JULY 1, 2013 MONUMENT VALLEY & NATURAL BRIDGES MONUMENT

Can you believe it.  CAN YOU BELIEVE IT.  The time is 6:03 AM and we are standing in front of the West Mitten, one of Monument Valley’s more photographed structures, watching the sun come up.  Pretty amazing, the view and the experience, not the fact we were able to get up this early.

We were one of many as there were photographers from all over the world, professional and amateurs. Many of them were staying at the lodge, and got up early just to try and get that perfect shot. 

The view away from the sunrise gave us perfect lighting to try and capture the true beauty of the valley.  This shot was taken from the viewing balcony of the lodge / visitor’s centre.

Mitchell Mesa

 

Monument Valley is a Navajo Tribal Park and is quite large.  It extends into Arizona and Utah and covers 91,696 acres and covers about 1/3 of the Colorado Plateau.  The monuments range from 100 feet to 1500 feet tall.

We had two options in exploring the park.  We could take one of various tours or we could take the self guided drive tour.  The tours did give you a little more exposure to the park but we decided on the self drive takes 3 hours.  The Road, it left a little to be desired and when they posted a 15 mph speed limit they weren’t kidding.  In fact, rarely did I reach 15 mph.

 

 

 

Our time in the park was quite an experience but was restricted to viewing.  We were asked to stay on the designated roads and not to climb onto any of the monuments.  The main reason is that people lived in the park and worked farms and other businesses. There was one hike that we chose not to take.  We simply enjoyed our time and marveled at the monuments.



Three Sisters

Three Sisters

The Cube



The Thumb



The Bride

Our time in the valley was pretty special and it was easy to see why it is one of the most visited areas in the US.

The other area we wanted to take in today was Natural Bridges National Monument.  This involved heading north and as we moved away from Monument Valley we saw this view in our real view mirror.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This view has been used in many movies, the one I remember most is Forest Gump.  One of the scenes of his running, his is running towards Monument Valley and it shows the same view as the picture.

 On our way to Natural Bridges we continued up Hwy 163 and we treated to some nice sights and scenery.  We passed through the town of Mexican Hat which was named after this monument.

 

 

The colors, swirls and configuration of the mountains were very appealing to the eye. 

 

We had turned onto Hwy 261 and after a short while we approached a set of cliffs.  As we got closer and closer we couldn’t see where the road was going. 

 

 

 

 

Was there a pass we couldn’t see or were we going to go over.  It turns out we were going over.  We had come to the Moki Dugway.  I am not sure why it is called the Moki Dugway but it was built to accommodate the uranium ore trucks in the 1950’s.  It is a graded dirt switchback road that is carved into the face of the cliff edge of Cedar Mesa.  There are places where the road is narrow, there are no guard rails and it is 1100 feet straight down.  It really isn’t that bad unless you are uncomfortable with heights.  Wait, that’s me.  I certainly kept my eye on the road and left the scenery watching to Kathy. 

 

 

It was a great view from the top.  The overlook gave us a breathtaking view of the Valley of the Dolls and the distant buttes of Monument Valley.

 

 

We reached the top, took a deep breath, and carried on to Natural Bridges. 

 

The Natural Bridges were in the mountains we could see in the distance.  The peaks we could see are called "Bears Ears" and this is one of the many, many pictures Kathy took of them.

 

We reached the National Monument and stopped at the Visitor’s Center.

 

We took in the short film they were showing before we started our exploring.  While at the visitors center we discovered there are three natural bridges and two collapsed bridges.  The collapsed bridges were not available for viewing. The Bridges range from 106 – 220 feet high, and a span of 180 – 268 feet.  In 1909 the bridges were given their final names which are Hopi words, Sipapu, Kachina and Owachomo. 

The bridges can be seen from overlooks on a 9 mile loop.  There are hikes down to each one but we only hiked down to the last one.  It was a short ½ mile round trip, however it was 200 feet down and was much easier on the way in.  The return trip was a little more difficult but we are finally starting to get back in hiking shape.  Each climb is getting easier.

SIPAPU

 

 

KACHINA

 

 

OWACHOMO

 

 

Once we finished our small hike we decided to call it a day.  We were 102 miles from the RV Park and we had a full day.  It was our longest day been tourists and it was our most satisfying day.  A heck of a way to start July.