Monument Valley

I woke up to my alarm going off at 6am. Been a while since I slept the whole night through. It was lovely. I get up, change, and head outside. Not sure where to stand but there’s a wall and I sit on it. The light is just about changing over the horizon, and it’s quite beautiful. Slowly but surely more join me, although I wasn’t the first out there. It always amazes me how quickly the sun rises. You can literally see it moving – every second is different. The sun finally pokes her head above the edge at around 7am. Warmth, light and all those sorts of things. Once again I think how easy it must have been for people to believe in some kind of higher being.

I peel away and hit breakfast then go online for a bit. I can’t decide what to do. Do I do the drive around the valley or the hikes? I settle on the hikes – probably better to do earlier before the sun really bakes everything. But first of all, I head down to the visitor centre, about a mile or something like that, outside of the park. Just outside the parking toll booths, I see a hitchhiker. I stop. After all, I’m only going to the end of the road – not a lot of time for murder and rape. He’s a Navajo dude who works at the hotel and is off to the other lodge to do his laundry. We chit chat about work and the country, and then I drop him off at the junction.

Lonely Planet says that the visitor centre of Monument Valley is appallingly useless. They are correct. It’s a huge building with next to nothing in it. It’s as if it’s still being furnished, but it’s not. I do get what I come for – a leaflet about the hike I’m about to do.

Back up at the booths, I wave my parking pass and the woman thanks me for picking ‘their little hitchhiker’. I feel like it’s going to be a good day.

I put on my Vibrams (I only have them or flip-flops), pack loads of water, butter myself up with sun lotion and head out. It’s described as ‘easy to moderate then strenuous’. So a bit of everything. They were right. It’s already hot, but it’s extremely exciting to be heading down, on foot, in to the valley. The West Mitten, which I will be walking around, is nothing but monolithic.

Looks oddly soft

Again, I can’t imagine the scale. Passing by huge rocks, I try to imagine how big the ones far further up are, but I can’t. I read somewhere that the monuments are around 1 km tall, which is around the same as Glen Canyon and I’m just as lost when it comes to trying to imagine how I’d look right up there next to it. There’s clearly been a lot of rain – there are cracked riverbeds that look as if they’ve recently seen water, and crevasses in the sand and dirt all over the place. I’m constantly worried about running across a Rattlesnake. I don’t though.

I find a tree and hide under it for a bit. It’s amazingly quiet and I’m completely alone. Something quite unique.

I push on. As I round the corner I realise that the Mittens are quite flat. They look almost as if they're cubes, but they’re not. They’re great slices of rock. You only ever see them from the front (or back), so to discover they’re very narrow is a great surprise to me. It’s getting hotter and I’m quick to get out of breath. I put it down to the fact that I’m almost 6 km above sea-level, but I’m sure burgers have something to do with it. And the fact that I don’t remember what a burpee is.

I pass horses and a foal. That’s nice. They clearly don't want to talk to me, but that's OK, they take my mind off the heat for 5 minutes. I find another – the only other – tree and shelter. I gulp down water and take some photos. I realise that I’ve taken approximately 45,983 photos and it’s not even midday. As I round the edge I can see the hotel perched up above me – not too long now. Of course, this is when the strenuous bit kicks in. It was all downhill at first, and now I’ve got to go back up. It’s hard. I sweat. I pass two people on their way down and think they’re nuts to do it in the midday sun. I don’t think they’re English. I reach the top – not the same place I went it but I don’t care. All I can think of is a shower.

After I scrub half of Monument Valley off my feet, I eat lunch, drink gallons of water and head off on another hike. This one is only half a mile long – hardly a hike - and is called The Mesa Rim Hike. It’s quite nice, and gives nice views of the valley and hotel. I find a rock and sit and stare. I meditate, I contemplate, I pontificate – I chill.

The View Hotel from the Mesa Rim

I look over my shoulder to see grey clouds gathering in the background. I’m not sure why but something inside me thinks that it’d be fun to be in the valley when it rains, so I rush off to the car. The dirt road that circles 17 miles around the valley is more like a sand road and a very sandy one at that. I thank God I’m in a 4x4 (again) and am amazed to see ‘normal’ cars apparently making it in and out just fine (until I’m on my way out). It’s very, very bumpy and slow going but that’s just fine. It gives you time to look around and take it in. It’s not very crowded but neither is it deserted. Just the right amount. It’s an impressive drive. Past gigantic lumps of rock that loom far, far above me, hot red sand all over the place, and The Eagles on the radio. It’s perfect.

Big rock, small car

After just over two hours, I find myself on the way out. In front of me, an older Asian couple edge towards the final big hill. I somehow know things aren’t going to go well. They’re far too cautious and get stuck half way up, caught in the deep sand. Wheels spin and dust billows up and flies in the wind. I stay at the bottom of the hill. The man gets out and flaps his arms up in a ‘argh’ sort of gesture. He gets in and tries again. Same thing. I get out and tell him to back up and try again. He nods, I get back in. He moves about a foot back and then guns it. Needless to say, nothing new. I sit in my car talking to myself. Eventually, he rolls right down the hill and puts his foot down. The car lurches and bounces all over the place, but they make it up. There was much waving and thumbs up.

I collapse into my room and can’t bear the thought of doing anything, but drag myself outside for a wander. I’ll be gone tomorrow. I had hoped to get on a horse but there’s a 2 person minimum, or it’s double the price. No can do.

After a quick wander around outside, I find a Navajo museum in the hotel. It’s pretty good. Better than the visitor centre, that’s for sure. It’s a beautiful culture, so peaceful, proud and somehow wholesome. I learn how the US government didn’t recongise Native Americans as citizens until 1921 and how they didn’t get the vote until after World War II. This makes me very angry. 

After I’ve let this go, I sit on my balcony and plan my route. I think I’ve got it sorted out but we’ll see. Tomorrow I’ll head to Four Corners Monument then to Canyon de Chelly and overnight in Chinle. I think. We’ll see how it goes.

I head to the restaurant for some green chili, and then move back up to the rock I chilled on before. There is a rainbow next to the Mitten I walked around.

You might just be able to make out both ends of the rainbow, far left and far right

On my way back to my room I see an early bird pair of bats swooping around.

Back in my room and here I am now. Navajo country is dry, which is a shame as I could murder a beer or 6. Instead I drink water and write this.

I’ll be sad to go, but I’m excited to start the unplanned part of my trip. Tomorrow I’ll be in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado all at the same time. Beat that.