28 April 2023 Monument Valley UT to Page AZ

 The drive from Monument Valley to Page is only 128 miles. The roads are not the smoothest, but we were not in a rush. After arriving at Antelope Point RV Park ($80 per night, no discounts) near the Marina in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. This is a beautiful new RV Park with nice concrete pads, paved roads, and artificial turf for spacious yards. Its only 10 minutes to Page and five minutes to upper and lower Antelope Canyon. After getting the Wanderer set up, we drove into town to get Leslie’s ankle looked at since this is the first place where we could get access to a Doc-in-a box. After a brief check, the doc declared it “just a sprain” and gave Leslie a stiffer ankle brace and told her to keep working it. At least it was good to know there is nothing fractured. Then we did some grocery shopping (after two weeks in the boonies, supplies were getting low) and had a nice early dinner. The time zone thing is messing with our heads. Arizona does not observe daylight savings time unless you are on the Navajo Reservation, which does observe it. So, in the brief drive from the RV park which is on Reservation Land, to Page, we lose an hour. So instead of being a 5 o’clock dinner, it was a 4 o’clock dinner. We need to be careful to make sure we don’t miss a tour because of the time zone changing. 

Entrance Sign

Our site in Antelope Point RV Park

27 April 2023 Monument Valley Drive

 After giving Leslie’s ankle, and David’s still aching back a couple of restful days to heal, we decided to go back into the valley to see the stops that our tour had missed. After paying another $8 per person entry fee for the tribal park, we stopped at the visitor center to go through the shop and pick up some post cards and enjoy the view from the patio (One of the best views in the park). The public road through the valley is a combination of dirt, sand and gravel. The first decent to the valley floor is a little steep and rocky making it rough in spots. But nothing challenging for the Behemoth. The total loop is only 13 miles. We took our time, stopping at the various overlooks and enjoying a beautiful afternoon. We climbed out of the valley just before they closed the entry gate for the road. The speed limit on the road is only 15MPH to keep the dust down and get people to slow down for some of the more rough terrain. But we constantly had people tailgating us, sucking up all the dust the Behemoth churned up on the dirt road. People seemed to be in a rush and were willing to risk damage to their cars by going too fast. 

Horse rider on Fords Point

Wild Horses in the Park

The thumb

North Valley from the North Window.

Frank playing at Big Hogan

 

24 April 2023 Monument Valley Tour

 We booked the extended sunset tour with Monument Valley Tribal Tours. Our guide Frank, born and raised nearby, picked us up at the KOA at 4:15 and drove over to the View Lodge in the tribal park to pick up the rest of the tour group. We stopped at the front gate for Leslie and I to pay the $8 per person entrance fee to the tribal park. The tour vehicle was an old Chevy four-wheel drive pickup truck with open air covered padded bench seats in the bed. The weather was perfect for our tour. Clear blue skies with a scattering of puffy clouds, mild temperatures. There were 6 other folks, all from outside the country, that joined us. Frank drove us down into the valley, stopping at various points to point out the name of the various buttes and give some history of the area. After Fords Point, where John Ford set up his filming equipment for filming various John Wayne movies, we left the public road to head into the back country where only the native tour guides are allowed to go. David had driven the public road back in the 90s and had noticed the turn offs where only the guided tours are allowed to go, which is why we wanted to take a tour this time around. Frank took us to several arches, buttes, rock formations and Petroglyphs (by Eyelash Arch). These petroglyphs were some of the nicest we had seen. He managed to get stuck a couple of times in the deep sand but was able to get us unstuck with four-wheel drive. At Big Hogan Arch, Frank broke out his flute and played a haunting melody with the echoes from the canyon walls making it magical. Toward the end of our tour we popped back out on the public road, but it was getting late so Frank blew past several stops to get us back to the visitor center intime to catch the beautiful colors from the setting sun on the buttes, including the East and West Mittens. The timing was perfect. The Mittens were glowing orange with the light from the setting sun. By now the temperatures had dropped so the wind chill driving back to the KOA caused us to put on our jackets and hunker down for the short drive.

East and West Mittens

North Valley

Valley from Fords Point

The Hand

Eyelash Arch

Ear of the Wind Arch

The Totam Pole

The Total Pole

North Valley at Sunset

The West and East Mittens at Sunset

West Mitten

Big Hogan

                                

Moccasin Arch

23 April 2023 Navajo NM

 We headed to Navajo NM in the late morning. Our research had shown that there was only one short trail to a cliff edge cliff dwellings overlook that was open in the NM. There was a guided ranger tour at 7Am in the morning to those same ruins, but with Leslie’s ankle questionable, we really did not consider  it. It was only a one hour scenic drive to the NM. Once there, we got our passport stamp, picked up some postcards, explored the visitor center exhibits and watched the park film. There are three sets of cliff dwellings in the NM. Two of the ruins require an overnight hike which the NPS is currently not issuing passes for. They are working on a new management plan for the park which will decided if they ever allow the public to those remote ruins without an escort. We walked the fairly easy 1.3 mile Sandal Trail to the overlook for the Betatakin Cliff Dwelling ruins. Leslie’s ankle did well on the hike down, but it was really hurting on hike back up. 

Sunset from the KOA

Entrance Sign

Betatakin Cliff Dwelling ruins

21 April 2023 Chinle AZ to Monument Valley UT

 The drive to Monument Valley covered some of the same roads we took to get to the Four Corners Monument. So we knew where the rough patches were. There were several stretched where we would slow down to 40mph to gently go over the wildly buck road. People would blast past us, annoyed we were going so slow only to find themselves airborne on the next bump. We are staying at the Monument Valley KOA ($68 per night with KOA discount) just outside the entrance to Monument Valley. We can see the beautiful Bluffs of the valley from our camp site. It’s nice to have electric, water and WiFi again. Number one item on our to do list is showers! We have a tour schedule into the valley on Monday. When we were here in 2021, the valley was closed due to COVID, but we were able to do a tour outside the valley where we got to see some neat stuff. We also plan to visit the Navajo National Monument while we are here.

Campsite at Monument Valley KOA

View from the Campground

View of Monument Valley from the campground

20 April 2023 Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site

 We had passed the Hubbell Trading Post in Ganada on our way here but did not want to stop with the Wanderer attached. Having listened to a pod cast by Matt and Karen Smith about the site, we decided to drive down to experience it. The Hubbell Trading Post is the oldest trading post on the Navajo Reservation. It was in continuous operation from 1872 to 1967 when it was bought by the National Park Service from the last surviving descendent of Juan Hubbell. We walked through the trading store where we got our passport stamp and Leslie found a beautiful hand made Turquoise Necklace. Then headed over to the Visitor Center where we watched the park film, and were able to take a tour of the Hubbell home with Park Ranger Alvis Burbank. In the home are over 130 “Red Head” drawings of Native Americans, including some famous chiefs, that were done by E. A. Burbank in the late 1800s. Park Ranger Alvis Burbank shares the same name, but is not a genetic descendent of E. A. Burbank. The Navajos did not have middle or last names until forced to by the US Government. Many of the Navajo last names were “given” to them by people that were respected withing the reservation. But it was fun for David to tease Alvis about it! The Red Head drawings are incredible in detail. The Hubbell’s hosted many artists in their home and the artists would leave some of their works for payment for their keep even though the Hubbell’s did not ask for recompence. On our way out, Park Ranger Alvis pointed out a Great Horn Owl nesting in a tree outside the visitor center. They are very unusual to see in this area. 

Entrance Sign

The Trading Post

Original Trading Post Sign

Interior of the trading post

Great Hall of the Hubbell Home

One of the original Red Heads

Great Horned Owl nest

19 April 2023 Four Corners Monument

 We were supposed to meet our Navajo Guide at 1 for our tour into the canyon. He called about 12:15 to tell us the park service had closed the canyon bottom for tours due to deep water in the river which we would have to ford several times. At first the guide refused to refund our paid in full up front fee. But Leslie talked with him a bit and convinced him to refund it since it was not our fault the tour was canceled. Disappointed that we would not get to see the canyon bottom, we decided to head up to the Visitor Center to collect our passport stamp and pick up some post cards. We watched the park film and talked with the Park Ranger to see if the river level might change in the next couple of days. We then decided to head up to the Four Corners Monument where the four states; Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona all meet. This is a Navajo Nation Park. We had stopped by the monument in 2021 but it was closed due to COVID. The 90 mile drive up to the monument is very scenic with buttes and bluffs that rival Monument Valley in beauty. We arrived at the monument around 3:30, paid the 16$ entrance fee. The area around the point where the four states meet is surrounded by booths set up for local artisans to sell their wares. Only a few were open while we were there. Again the winds were blowing pretty strong, but we went to the monument and got our pictures standing in four states at the same time. On the drive back we took a little different route which took us closer to the Chuska Mountains and the eastern end of the NM. We had to stop a couple of times for wild horses alongside or crossing the road. They looked to be in good health and it was fun to see them running free. 

Geographic Boundary Marker

Four Corners Plaza

Four Corners 

Wild Horses crossing the road

Wild Horse running across in front of us

18 April 2023 Canyon de Chelly National Monument

 After David finished up what work he could do in the morning with no internet connection, we decided to go and drive the South and North over look roads which had view points into the canyon. We have a tour with a local Navajo Guide into the canyon in the morning. The only trail in the canyon is closed for unspecified reasons. So we drove both roads and stopped at the various viewpoints for peeks into the canyon. The canyon bottom is still being farmed by 15 Navajo families. The winds were blowing hard and we felt like we would get blown off the overlooks into the canyon several times. Between the wind and the warm temperatures, we could see the river was flowing in the bottom of the canyon from the snow melt in the Chuska Mountains to the east. The canyon is very beautiful with dramatic vertical cliffs and swirling rock layers. We got some great pictures!

Entrance Sign

Spider Rock

Mummy House