Up early in the morning with a nice breakfast at our Apache Motel. We then headed off for another 3 hour drive. As we headed south the land was filled with amazing formations carved by the rain and wind. One was called Mexican Hat, a huge rock balancing on a small point. We also saw the mountains of Bears Ear National Monument. It looked like a great place to visit as we drove around two sides of it. But, that would have to be another trip. Our initial destination today was Monument Valley. This was not a National Park but a Tribal Park that the Navajo Nation had set aside on their reservation in 1958. Native peoples had lived there for at least 1000 years. Like many of the other places in surrounding Utah and Arizona, it had a lot of spectacularly beautiful stone formations called, based on their shape, Mesas, Buttes, and Spires. Many truly looked like monuments. We knew we were in for a treat: a Navajo-led tour of Monument Valley. At Moab we were very close to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks which we had visited previously. So many many beautiful places that have been set aside to be protected. We were so excited to get to our tour at Monument Valley.
Before we started our tour we had a picnic lunch behind our car in the parking lot and then explored the visitors' center. There we saw a fine exhibit about the Navajo Code Talkers from WWII. Their code, based on the Navajo language, was never broken and allowed for secure communication throughout most of the war in the Pacific. This display was created by a high school class and they did so well on it.
The drive on the back of a four-wheel drive truck was spectacular. At times, it would just look like plain old desert scrub, then suddenly, out of nowhere, huge red, beautiful formations would pop up. Every few minutes we would need to take a wonderful photo of how beautiful it was. If we had had more time, we might’ve stopped at more of the places along the side.
In an open air truck, seven of us were taken around and shown the beautiful areas as well as given a lot of the stories that came out of the Navajo tradition and more information about the area. There is a 17 mile loop that is open to the public to drive-through and we saw those areas but also went in some restricted areas that could only be seen by tours. Our guide, Larry, was very knowledgeable and had many stories to tell, as well as playing his flute for us in a wonderful cave. We also were shown a fine set of petroglyphs created by the Anasazi people more than a 1000 years ago. It was hot, over 90 degrees and bone dry, so a difficult place to linger too long. However, it was very beautiful and we were really glad to have taken that advantage of the opportunity. In past trips, we had been at the other national parks and monuments in the area. But neither of us had been here and it was gorgeous.
After our tour, we had another 3 Hour drive to Flagstaff, Arizona. A short distance south of Monument Valley was a huge remnant of a volcanic plug called Agathla Peack. Very impressive. After about an hour's drive we could see the cloud of smoke rising from the fire on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was sad to think this fire was still only partially contained after three weeks. We were glad to see Mt. Humphreys, an extinct volcano that is the tallest point in Arizona, to the south and knew it was just north of Flagstaff. We looked forward to being in Flagstaff, it was only a really good night sleep and a solid drive the next day to be home. We are ready.
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