MONUMENT VALLEY

Tuesday, we headed out for Monument Valley.  The complete name is Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.  It is land that is owned by the Navajo people.  Monument Valley sits at 5,564 ft. above sea level. The heights of the “monuments” range from 100 feet to 1,500 feet tall. In 1958, it was established as a preserved environment by the Navajo Nation Council under the Division of Natural Resources.  Like everything else in this area, Monument Valley displays a first-hand look at natural structures created by erosion.

If you drive a car/truck to Monument Valley, it will cost you $20 to enter.  Motorcycles are $10 but they cannot drive the loop to look at the monuments, so I’m not sure why they would pay to go in.  There is a Visitor’s Center, a gift shop, a hotel, and a restaurant right as you enter.  I would think that you should be able to enter to go to Visitor’s Center, the gift shop, the hotel and the restaurant without having to pay the entrance fee.  It would seem that you would get more shoppers who would in turn spend more money.  But, whatever.

I'm not sure who the people represent in those statues.  It's not the Navajos.

 

There were a ton of bus tours there.  I’m not sure if they get a special deal with the Navajo people to come there or what.  There are tour trucks/wagons/jeeps available there.  One of the Navajo people takes you in one of these vehicles along the drive and they even throw in a couple of extra monuments along a couple of roads that private automobiles are not allowed on.  Since the buses cannot go on the valley drive, all of the people on the bus get on one of the tour vehicles.  The valley drive was constantly full of tour vehicles while we were on the loop.  To do the tour cost per person and you are expected to tip the driver.  They were doing pretty good for a days work.

We paid our $20 and went in.  We did go to the gift shop and the photo-op spots that are at the Visitor’s Center.  We then set out on the scenic loop to see the “monuments.”  The valley drive is 17 miles long.  It is an unpaved dirt road.  That is a big understatement.  It is an unpaved, rutted, deep holed, extremely rough, dirt road.  Mr. W had asked the lady at the entrance gate if we would be able to drive on the road.  She said yes but you will need to take it very slow.  Boy was she right.  You couldn’t help but drive it slow.  They tell you that it will take 1 ½ to 2 hours to complete the valley drive.  They provide you a map with all the numbered pull-offs so that you can stop and take photos.  I thought it interesting that in the literature you receive at the entrance gate it states that you can only take photos of the people on the valley drive if you ask their permission and you leave them a tip.

We started the drive and most everything in Monument Valley is very desert like.  Most of their formations have names and once you hear the name, you really can see why it is named that.  I did think it was interesting at every pull-off there were anywhere from 1 to 5 Navajo vendors set up selling their wares.  There is one pull-off that has a sign that says, “Picture of man on horse - $1; Picture of man on horse on point - $5.”  The horse was there but not the man.  Mr. W walked out to the point and started pretending he was riding a horse, but I told him to give it up.  No one was going to pay him to take his picture. J

Drive to Monument Valley

This is called Mitten Butte.

This is the point where the guy on the horse will go and you can take his picture for $5.

 

Mr. W's real love of his life, his truck.

I think it took us about 1 ½ hour to make it around the loop.  By the time we reached the end, we were ready to go and get off those roads.  We really didn’t think it was worth the $20, but we can say we’ve been there done that.

Tomorrow we head to Durango.  Mr. W’s brother and sis-in-law are meeting us.  Can’t wait.