monuments and moments
After passing through Forrest Gump Point on UT 163 South, I reached Monument Valley.
Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, (meaning "valley of the rocks") is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, with the largest reaching 1,000 ft above the valley floor. It is considered sacred by the Navajo Nation, the Native American people within whose reservation it lies.
From the visitor center is a clear view of the road melting through the wavy red landscape. Before starting the journey, the Navajo guide shared a map charting the 17 mile circumference.
The first three formations are East Mitten, Merrick (after the silver miner Jack Merrick), and Elephant. The scale is more apparent as the tiny dot of a vehicle drove by the third one.
Turning right instead of staying on the main road leads to a hooked offshoot and the Three Sisters. There was a warning against flying drones in the area. I wondered if it was because one the most pleasant Apple screensavers is a slow motion fly over of Monument Valley, spurring others to attempt the same.
After doubling back onto the loop, it ascends up a snaking road to the entry and exit for the remainder of the counterclockwise navigation around Rain God Mesa. Nestled in a clearing on a bluff nearby is a Navajo horse stable.
As the pathway starts a curved left, Camel is opposite of the horse stable, and The Hub a couple more miles on the right.
Rain God Mesa, whose precipitation run-off feeds into Gypsum Creek, remains to the left and at the center of the wheeled pivot. It’s also the only formation that seems to have an older, previous generation sign intact.
The final overlook, Navajo Code Talker Outpost, ascends to a clearing and a memorial honoring the Code Talkers during World War 2, with an open vista of Spearhead Mesa flanking an array of buttes and mesas in the distance.
After several more miles of driving, the journey concludes where it started, back at the Navajo horse stable. Two puppies from the stable wandered over to me, making for a dramatic composition with Camel.
It was wonderful to be inspired by the land’s monuments and moments, great and small.
