Morning in Monument Valley

Since sunrise at Monument Valley was at 6 am, we got up at a little before 5, ate a quick breakfast, and drove back over to The View Hotel at Monument Valley.  The moon was high in the sky...

...and the eastern sky was just beginning to lighten with the approaching sun.

As the sun began to peak out from behind the monuments,

the rock formations behind us to the west turned a bright crimson.

Looks like a new monument popped up in Monument Valley last night!

It's called Chuck's Butte and it has legs!  :)

Since the temperature was a chilly 49 degrees and the winds were blowing too, we walked back inside and waited in the lobby for our tour guide.  Lorenzo, our Navajo tour guide, arrived about 6:50 and by 7 am, we were heading out in a Suburban down into Monument Valley.

The West and East Mittens and Merrick Butte were beginning to dazzle in the sunlight.  Lorenzo pointed out how we could see Utah, Arizona, and the mountains of Colorado and New Mexico all from this viewpoint.

Thousands of years of erosions revealed the majestic monuments or buttes of Monument Valley.

Merrick Butte

The sun was bringing to light the reddish color that is caused by the iron in the sandstone.

Three Sisters

The butte below is called Elephant Butte...

...and this one is called Camel Butte.  Lorenzo said his grandson calls it Snoopy Butte.  Chuck and I both thought we could see Snoopy easier than we could see a camel.  :)

The ledge in the right foreground of this picture is called John Ford Point (named after the movie director who brought the movie industry to Monument Valley).  This is where many photographs and movies have been taken with cowboys and Indians sitting on their horses looking out over the valley.

My enhanced photography John Ford Point

Disney's The Lone Ranger Poster

As we went past Rain God Mesa,

Lorenzo pointed out the hawk silhouette rock formation at the end of the mesa.

At this point, we could see the silhouettes of Totem Pole and the surrounding rock formations.

To the far left of Totem Pole and far left of the picture below, is a formation that looks like a chicken.  Can you see it below?

As we were driving around, Lorenzo explained how here in Monument Valley, different clans of the Navajos would live together in communities of sometimes 8 or 10 homes and none of them have electricity or running water.  The limited electricity they have is supplied by solar power and they have to haul in their water from local springs.

Clanship is determined through the mother's clan and descent is traced through one's mother.  Lorenzo was taught Navajo from birth and only learned English at the age of 7.  His children learned both English and Navajo but speak English predominantly.  He said the young adults tend to go off to get better jobs but after a few years, many return.  Lorenzo said he gets to spend a lot of time with his grandchildren because his grown children work and he is teaching his grandchildren the Navajo language, culture, and traditions.

Whenever he would meet his friends, family members or other tour guides as we were riding around, they always greeted one another in Navajo.

The Navajo are farmers and ranchers.  Lorenzo was continually pointing out grasses and plants that were edible and he said the soil is very good for farming.  We asked him how they keep up with their cows and horses because there were very few fences.  He said you can always find the horses around water because they come back to drink 2 or 3 times a day.  The cows are a little more difficult because they can go for 2 or 3 days without water but they will turn up near water eventually.

Lorenzo also pointed out areas where family events had occurred -- like the mesa where his mother was born.  We drove back to two arches that were within walking distance of each other.  Big Hogan Arch is more like a big hole in the top of a dome-like rock formation.  From a distance, the water marks from the rain that flowed through the hole at the top makes the back wall look like the profile of a woman with long black hair.

We laid down on the slanted sandstone at the bottom of the cave and Lorenzo showed us how when you look at the top of the dome where the hole is, it looks like an eagle with the hole being the eye of the eagle.

While we were lying there on the sandstone looking up at the eagle, Lorenzo goes over to the side...

... and began playing a song he composed on his flute.  (If you have difficulty opening the video, click here.)

We were amazed and mesmerized!  It was so beautiful!  A friend of his had made the flute and he showed us how it was made and another flute he carries around for his grandson to learn how to play.  :)

To the left of Big Hogan Arch was Moccasin Arch.

Lorenzo told us that the Navajo reservation is the biggest in the country.  It stretches from I-40 between Flagstaff and Albuquerque and extends north through Arizona and New Mexico a little ways into Utah and borders the New Mexico/Colorado state line.  We asked him about that big green tower we saw yesterday that looked like a big grain elevator and he said that was for coal.  There are two big coal pits on the other side of the mountain (that we could not see from the motorhome) and the coal is loaded into cars, goes down the track that goes through the bridge that goes over the road and then up to the top of the tower.  Then the coal is loaded on rail cars and taken to the Salt River Navajo Generating Station we saw near Antelope Canyon in Page, Arizona.

We drove to a third arch called Ear-of-the-Wind.

The roads were flooded out in places and we would have to take alternative routes.  We were really glad we were with Lorenzo in a 4-wheel drive high-clearance Suburban.  :)  We started heading back and passed back by Moccasin and Big Hogan Arch.

We also passed by this young boy that appeared to be having a lot of fun riding his horse.

We stopped by his cousin's house and they showed us their hogan.  A hogan is a Navajo house that is built with sturdy walls and ceilings of juniper pines and then covered with thick mud.  In the middle of the ceiling, is a 3 foot diameter hole through which the pipe from a wood stove goes through.  The hole remains open all the time so when it rains, a little rain comes down in the middle.  However, the thick mud is a great insulator keeping the hogan warm in the winter and cool in the summer.  And if you have do any repairs, you just throw on a little more mud.

When we were inside the hogan, his cousin showed us how they spin wool into yarn.  She had some jewelry for sale and I bought a cute pair of earrings.  :)

We continued our journey back out of Monument Valley enjoying the views and Lorenzo's stories all along the way.

This rock formation is called The Big Thumb.  :)

Wow!  What an awesome morning!  Lorenzo's tour was great and we would highly recommend him to anyone doing a tour of Monument Valley.  It was great!  :)

After the tour, we drove back to the camper and decided that since it was just 10:00 am and we had seen and done everything we had planned in Monument Valley, we would go ahead and start our long drive back to Nashville.  As we headed out of Goulding's campground,

we got one last look at Monument Valley,

and started our long journey back to Tennessee.

By the way, I put together a little sunrise slideshow for you to enjoy if you have time!  Enjoy!!  :)
(If you have difficulty opening the video, try clicking here).