A travel day - Chinle AZ to Monument Valley UT - only 125 miles (Thank God. My butt is really sore - saddle sore).
The trip is less than ideal however. Last night a pretty stiff wind, 30-35 mph, came roaring across the desert. The wind continued all day today, picking up red desert dust as it came. On the trip, there were places where I could only see a car length or so down the road. In a lot of places, the dust hugged the ground and completely obscured the road. You could see ahead quite well, you just couldn't see the road at all - so you drive by guess.
I finally arrived at Goulding's Monument Valley RV Park and found the managers starting to pack up the Camp Store. It seems they shut down for the winter November through April. Hmmm, I suppose they know more about the weather here than I do. I got set up in a spot - I basically had my choice of location, there were only another three campers there. The wind continued the rest of the day. The dust was heavy in the air and I was giving up all chance of getting any pictures of Monument Valley. I started over to the park run by the Navajo, but the dust was so bad in the valley, I turned around and came back to the MH. After sunset, the wind started to die down somewhat so I was starting to have some hope.
History Lesson - Harry Goulding, looking for opportunity in the west, road a horse into the valley in early 1921. He fell in love with the place and decided that somehow, he was going to bring his wife to this place to made a home. Unfortunately at that time, the whole valley was owned by the Indians, the Piute and the Navajos each had a reservation in the valley. After a time, the Piutes, being farmers and looking for more fertile land, urged the Government to relocate them. The government moved them and their old reservation went up on the auction block. Harry Goulding bought 650 acres (one square mile) for a total price of $320. He moved his wife from Colorado and set up a business to trade with the Navajo. The business eventually grew and Harry was happy. By 1938, the people in the valley were attempting to recover from the Great Depression - everyone suffered from the absence of tourists and the poor prices paid for Indian arts & crafts. Harry read a newspaper article about the movie director, John Ford, and his desire to start shooting his western films "on location" rather than on the back lots of Hollywood. Harry saw an opportunity and traveled to Hollywood with a stack of B&W photographs of the valley (by Josef Muench - an early western photographer). He eventually convinced John Ford to come out and take a look - John Ford was convinced. The first movie made in Monument Valley was "Stagecoach," starring John Wayne. Monument Valley was changed forever!!
Today started almost windless so I got on my way to the park. Monument Valley is on the Navajo reservation - the same one as Canyon de Chelly. Here, they run a 17 mile self-guided loop through the major features of the valley. Admission is $5.00 per vehicle. They also run guided tours to areas off the self-guided loop. Additionally, they have an excellent gift shop (they are not alone in this respect - even gas-stations in this area have gift shops well stocked with "Authentic" Indian Arts & Crafts. Check the labels on any of the Arts & Crafts you buy and get a guarantee they are handmade locally by indigenous Indians. You might find that some of the baskets are made in Pakistan or India (by Indians, what else?). You will certainly find machine made, but hand-painted pottery by the local Indians. The demand for pottery is such that they can't keep up when doing just hand thrown or hand wound pottery. Much is done in what they call the "tourist" style - not exactly authentic designs, but it's attractive and sells well.
I elected to do just the self-guided loop and was there at opening time to get started. Although the wind was down, there was still a haze over the valley. I asked one of the guides how long it took for the dust to settle and was told that was smoke from the fires in California coming in on the wind! I was disappointed because Monument Valley is known for it's wide-angle vistas -- I'd just have to settle for whatever I could get.
I ended up taking about four hours on the 17 mile loop and got a few pics. Some are of vistas, but you can see the haze. Most are close up to some of the monuments in direct light so the haze is not apparent.
This monolith is called Left Mitten. You can see the smoke haze in the background. Yes, there is a Right Mitten. Sometimes you'll see them in magazines in the same shot. Depending on the angle, you could see them with Merrick Butte separating the two.
This is called the Three Sisters. A point of Mitchell Mesa is the mass to the right. The haze is really obvious in this one.
I'm not sure, but this might be the backside of Camel Butte. Perhaps it looks like a Camel from the other side. Whatever - I just thought it was well lit and had good color!
Just another piece of red sandstone - and a mesquite bush that looked quite dead to me. I just thought it was a nice composition.
This is one of the "windows" in the valley. A "window" vista is basically a view of some of the distant monuments framed by a couple close-in monuments. You can really see the haze in this one. This one I believe they call the "North Window" and was used as a backdrop in a lot of the John Ford movies.
This is called the Thumb - not too original, but for the tourist trade, the Indians have given English names to all the monuments.
The self-guided tour takes you through only about 1/4 of the valley. Had the weather been a little better, no wind, and had there been no haze from the California fires, I would have sprung for a guide and taken in a bit more of the valley. Perhaps next time.
I got back to the RV Park at about noon, found I was the only one left in the park, but decided to do a little laundry and then go back to the park for some late afternoon/sunset shots. The laundry facility, part of the Camp Store, was boarded up!! I found a way into the facility through the store - all shelves stripped and with the goods in storage by now - and got my laundry done. It really felt eerie being the only one in the park and the only one in the store.
In between loads, I removed the air filter from the MH, cleaned it, re-oiled it and replaced it. It had gathered up about a pound of the dust from the trip yesterday! About the time I finished laundry, the wind kicked up again, and this time it lasted all day AND all night. I did not go back out to the park for sunset -- you couldn't see the sun for the dust in the air.