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| Monument Valley |
In the end of April we visited Grand Canyon
and the surrounding national parks in Arizona and Utah: Monument Valley
National Park, Antelope Canyon, Rainbow Bridge National Park, Vermilion Cliffs
Wilderness, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park and Grand Canyon. It was a tight schedule for 8 days, but
finally it was fun.
Although the weather was not so much fun… even though I
checked the weather beforehand, it took us by surprise that a cold wave came
just on the same day as we left from Mexico and in a few kilometers on the way
from Phoenix to Monument Valley it was snowing heavily. Unfortunately in the
next few days the wind was still strong and cold, but thanks to that the clouds
went away soon and by the last 2-3 days we finally had nice, warm weather.
Our plane arrived in the morning to Phoenix
and after renting a car, we headed to Monument Valley. Although it is about
500kms on the convenient US highways it wasn´t as tiring as the distance would
suggest. We passed Flagstaff (where we got into the snow storm) and took the
road to the east which took us to Monument Valley (and the road goes further to
Arches National Park, Natural Bridges etc.)
Although we arrived to Monument
Valley in the afternoon, the weather was so cloudy and windy that we just
passed through it towards our hotel.
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| gloomy and windy Monument Valley |
We stayed in Hat Rock Inn, just a few kms
from Monument Valley. As we still had time until sunset, we decided to see the
Mexican Hat Rock and Gooseneck Bend which was a bit further away from our hotel
on the other direction from Monument Valley.
Mexican Hat Rock is just a rock on
the side of the road which really looks like a person with a wide-rim hat.
There is a little road to drive the rock around and if the weather had been
better we would also have gotten off the car, but in this cold weather we just
drove around and went further to Gooseneck Bend.
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| Mexican Hat Rock |
I wasn´t expecting much of Gooseneck Bend,
but indeed I preferred it to Horseshoe bend, which is much more popular. The Gooseneck Bend lays in the Gooseneck
State Park and as its name says, the San Juan River makes so steep curves into
the soft rock that it looks like a goose´s neck. The wind was so strong that it
would have thrown us from the cliff if it wouldn´t have come from the direction
of the valley… even so, the view was so spectacular that we couldn´t resist not
to get off the car and look (run) around. There are 3 big curves that can be
well seen from the viewpoint so it would have been a great picnic area if the
weather had been better…
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| Gooseneck Bend |
Our hotel as well was in a nice location –
just on the bends of the San Juan River and although there was not much options
for dining, it was a nice place to stay.
The next day we were glad to notice that
the strong wind had flown away most of the clouds and we could see the sun
finally.
Before heading to Monument Valley we drove
toward God´s Valley (on the opposite direction from Monument Valley), but as it
would have been a half-day trip, we just admired the valley from the distance
and turned back. (God´s Valley is a “miniature” Monument Valley, with different
shaped monuments (rock formations) – just like in Monument Valley, but smaller
in scale.)
Monument Valley is great both from the
distance and from nearby. As the monuments are 2-300 meters tall, it can be
well seen from kilometers. Of course, we stopped to take photos from the
distance with the straight road running towards the monuments. Although there
were still some clouds on the sky, it was really a stunning view with the
infinite plains below, the infinite blue sky above and those strange monuments
in the narrow strip of land between those two.
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| Monument Valley from a distance |
As this land is of the Navajo Indians, the
Monument Valley is also owned and managed by the Navajos. Once you pay the
10USD entrance fee, you arrive to the main building where there is a small
museum, souvenir shops and dining (which is attached to the View Hotel where
the rooms face the amazing view of the valley). We started here – the museum is
small but tells you about the main (and from my opinion the most proud)
activity of the Navajos in the modern history: the code talkers during the
WWII. Apparently the Navajo Indians worked as code talkers in the WWII because
their own language was not known by the Japanese and couldn´t break their
“code” (language). So, in the museum there were many photos from Okinawa and
Pearl Harbor. (We even found a small “Japanese WWII” exhibition in the nearby
Burger King!) The souvenir shop is full with the area´s unique objects: photo
frames and candle holders by sandstone; turquoise jewelry, dream catchers etc.
One can buy almost anything here related to the Navajo Indians and the area,
but I have to tell that this was the priciest shop we´ve found in our trip.) In
this building you can find guides that take you into the valley – with a guide
you not only hear interesting stories about the tribe and its customs, but you
are also allowed to be taken around Thunderbird Monument, where some families
are still living as the Navajos for centuries.
But there is also a self-guided road
(which excludes the Thunderbird Monument) – we took this road and even so it
took us over an hour to drive around. Although I don´t know much about the
Navajo culture, to me it seemed that their culture is a bit similar to the
Japanese – at least in their religion. For the Navajos the whole Monument
Valley is considered as sacred place where these tall monuments used to be (or
still are) places for worship. In the Japanese Shinto as well, the people
believe supernatural power to unique places, trees, rocks and consider them as
places where gods would live or land on Earth.
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| My favorite: The Cube |
Although up it was windy, inside the valley it was quite warm thanks to these huge monuments blocking the cold wind. Although big part of the road is dirt road, the road is easy to follow and if the souvenir sellers aren`t enough to spot the main attractions, there are also signs for each stops with the name of the rocks, like Elephant Butte, Camel Butte, the Thumb, the Cube. But the most famous I guess is the Three Mittens and Merrick Butte.
Down in the valley it was relatively nice and warm so
the 1-hour drive was delightful. It gives a totally different aspect to view
these enormous rocks from close than from the distance. As our guidebook said,
one needs to experience both in order to really enjoy Monument Valley. Being
among these rocks that were/are often the stage of cowboy and western movies, I
really felt like get up on a horse and just gallop towards the horizon. And you
can do it! In the middle of the valley (about at the middle of the course you
can park your car and rent horses. The price is not too high and negotiable.
But the best is that this horse ride isn´t like the ones in other national
parks – they gather together a group of people and go on a course in single
file, where you don´t have to care about your horse, it would follow the one
before him anyway. Here you have a guide and you can go by yourself or with the
people you came with. The pace and route (more or less) can be decided by
yourself, so I am sure it really would give you that cowboy feeling! It was a
pity that around that area it was quite cold and windy… we were really thinking
about it but finally gave up as we didn´t have much warm clothes to ride a
horse in windy weather for an hour.
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| The Thumb |
It was good that we entered the valley
relatively early – although it was still chilly at places, the valley was still
empty. By the time we came back there were already lines of trucks (amended so
at the back dozens of tourists would be able to sit (and swallow the sand))
coming down the valley packed with tourists from tour buses.
After Monument Valley we headed to Page.
Page is the main town of the Navajo Indians and good spot for departures to
horseshoe bend, Antelope Canyon or Lake Powell. As it was still early by the
time we arrived (around 3pm) we decided to check out Antelope Canyon. There are
2 of these canyons: lower and upper. We decided to go to the upper as it was
shorter (and more popular). We got tickets for the last tour (starting at 4pm).
As we had time, we drove to the city, checked-in and went back to join the
tour.
We were taken to the entrance of the Canyon by a 4WD van as we drove the
sandy riverbed for a few kilometers.
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| on the way to Upper Antelope Canyon |
As we got off the van, our feet sank into
the sand ankle deep. It was a “petit” experience of driving in a desert. J
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| The entrance of Upper Antelope Canyon |
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| Wolf face - the bottom of the canyon was already dark |
Although our guide was not so much enthusiastic, he showed us the
unique rock forms (mummy, wolf etc) and helped us to take the best photos from
the best angle. It is said that the upper Antelope Canyon is best around
11-noon, it must be true. By 4pm it was already dark in the canyon, by this
time the sunlight only reached the upper parts of the walls. Although it was
interesting, seeing the lower Antelope Canyon in a few days after this, we
found it much more beautiful, so finally it was better to see upper first,
because if it had been the other way, it would have been only a big
disappointment.
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| Upper Antelope Canyon |
The next day we had a reservation for a cruise
on Lake Powell to Rainbow Bridge. Our guidebook said it is a tour worth the
price (125USD per person) and the time (it´s a 6 hour tour). And it definitely
was! Lake Powell is an artificial lake that stretches 300kms long in the states
of Arizona and Utah. The lake was created by flooding the Glen Canyon. It took
7 years for the Colorado River to fill up the canyon. As it was originally a
canyon, the boat took us among bendy curves and unique monuments, buttes,
tables. (Apparently the difference between a butte and the table is that a
table is a short monument with relatively wide, flat top while the butte is
rather tall than wide.)
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| Lake Powell |
The characteristic of this lake (next to the monuments
along the trip) is the unique color of it: below the orange-brownish sandstone
a distinctive white stripe lies above the water level. This white stripe shows
the highest water lever of the lake.
Although the boat trip took 3 hours just
one way, it was interesting to watch the strange rock formations and the unique
view on the way.
But the most interesting was the final 15-20 minutes before we
arrived. In order to reach Rainbow Bridge (which by the way can be reached only
from the lake), the boat had to enter a narrow branch from the main valley of
the canyon. It was thrilling sailing among 30m tall walls that were just a few
meters away…
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| Entering the narrow branch |
Finally we stopped at a small port surrounded by tall walls.
Indeed it was somehow sacred – the transparent, emerald green water, the tall
walls around and the silence in this place purified our souls.
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| arrived to the port |
Getting off the boat, we walked about 15
minutes to reach the Rainbow Bridge on foot. Although you can see photos of
this beautiful rock in CMs, photos and posters, just as Monument Valley, the
atmosphere and the feeling around this place is worth to see Rainbow Bridge by
your own eyes. Rainbow Bridge was composed by the erosion of the Colorado River
along millions of years.
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| a familiar view |
By now, it became a perfect arch, just like a rainbow
turned into stone… no wonder that the Navajos consider it a sacred place. For
that same reason, it is forbidden not only to climb the rock (which would be
very difficult for its angle), but even walk under it or get close.
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| petrified rainbow |
We arrived back to the Marina of Page around 3pm. After resting a bit, we went to Horseshoe Bend to see the sunset. Horseshoe bend was about 5 min. drive from Page. It was about another 15 minute walk from the parking lot to the bend. Although we didn`t wait finally for the sunset (the wind was extremely strong!) it was a beautiful view. Just like the other scenery above, Horseshoe Bend is also amazing in live even though this view is well known worldwide. It is written both in the guidebooks and on site to be careful of the rocks. Being there I understood why; the rocks are sandstone and are layered like the mille-feuille cake. It really didn`t like sturdy...
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| mouthwatering mille-feuille like sandstone |
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| dangerous edges |
Even tough the bend itself looked beautiful: light blue sky in the background, orange colored sandstone and below the emerald green Colorado river. ("Colorado" means "colorful" and indeed it was - ranging from light green on the banks into dark emerald green in the middle)
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| Horseshoe Bend |
For more pictures, click here! →(Half) Grand Circle
To me, Lower Antelope Canyon seemed more interesting than Upper... not only it was cheaper, but longer and more fun. Although one group was of about 20 people (compared to 6 in Upper) it didn`t seem crowded because the canyon was big enough to spread out. 
