Monument Valley-Part Five

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It's important that you understand that the Mystery Valley Tour is completely separate from the Monument Valley Tour.

You're welcome to drive the seventeen mile Monument Valley floor in your own vehicle (four wheel drive, high clearance is recommended), but Mystery Valley is a different place entirely. In order to go there, you have to have a Navajo guide (the entire area is part of the Navajo Nation).

As I mentioned before, we were fortunate to discover Monument Valley Safaris and doubly fortunate to have a gentleman named Brian as our guide.

Again, I reiterate, it was a most special afternoon.

And now, our tour continues.

We visited so many arches,
all were amazing
and I'll probably have to share
pictures of every single one!

The blue of the sky
viewed through the red arches
is so beautiful,
I could have stayed all day.

I thought this one
looked like those giant
shark jaws you see by the seaside

If you look carefully into the side
you'll see ruins,
so people lived
inside this arch.
Is this a cool house or what?

My Terry
hiked up the hill
for a closer look.

When you travel in this country,
you see these kind of markings
in many of the rocks.
Apparently,
the composition of the cliffs is such
that as the wind and the rain
beats on them,
over the years,
the softer areas erode.
Lovely natural art.

Then you turn your head
and you see this.
Completely different,
but just as stunning.

Then, once again,
there are those canyon trees.

Another cliff dwelling

Now for some petroglyphs

I don't know if you can tell
from this photo
but I was standing at the base
of this wall.
It jutted over my head
at a sharp angle.

A strange sensation
but kind of wonderful
at the same time.

I'll finish today with the house of
two thousand hands.

It's located in the back of a canyon.

The walls above the "house"
are a kind of shale.
It breaks off in these even chunks.
This was one of my favorite places.

When you start looking
under the broken shale,
you'll see many hand prints
and symbols.

Nothing is known
about the people who lived here.

Another angle of broken stone.
This pattern really spoke to me.
I'm using it for my desktop
on my computer!

Here's a closeup of the main ruin.
Part of Easy Rider was filmed here
back in the 1960s.

Here's another tiny bit
of the ruins.

There isn't much to say
about this
except I think it's
one of those natural wonders
that deserves a picture.

I find it wonderful
that places like this
survive.
Unguarded,
standing testament to a time
and people
from long ago.

More petroglyphs.
There are hundreds in this place.

Can you imagine
living under this wall of rock?

One final pattern.
This is a kind of "desert varnish".
The minerals in the rock
cause this effect.
We saw it all over the area.

Only one more entry
from Monument Valley.
Hopefully, I'll get it posted tomorrow,
then I can start on more of Utah.

Today we took a day trip
and visited the Pando,
one of the oldest and largest
living organisms in the world.

Lots more pictures to come!