Monument Valley

The Valley of the Gods.

The first view from the highway approach.

Some of the rock formations here, remind me of Uluru in Australia.

The 'totem' which stands over 500 feet.

This is the western gate.

Two 'hogans', the traditional homes of the Navajo.

The view from my balcony.

 Thursday, July 7th.

I woke up before my 6am alarm and wrote up yesterday’s blog. Then I packed and headed out. It was cool this morning, only 70 and I was actually chilly. The 50 mile ride was through beautiful arid red country. I stopped at Valley of the Gods, which is only really accessible by 4x4. Then I rode straight to Monument Valley. I wasn’t sure where I was to meet my tour, as the instructions and directions didn’t work on my GPS. When I arrived at the visitors centre outside the national park at about 8:20 it was closed. My tour was to start at 9. I talked to a guide from another company and he said they should show up here shortly. I’ll save you the long story, but it was very stressful for about an hour before I managed to contact the leader, buy a park pass and find the group. Motorcycles are not allowed to ride through because of the road conditions. There were 4 young Belgians and 3 old Americans on the tour with me. The guide was great and he drove us for 3 and a half hours through the valley taking us to the highlights, explaining the culture and telling us about all the movies, commercials, music videos and other things that have been shot here. Monumental Valley is not a national park or monument, it is a Navajo Tribal Park. They change $8 to enter and it straddles the Arizona Utah border. It was very hot and I didn’t fancy riding in the afternoon. I thought it would be great to see the place at sunset and the night sky, and since I wasn’t sure where I was going to go from here, I decided to book a room at Goulding’s. This place started as a trading post by Harry Goulding and his wife Mike in the 1920’s. There is a museum on the site that is in their original store with living space upstairs. It is all set up like the time. I collapsed in my room and slept for two hours! When I woke up I felt groggy so I went and swam in the indoor pool to wake up. Then I had dinner in their restaurant. In the evening, when it cooled down I went out and bought supplies for breakfast, gassed up and then rode back to the View Hotel in the park to watch the sunset, which made the red colours deeper. I asked a guy to take a photo of me and we got talking. He is from Botswana and came to the States to become a doctor. Nice man. To bed early in anticipation of sunrise behind the monuments. 178 Km today, shortest ride yet.