I will be your storyteller for today's post. Lauren gladly gave me the reigns when I volunteered over dinner.
So this morning we checked out of our hotel in Santa Fe and picked up our rental car at the Santa Fe airport. We bid Rick and Darice goodbye and we were off on our way to our ultimate destination Monument Valley some 300 miles away. The weather was nice, at first, and we were making good time. Along the way we attempted to stop at a few "off the beaten path" type of places but had zero luck. Several were unmarked dirt roads that proved difficult to find and the others were behind "No Trespassing" signs and barbed wire fences. We resigned ourselves to stay on the well traveled highways and pushed ahead.
Soon we reached the New Mexico border and crossed over into Arizona...then Utah...then Colorado...and back to New Mexico. No, we weren't driving around in circles we were stopped at the Four Corner's monument where CO, NM, UT, and AZ all come to a single point. I would like to add that this point happens to be within the Navajo lands so of course we had to make a $3.00 contribution per person to have the privileged. For some reason Lauren has a thing for this kind of tourist trap. After paying our dues and parking near some dilapidated buildings we hiked up the gravel path, past the Navajo jewelery booths and made it to the Four Corners - where we promptly stood in line to get a few photos. Lauren's experience as a world champion Twister player came in handy on the Four Corner's and she coexisted in 4 states at once.
Before I completely lost it we were again on our way. We continued North through a small slice of Colorado and were soon back on the road in Utah. Several hours from our destination it began to rain. The clouds poured in and soon the whole sky was a mottled gray. Ultimately we came upon Mexican Hat rock, an odd rock formation resembling a sombrero perched atop an impossibly small cliff. We tried our hand at a little off-roading and got a few decent shots of the hat. Little did we know this was but a warm up for our evening activities...
Turning back on to the main road we stopped for gas in Mexican Hat (the town). We crested a final bluff and there before us lay Monument valley. The road seemed to stretch on forever down into the valley and led right to the feet of the giant pedestals of red stone. We stopped for a few pictures - my favorite being one shot from the center of the road - and drove into Monument Valley. We had originally scheduled a sunset jeep tour of the valley but the clouds were not cooperating. Most of the formations were completely lost in the dense white billows of clouds. The rain just made matters worse.
We rescheduled our tour to the next morning for an ambitious sunrise excursion. And just like that we had our whole evening free. Our original tour was slated to last from 5:30 until 8:30 or so, but now we had nothing to do. And in a town as small as Monument Valley it's easy to get bored. So we opted to hit the road again. After we checked in and changed clothes we jumped back in the car and headed back south to the Valley of the Gods and we finally started to catch some luck. To the south, towards the Valley of the Gods, the clouds had started to break. We might catch some blue skies!
The Valley of the Gods is like a mini Monument Valley. The stone outcroppings are the result of the same weathering but are smaller and packed into a denser concentration. The Valley itself can be accessed by a dirt road that loops through the park. On the very first turn of the road we began to question our choice. The afternoon rain storms had washed out a section of the road that traversed a dried river bed. The water was mostly gone, but deep ruts remained where fellow travelers had clearly struggled. Luckily the rain had stopped for about an hour and in such a dry climate that's all it takes. We splashed through a few small puddles, climbed over the river bed and continued on into the Valley.
Several hours and several hundred photos later we reached the half way point of the 18 mile loop. By this time the sun was starting to descend to the horizon. I wanted to stick around and see the sunset. After a few minutes I managed to convince Lauren. We found a nice ridge with a good view and waited. We were soon rewarded. Behind us a faint rainbow connected the horizon to one of the towering formations. What luck! After a few minutes the rainbow strengthened and a second rainbow formed alongside.
After waiting an eternity we decided to head back. The sun was still dipping down below the cliffs, but we had to get back to Monument Valley by 9:00 pm or else we would miss out on dinner at the lodge! Lauren put the pedal to metal and we plunged through the switchbacks and washouts. Along the way we stopped for a few photos of the dusky sky. The clouds were still present, but we found a few holes here and there. We made it back to the highway and had about 30 minutes to make it back to the lodge. Zooming down the road we had several close calls with feeding bats. They seemed to relish swooping into our path, narrowly missing certain doom every time.
We made it to the lodge restaurant at 8:58 pm and just barely made dinner. After some country fried steak and a delicious T-bone, we were stuffed. With depressing efficiency we set the alarms and wakeup calls for our 5:30 AM sunrise tour! Let's hope the Gods are with us in the morning!
- Justin
No comments:
Post a Comment