Monument Valley

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Monday, June 6, 2022

We decided to take a break from National Parks and go to Monument Valley. Isn’t Monument Valley a National Park? No! The fact is that it is part of the Navajo Nation’s Reservation who’s origin dates from 1868, when Congress ratified the Navajo Treaty. The name, in Navajo, literally means Valley of Rocks.

Monument Valley should be familiar to all. It’s been featured in countless Westerns as well as many modern movies. Visitors may drive the 17 mile scenic route at a cost of $8.00 per person. Visitors may not get off the route nor are they permitted to hike or camp without a permit. You may engage one of the many authorized private tour operators if you wish to see even more of the grounds.

The drive from Bluff, UT was expected to take about an hour. After thirty minutes we could see a vast plain with tall structures in the distance. About ten minutes later we came to a vista point where we pulled off to take some photographs. This place has become known as Forrest Gump Point as it was the place in the movie where, with Monument Valley in the distance, Forrest decided to stop running and walked back to Alabama. We stopped at several more vista points along the way before we got to the visitor’s center where we purchased our tickets. Tickets can also be purchased four miles down the road at the entry gate or ahead of time on the Navajo’s website for an extra $1.00. We showed our tickets to the attendant and continued on down the road. Once past the gate we crossed from Utah into Arizona.

Another mile down the road we found some buildings. There was a hotel, a gift shop and a restaurant. This is your last chance to enjoy any sort of services. Once on the scenic drive there are no restrooms, water, food or anything else. The website describes the scenic drive as a dirt road that is suitable for any car. We found it to be very rugged. In many places it was very uneven, rocky, slippery, had huge potholes and all sorts of other mayhem. The speed limit is 15 MPH. We were lucky to be able to go 10 MPH throughout most of it. We bottomed out several times and, at one point, we had a lot of trouble getting up a steep incline. A high clearance, four wheel drive car would definitely be recommended. At least the road was rather wide so people could pass or pull off to take some pictures.

Seeing the Valley was worth all the trouble we encountered. Using the provided map we were able to locate and name many of the rock formations. At many of the pullouts members of the Navajo tribe were selling handmade jewelry, arrowheads, knives and other similar souvenirs. The prices at these stands were usually quite reasonable.

After two hours we had completed the tour. We drove over to a small town on the Reservation named Oljato. There was another hotel, another gift shop, another restaurant and some movie artifacts. We checked out the restaurant but the menu didn’t interest us. Next we walked over to the artifacts. They were from 1939 version of the movie Stagecoach. The building that the passengers used while the horse team was being changed was there. Today it is a museum. We were not able to enter because it was closed for lunch.

On the way back we stopped outside of the town of Mexican Hat. We took some photos of the rock formation that lent the town its name.

Options for food in the town of Bluff are severely limited. Most of the few restaurants are only open a few days a week or have scanty hours. Our two choices for dinner tonight were the gas station/grocery store/pizza parlor/sandwich shop and a steak house. Since we’d had gas station pizza the night before we opted for the steak house. Our meals started with a small mixed salad. Deborah ordered the barbecue combination plate with ribs and pulled pork. I ordered an 8 oz. New York Strip. Both dinners came with potatoes and carrots. The food was generally very good. The restaurant specializes in homemade pies so Deborah ordered a slice of the Key Lime pie and another one of the Cherry pie (I say Deborah ordered them because I was only permitted, as usual, a small sample of each). The Key Lime was very tart and the Cherry had an amazingly good crust covered in sugar. The meal was a lot more than we would normally spend so we considered it our belated anniversary dinner.

Tuesday, June 7, 2022

This morning, after another excellent breakfast, we headed off to another Native American site: Four Corners. It’s the only place in the United States where the four states meet. The initial survey, ordered by Congress in 1863, was off by about 1,821 feet. In 1925, after many disputes where the actual marker should have been located, the Supreme Court ruled that the original 1863 location should be used. The area around Four Corners belongs mainly to the Navajo Nation. The Ute and other tribes control smaller portions.

We started out in Utah, crossed into Colorado and entered through Arizona. Entry to the monument costs $8.00 per person. We’ve heard that the line to take a picture at the actual intersection can be quite long but we only had to wait a few minutes. There was a sign that said you could only take three pictures but nobody was monitoring that. Everyone took turns and snapped whatever photos they wanted. It was all very orderly and everyone was in a good mood.

Afterwards we walked around the perimeter of the monument. There was a large number of booths manned by Native Americans selling all sorts of souvenirs including jewelry, t-shirts, arrows and more. Deborah purchased a set of dangling silver earrings that have a small symbol representing the four corners on them. We walked around for just a few minutes to see if there was any sort of view. There was very little. The monument is in the middle of nowhere and there is nothing around for miles.

Since it was still early we decided to take a detour and visit the nearby Hovenweep National Monument. The route took us through some very rural areas where wild horses roamed freely. We saw several small herds (including some foals) walking on paths near the road. The area has been home to ancient peoples for over 11,000 years. By 700 CE The Pueblo People started settling the area. Their population grew and by 1230 CE the Pueblos migrated from more primitive homes to much larger, two story, stone buildings. The remnants of these buildings are on display at Hovenweep. Today’s Paiute and Ute tribes are descendants of these Pueblo Peoples.

The park covers a large area where the remains of many settlements can be seen. Fortunately for us there is a two mile loop trail near the visitor’s center where quite a few of these buildings can be seen. We walked about a third of the trail until we came to the very impressive Hovenweep Castle. After that we took an alternate trail that took us back to the visitor’s center. It was just too hot to do the entire loop.

Back in Bluff we went to one of the other major restaurants for lunch: Twin Rocks Cafe. They are open daily for breakfast and lunch. Their menu was rather small and their prices were rather high. We opted for one of the least expensive things: a burger. We had our choice of fries or salad. Deborah got the fries. I tried to get the salad but their selection of dressings was so unappealing that I wound up opting for the fries as well.

The burger was well dressed and even had onion (a rarity in Utah). We barely made a dent in the huge pile of seasoned fries. As we were eating the check came. Deborah was annoyed. She hadn’t had a chance to order dessert! We worked it out and eventually shared a peach cobbler. It turned out to be more like a crumble with lots of brown sugar on top. It was more than enough for the two of us and was quite good.

Back in our hotel we did some juggling and came up with a schedule that will get us to June 13, when we should finally know if I have to go back to Las Vegas for jury duty.