Lake Powell and Monument Valley

June 16

The day started with a breakfast cruise on the lake, something really different from our other mornings on this tour. Typical of boats like this one, there wasn’t enough room to be comfortable at table, but the food wasn’t really the point. The scenery was great, though the lake level is down 20 to 40 feet from normal(depending on who’s talking). We went into only one section of one of the closer arms of the lake, around castle rock. Smooth water, pleasant breeze caused by the boat’s movement, nice early morning sunshine.

This was our day to visit Monument Valley, on the Navajo Reservation. As we got deeper into the reservation, we saw more actual grass growing, but only in tufts, not what we are used to. There was a lot of red sandstone: cliffs, buttes, mesas, outcrops, and just about anything else you could name. Even the soil was red sand. The bus ride was a long one, and after a while the scenery was mind-numbing. Lots of buttes and mesas along the way, and scattered houses/hogans as well. Over all I have only one word for Monument Valley: Stupendous. [OK. That’s not a word I use in normal conversation, but it’s the one I wrote down in 2008.]

We got there at lunch time and went straight to Goulding’s Trading Post, on the edge of Monument Valley. This was another old one that has been updated, and actually has a claim to fame as the “home away from home” of John Wayne back when those westerns were being shot here. There’s a lodge connected with Goulding’s, and the whole complex (including a museum, the “John Wayne Cabin,” shop, and restaurant) is overshadowed by a huge mesa immediately behind it. After lunch, the group was divided into small groups for a Jeep ride into the valley itself. Our driver sang a song his grandfather hed written as a young man. That was cool. [At the time I was teaching a non-Western survey at BSC, and I was really tickled to hear a song both written and performed by one of the Diné.]

In spite of that being something I truly enjoyed, the highlight of the day was just getting to see the place. Photos don’t really do it justice, so plan a trip when you can. Even the overly long bus ride to and from the place was worth it.

Did I mention that the Jeep ride was in an open vehicle? And that the place was dusty? Very dusty? After the bus ride back to Lake Powell and the Clen Canyon Lodge, which seemed twice as long as the morning ride in the opposite direction, I think I destroyed a white washcloth as I scraped off layer after layer of red dust.

Totally worth the loss, if you ask me.