Monument Valley

Monument Valley is actually a beautiful mesa.  Located at about 5600 feet elevation, it has a very rich history in early American development.  It is a very windy place and the wind is what has carved the magnificent pinnacles and mesas.  The valley was once a plateau 1000 feet high.  The wind has carved out the softer sandstone leaving the harder rock.  The state line of Arizona and Utah passes through Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.  However, it is entirely with the Navajo Nation.  To enter the park you must pay the $6.00 per person Navajo Land Use Fee.  There is a visitor center and a very popular and very expensive motel.  The motel has a commanding view of the Mittens and other formations.  There is a 17 mile drive that you can drive in your personal car into the park.  Be aware the “road” is very rough, dirt, sand, steep, rocky and generally a car destroyer.  It’s best you have a high clearance vehicle.  We have a 4 wheel drive 1 ton truck, but we chose to hire a guide to get the best experience and save my truck.

Our guide was Marie.  She is a native Navajo who had been leading tours for 16 years.  There were about 10 people on our tour.  Another ride in an old pickup modified to carry people.  At least this one had old school bus seats.

We began tour of a Navajo Hogan (Hoe-Gan') hard second syllable.  A Hogan is an eight sided structure made of Juniper logs and covered with mud.  It has a dirt floor and a chimney in the center.  The door always faces east to the rising sun.  A Hogan with a round roof is a “Female” Hogan.  If it has a pointed roof it is a “Male” Hogan.  Although the Hogans are either male or female it does not mean the natives occupy one or the other.  It just means the Hogan is male or female.  Go figure.  The picture of the Navajo spinning yarn for a rug was taken inside the Hogan.  Her name is Lucy and she like gratuities.

After visiting Lucy, we headed into the valley of many formations.  Our guide led us to ancient drawings, dwellings, and movie sites.  Because we had a guide we were able to visit many sites not open to the public.  We visited many old movie sets like John Ford’s Point.  Some of the more famous movies include, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Kit Carson, Fort Apache, The Eiger Sanction, Back to the Future, Billy the Kid, and many others.

The valley was originally inhabited by the Anasazi 1500 years ago.  After the Anasazi left, the Navajo and Hopi moved in and occupy the valley.  Today, the traditional Navajos do not have electricity or running water.

Monument Valley was relatively unknown until the late 1930s.  At the end of the First World War Harry Goulding and his wife “Mike” Goulding came to Monument to live with the Indians.  In the 1924 they established a trading station where the natives could exchange their livestock and handmade goods for other necessities.  The Gouldings loved and respected the Navajos.  They established a hospital, brought in fresh water, and brought tourists.  The Gouldings were instrumental in bringing Hollywood to the valley.  The first movie Stagechoach  was filmed in 1938.  Soon the world became fascinated with Monument Valley.  The Gouldings further developed the valley creating a grocery store, motel, schools, and a campground, to bring more tourists and further enhance life for the Native Americans.  Other than the visitor’s center the only other service available in Monument Valley is at the Goulding complex.

Natural Bridge

John Ford's Point

Ancient Carvings

Sentinel Mesa and Right Mitten

Antelope Canyon

Antelope Canyon is a beautiful slot canyon located just a couple of miles from Page, AZ.  A slot canyon is created by water rushing through a canyon of sandstone.  The water will rush as fast as 60 miles an hour and as it passes through the canyon, it carves out the sandstone to reveal very beautiful colors.  The colors of the sandstone range from purple, to orange, to red, and many other colors.  Antelope Canyon is actually two canyons, one called Upper Canyon and one called Lower Canyon.  The Upper Canyon is the most popular and easiest to walk.  The Lower Canyon requires some climbing and is not as long.  We explored the Upper Canyon.

To hike the canyon requires a Navajo guide.  Because the canyon is located on Navajo land the Navajo people will only allow access by paying a fee and using a guide.  The fee to get to the guide hut is $6.00 per person.  Then you hire your guide.  We were fortunate to have Anna, a family member of the company that operates the guide service.  We left the hut and traveled 3 miles through very soft sand in a pickup outfitted to carry 14 people.  In the bed of the very old pickup (1975 Chevy) were two benches over the wheel wells.  They had seat belts, but the belts were used to hold the benches to the truck, not the occupants to the benches.  My wife, Kathy was very lucky to be able to ride in the cab with Anna,  I got the windy, sandy ride in back with 11 other people.

Inside the canyon is very beautiful and very crowded.  Even in the slower season the hike is very popular and many tour operators bring victims.  The tour is well worth it though.  If you ever have the opportunity, it’s a must see.  There are many slot canyons in Northern Arizona.  Some do not require a guide.  Be very careful exploring on your own though.  The very same flash floods that created the canyons can occur any time of the year and start 100’s of miles away.  By the time they arrive, the water can be traveling 60 miles per hour and you can become trapped.  Be sure to get some local information. 

 

Glen Canyon Dam

On October 15 1956 the first blast occurred and construction began on the Glen Canyon Dam and bridge.  Prior to the bridge being built, the only way to cross the Colorado River was a 200 mile drive.  The main purpose of the dam was to provide water storage for a very thirsty southwest and power generation. 

The bridge itself actually began life in California.  The bridge was built in two sections, and then disassembled and one half was transported to each side of the canyon.  By 1959 the bridge was completed and trucks were able to bring supplies and materials needed to begin constructing the dam and the new town of Page.

The next year concrete placement began and continued night and day for three years.  One bucket of concrete held 24 tons and it took 400,000 buckets to complete the dam.  That equals over 5 million yards of concrete, or enough concrete to build a 4 lane highway from Phoenix, Arizona to Chicago, IL.

In the next, three years the turbines for power generating were installed.  By the time the dam was completed and generating power, 17 workers met their death during the ten years of construction.

On September 22, 1966 the Glen Canyon Dam was dedicated by Lady Bird Johnson.  It took 17 years to completely fill the new lake called Lake Powell.  Named after the explorer that discovered many sites in the area, John Wesley Powell..

Power generated from the Glen Canyon Dam serves a five state grid of Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona.  The power generated can supply 1.5 million users.

Horseshoe Bend, Navajo Bridge, and Lee's Ferry National Monument

Today we began to explore the area around Page Arizona.  We visited the famous Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River, the old and new Navajo Bridge that connects the Grand Canyon North Rim to the South Rim, and Lee’s Ferry National Monument.

Horseshoe Bend is a very photogenic place on the Colorado.  It is just below the Glen Canyon Dam about 5 miles south of Page AZ.  You park in a lot alongside Highway 89 and walk about 3/8 of a mile uphill and downhill (about 200 feet elevation change) through soft red Arizona sand.  The hike is worth it.  1000 feet below, the Colorado River makes a 270 degree turn around a sandstone bluff.  The view is amazing.  We were there earlier in the morning and not the best time for photography because of the sun position.  Now I know when to be there and will return in the afternoon.

Horseshoe Bend

Next we went on the Navajo Bridge.  The original bridge was completed in 1929 and was paid for by what is now the Arizona Department of Transportation with cooperation with the United States Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs.  The bridge is only 18 feet wide with a load capacity of 22.5 tons (although the posted load capacity is 40 tons).  At the time it was constructed, consideration was given to the fact that it may be too small, but a larger bridge was rejected as being too expensive.  Well, as usual, they should have built the bigger bridge.  Because traffic became too heavy, and too frequent, a new bridge had to be built.  There were many environmental impacts that had to be considered including the impact on the Navajo sacred land and the Marble Canyon itself.  The new steel arch bridge was commissioned in 1990 and completed in September 1995 at a cost of $15 million dollars.  The old bridge was left and is now used only for foot traffic.  The new bridge was designed to look similar to the old bridge is a beautiful addition to the Marble Canyon.  While photographing the two bridges I spotted 2 California Condors.  I scurried back to the truck and got my BIG lens.  I was able to photograph 3 Condors.  There are currently 122 California Condors in existence.  I was able to photograph number 02, 55 and 83.

New Navajo Bridge

New Navajo Bridge

New Navajo Bridge

New on Left.  Old on Right

#55 and #83

#02

He Got Nervous

In flight from the Old Bridge

Disagreement?

Maybe Just Play

Until the original bridge was constructed, the only way for vehicle traffic to cross the Colorado River for hundreds of miles, was Lee’s Ferry.  Lee’s Ferry began service in 1872 and was discontinued in 1928.  The ferry is gone, but the campground and surrounding area is operated by the National Park Service.  The scenery is amazing.  The Vermillion cliffs stand out against the deep blue sky.  Lees Ferry is the only place within Glen Canyon where visitors can drive to the Colorado River in over 700 miles of Canyon Country, right up to the first "rapid" in the Grand Canyon.

Road to Lee's Ferry

Road to Lee's Ferry

Lee's Ferry at the Colorado River

Balancing Rock

Going North on Highway 89A we come to Cliff Dwellings.  These are primitive homes built at the base of huge rocks.  At first you may think these are ancient Native American dwellings, but you would be wrong.  In 1927 Blanche Russel's car broke down in the area and she like the country so much she decided to buy some land there.  Why the buildings were built the way they were, I have no idea.

Native American History Talk

We had the pleasure of listening in on a history lesson by an original Grand Canyon native.

 Phyllis is 75 years old and was born in the Grand Canyon.  She in Navajo / Apache, and a direct descendant of the Anasazi people.  She was raised, went to school, and played within yards of Hopi House on the South Rim.  She described here life as a child playing in Hopi House and later grew up the become one of the original National Park Service guide in the Grand Canyon.  She is now retired with 9 grandchildren.  After her talk her grandchildren performed a native warrior dance.  The dance was to give strength, courage and success to the native warriors before they went to hunt.