revered today. We saw the three sisters, the mittens and the camel butte. Each one held a different significance for the ancient tribes of the area.
We were then driven down to another stunning point in the landscape with sweeping views out to the monuments. Here our guide pointed out a small section of flat land and informed us that Johnny Depp had fallen off his horse five times in that very spot and had to be taken to hospital while filming The Lone Ranger. It turns out that he couldn't ride a horse after all. After a few more scenic viewpoints, and the opportunity to buy some traditional Navajo jewellery, we found ourselves in a beautiful spot. Behind us was a huge Mesa, a table shaped monolith sacred to the Navajo. In front of us, fabulous rock formations and the setting sun in the distance. Jen had arranged for us to enjoy a traditional Navajo dinner, and we met our chef at this scenic spot. In a portable kitchen, he prepared Navajo tacos, which were simple flour, water and oil breads, fried in oil. Around 8 inches in diameter, they were light and fluffy - puffed up with air during the cooking to resemble the texture of a naan bread. On top of this, he added a chilli beef mixture, red onions, peppers, tomatoes, cheese and olives. Then a spicy tomato sauce, similar to a salsa was poured over the top. The tacos were then folded in half and we had to bite into a bread dish that was around 5 inches thick. Our faces covered in tomato sauce, we munched, slurped and generally devoured the dishes until the plates were clean, giving no regard for the mess we were making of ourselves. It was quite frankly, the meal of the trip. In such beautiful surroundings with such great company and with incredible food, it was an amazing experience.
Once the sun had gone down and we had filled up on dessert - the same tacos but topped with honey, cinnamon and powdered sugar (divine!) - we clambered back into the jeep for a roller coaster ride in the semi-darkness through the monuments, along the twisting dirt road and back to the camp. In the half-light, the monuments seemed to loom even higher above us, their shapes constantly shifting in the blue dusk. Once back at the campsite, we were ready to crawl into our tents and grab an early night ready for the sunrise at 6am.

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