We left Page, Arizona, around 9 am and traveled east on Hwy 98. We were again traveling through Navajo reservation land. The landscape was wide open...
...with an occasional mesa...
...or unusual rock formation.
After we passed Square Butte,
and crossed over the summit, the landscape suddenly changed to low-growing green fir trees everywhere.
When we reached Hwy 160, we began heading north. Off in the distance, we could see this tall tower that looked like a big grain elevator.
But this was no ordinary grain elevator -- there was a huge barn or garage on top.
Also, there was a track coming down from the tower, over the road,
and then back up the hill. We couldn't imagine what this might be. ???
We continued on Hwy 169 and began to see the town of Kayenta in the distance.
When we reached Kayenta, we turned north on Hwy 163 and began to see some of the iconic "monuments" of Monument Valley in front of us.
About 1.5 miles after we crossed back into Utah on Hwy 163, we turned west and drove a few more miles to Goulding's Campground. When I had researched campgrounds in Monument Valley, the two choices I found were Goulding's and The View but Goulding's was the only one with full hookups.
Goulding's Lodge and Campground has an interesting history. Harry and Leone Goulding (or "Mike" as Harry called her) bought 640 acres, or one square mile, for $320 at the southern edge of Utah in 1923 when the Paiute Indian Reservation moved further north for better farmland. Their attempt at sheep ranching was hit by both a drought and the Depression. In desperation, they drove to Hollywood with photographs of their beloved Monument Valley to find the office of Hollywood Director John Ford, and convince him to film his next Western in Monument Valley. While waiting for a chance to see Mr. Ford, the location manager for Ford's new movie "Stagecoach" happened to walk through the office and the rest is history. Monument Valley has since been the setting for numerous movies like Stagecoach, The Searchers, Easy Rider, Eiger Sanction, National Lampoon's Vacation, Back to the Future III, and one of my favorites, Forrest Gump, as well as numerous commercials. Most recently, Disney's The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp was filmed in Monument Valley.
The movie industry boosted the local economy as well as making it an attraction for tourists. The Gouldings donated their homestead to Knox College in Illinois who subsequently sold it to the LaFont family. Harry and Mike retired and moved to Page, Arizona, where they lived until Harry died in 1981. At the invitation of the LaFont family, Mike moved back to Monument Valley in 1987 and lived there until her death in 1992. (from Deseret News Jan. 6 2013 article by Lee Benson)
We checked in at the campground office, unhooked, and drove around the building to our campsite. It was a little low at the rear of the site but not too bad.
However, when I began leveling the coach, we heard this pop, a small puddle of hydraulic fluid overflowed out of the hydraulic reservoir, and the jacks retracted back up. Chuck initially thought one of the hydraulic lines had come loose but could find no leaks anywhere other than the puddle under the reservoir tank. This has happened to us previously when too much hydraulic fluid had been added to the reservoir, but we have not added fluid for over three months. What's crazy is we have been traveling extensively for the past couple of months, extending and retracting the jacks to level the coach every few days, and not had a single problem. Crazy! Like Bonnie says, "RVing is not for sissies!" :)
We had already decided that we probably would not be stopping to see anything else on the way back home to Tennessee but we also decided that we would try to stay at places that were level and not use the leveling jacks until we are back home and near our hometown RV service.
Like Antelope Canyon, most of Monument Valley is located in Arizona on Navajo reservation land. While you can pay $20 and drive a "scenic drive" through the monuments, you really need a 4-wheel drive high clearance vehicle to do so -- particularly, considering all the rain they have had lately. Gouldings offered several tours but I decided to check reviews of tours on Trip Advisors. All of the reviews for the Dineh Bikeyah Tours had 5 stars. When I called, we were able to book a 2.5 hour tour for just the two of us at 7 am the next morning for the same price as what Gouldings was offering for a group tour in an open truck.
Because we were to meet the tour guide in the lobby of The View Hotel, we decided to drive there so we would know where to go tomorrow morning.
We parked the car, walked to the lobby, and found out from the desk clerk where the tours normally meet. Then, we walked outside to watch the sunlight and the clouds work their artistry on the "monuments" of Monument Valley.
The hotel is appropriately named because the guests of The View have one of the magnificent views from a hotel that we have ever seen.
Click on the below panoramic view of Monument Valley to enlarge it and give yourself an idea of what we were blessed to see.
I noticed that for the most part, the tourists who were outside viewing Monument Valley were very quiet -- almost respectful.
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| The Mittens |
Monument Valley in "black and white" is pretty awesome too!
We drove through the campground at The View. The campground itself was nothing more than pull-through dirt sites with a lot of dogs hanging around for free hand-outs. There are no hookups at all. But the views of this campground might just be worth dry camping for a night or two. Can you imagine what the night sky must look light here?
As we drove back to Gouldings where we were camped, the lowering sun reddened the rock formations.
And as we looked back to the east, we could see the monuments silhouetted against the sky.
After we got back to the campground, we sat outside for a little while and then Chuck grilled some veggies and enough meat so we would not have to cook dinner for a few days. We decided we would get up early tomorrow morning and get to The View in time to watch Monument Valley wake up to the sunrise! :)
We talked to Ken and Bonnie today and they had made it into Oklahoma and were staying at Red Rock Canyon State Park. Thankfully, her dad is getting better so maybe they can slow their pace a little bit heading back to Pennsylvania. We sure do miss them.
I guess we're going to have to bring them back to Monument Valley! :)
Great pictures. Looks like another special area.
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