YCGL - Thursday-Friday, March 16-17, 2023 - Tse’Bii’Ndzisgaii - Monumenta Vallis - Monument Valley - Final

 After looking at all the Roman, Greek, Hindu and Norse Temples and Shrines in the Grand Canyon, a little Navajo, Latin and English for Monument Valley just seemed appropriate.

Yesterday, it rained most of the day and drizzled into the night.  I started the morning by just taking some pictures around the KOA campground and it was clear as could be and no evidence of water on the ground.  This is harsh country.

A Panorama of Monument Valley from the KOA campground.

Eagle Mesa - Sitting Hen -  Saddleback Mesa - Bear and Rabbit - Stagecoach - King on his Throne - Sentinel Mesa

From the north side of the campground

An aside:  You know, all these names that tourists strive so hard to get right (ok, me included) have been made up and have nothing to do with the either the geology or the Dine' culture.  After a while on the tour, I kind of felt bad about the native tour guide nodding his head and sort of smiling as he was giving us all these crazy names.  On the other hand, no one could pronounce or read the Navajo names that he rolled off the tip of his tongue, but they were still just names.  Think of them as identifier words for objects.  End of aside.

I had my conversation with the Navajo groundskeeper about El Capitan/Aghaa' Lani.  So I decided to drive back and take a better picture of it than through the windshield.  You saw one of those the other day.  Here is another with proof of the name.  

Right across the road is a spire.  I'm sure it has some fanciful name, but it reminds me of the Sphinx in Egypt.  Unfortunately, every angle I could get of the shot had power lines running through it.  

My tour of Monument Valley was at 3:15 from Gouldings Lodge.  Gouldings has an interesting history wrapped up in a trading post opened by Harry and Leone (Mike) Goulding in the 1920's.  The reservation had very hard times during the Depression, so Harry and Mike went to Hollywood and met with the director, John Ford.  When Ford saw the pictures of the valley, he decided it would be the perfect spot for his next movie, Stagecoach, starring a young actor named John Wayne.  There have since been about 20 movies shot in part or whole there.  There is a hotel, restaurant, museum, movie theater, John Wayne's cabin, RV park, i.e., a whole compound developed around movies and tourism at Monument Valley trading post.  

I had plenty of time before the tour, so I ate lunch there.  There used to be a little restaurant (five or six tables) between Navajo National Monument and Kayenta that had wonderful Navajo tacos.  It is a flat puff taco filled with taco filling, a taco salad on an Indian fry bread.  Sadly, the last time we drove past it, it had burnt down.  Probably too much grease from the stoves.  Who knows.  But its one of those foods I enjoy, I hadn't had one, and they had them on the menu so I did.  This is about a 10-12 inch disk of fry bread covered with taco fillings.  Its really good.  And, of course, I ate the whole thing.  So I was suitably stuffed for the beginning of the tour.  

I've tried to find a good map of the valley and I haven't found one.  This is probably the best, from a Portuguese travel website.  All the important stuff is in English.  And knowing where all these things are located is not going to be on the exam.  Just so you know.  Enjoy the pictures.

The KOA is located at the feathers of the North Arrow and that's where the two shots at the top were taken.  The panorama swings from Eagle Mesa all the way around to Mitchell Butte.  And the little blip on the horizon at the far right is El Capitan, about 12 miles away.  The second picture centers on Stagecoach and King on his Throne.

You drive into the Monument in Utah (upper left) and quickly drive into Arizona.and up to the Visitor Center.  (Going the other way on the road takes you to Goulding.)  As you turn to the north you go from asphalt to "unimproved roadbed", i.e., a dirt road.  It is the sand and dust from the red sandstone which is all around you.  And its worn down since Sally and I were here last. The first stop is at the dot

I did not get the required tourist shot of the whole north valley.  You can see it on every webpage.  However, I did get some good ones.  

King on his Throne and Castle Rock with west side of West Mitten

West Mitten and East Mitten or Left Mitten and Right Mitten

(I wish I could Photoshop the sign out.)

Turning and facing the southeast, shows you deeper into the valley.

Elephant Butte is left of center and dark Camel Butte is in the center.

The Three Sisters, shot from just off the point of Elephant Butte, shooting into the sun. 

And looking straight south is John Ford Point, where the people are standing. 

But the normal view for this is from up where the building is located.

Now, if I were a photographer and I didn't care if I disturbed the slope, it could look like this....

(AZWonders.com)

John Ford Point, and the Indian sitting on the horse, is iconic and in a lot of old western movies.  

Just south of Thunderbird Mesa and east of The Hub, is a smaller mesa and next to it is a small ranch compound.  However, it has great significance in the Navajo Nation.  There are several hogans there.

This was the hogan of SuzieYassie. (Click this link and read it.  It Will be on the test.)  There is so much to tell about Suzie Yassie.  She is a legend in the area for a number of reasons.  She was born in 1914, her family thinks, and we were there in 2012, I believe.  

There was a Japanese mother and daughter on the tour we were on.  The daughter had just graduated from UCLA and her mother was in the United States for the first time for her graduation.  Growing up in Japan, the mother loved watching the western movies starting with those by John Ford with John Wayne, like Stagecoach.  Because of her local status, Suzie was in a lot of those movies that Ford made.  So, when the mother came to the US, she wanted to see the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley.  

When she learned that we were actually going to stop at the Yazzie hogan, she got excited to the point of becoming scared and fearful.  When we got to the entrance of the hogan, she dropped to her knees and entered the room on her hands and knees, going up to Suzie and putting her forehead on Suzie's feet.  It was a gesture of such respect, I will never forget it.  Suzie reached down, put her hands on her head and lifted her up.  The mother went to her knees, but never stood while we were inside.  If I can find those pictures, I'll put them in.  

The front and back of Suzie Yazzie's hogan.

Inside, a young lady was demonstrating carding, rolling and handspinning the yarn for rugs.  

You can see how fast the spindle is turning by the blur of the picture.  Each pinch of wool she carded yielded about 18" of thread.  She is still in the apprentice stage of learning to weave, but she will get there.  There are various rugs hanging around the inside of the hogan, Rugs measuring about 18"x12" cost between $1000-$2000, depending on the intricacy of the design.  Being back there warmed my heart, because it meant as much to Sally being there as it did to me.  There are a lot of spirits around the hogan, you can feel it.  

South of the hogan, there are three arches in close proximity that are on all the tours.  

  

The Big Hogan Arch.  The hole at the top is created by water erosion swirling into a crack in the rock.

While we were there, one of the other guides walked up with drum.  The arch is a large amphitheater and you could hear the drum several hundred feet away.  When we were there before, one of the guides played a flute, and it was haunting.  

Moccasin Arch is close to Big Hogan, it is not as deep, but you can see the hole much better.

Between these two arches is a funny little erosion formation that I think looks like a baby dragon.  

(See, I'm doing it too.)

A little further on is the Sun's Eye Arch.  

On the earlier tour, the guide showed us some petroglyphs on the west side of the arch.  There are a lot of them around the Valley.

As we drove out, we went past the Totem Pole, which the guide said was Elvis and the Choir.  

The Totem Pole

It was 6:45 as we started to drive out of the valley, but there were a couple of more shots to take because of the different sun angles.  

The Sleeping Dragon

Our guide in front of the Sleeping Dragon and the truck.  It's so colorful, it reminded me of riding buses in Mexico.

And as the sun sets gently in the west...... (how does a sun set violently?)

The Three Sisters in the sun!

It's hard to explain.  There is something really special about the Valley.  There is the natural beauty, of course, and the movies, and the fancy names, but also the difficulty of living in an arid land like this, and the gentle nature of the Navaho people.  I really can't recommend it enough.  Take the longest tour you can, you won't get bored.  There is another valley to the south, Mystery Valley, that is closed unless you have a Navajo guide.  Our guide back in 2012 said that after school (which was by Gouldings), they would ride their horses over to Mystery Valley and play there.  Including Cowboys and Indians 

where the Indians won!  

It's a neat place!

From here to Fruita and Jere and Tom and then to Laramie.  Good Trip.

(And be thankful, I took over a hundred pictures in Monument Valley alone.  This is the travel guide, not the picture dump!)