USA 2023. Monument Valley

Monument Valley wasn’t a high ranking stop on my broad trip plan. It simply fit easily between Grand Canyon and Moab, so I added it. After being there, I think I rank it the same as I did before. It was an interesting transition, but certainly not integral. But it still has it’s stories, and the scenery was still spectacular. I’ll admit, it’s hard to top Grand Canyon, and I write this after a day off-roading in Moab, so it’s hard to feel excited about it.

I was ahead on kilometers, so after Grand Canyon, I detoured a bit to get an oil change. Since this Jeep is still pretty much new, I sought out a Jeep dealer. Once that was done with, I set out for Monument Valley.

Coming into the area, I could already see the scenery changing. It became very flat desert with large sandstone “monuments” towering over everything.

I hadn’t really done much research on camping…in fact my night-before-planning routine has become plan-a-few-hours-before-needing-campsite. I had a campsite dialed in on google, but it didn’t actually exist. Thanks Google. I was having trouble with cell service, so I drove on down the highway until I had it back. I found a few places in the valley and drove back to find them. Following the signs, I found one that was nicely setup with 360 views, but also with a shelter over the picnic table, so there was shade from the sun.(the most important thing when desert camping) There was no one else there, and it looked like the house next door was the owner, but no one was home. I figured it would be like most places and once they came back I could pay for my site. I had dinner, and as I was eating some others arrived. Later, I returned from the outhouse to find 2 cars in from of my campsite…someone rode up on a four wheeler(the camp owner). It turns out, the campground is run through airbnb and that’s normally how people reserve sites. So I had taken someone’s site. Luckily, they weren’t full for the night, and the others were willing to take a different site, so it worked out. I find it hard to believe people would even look for campsites on airbnb, but then all the other campers were European, so that might be connected. Either way it was a nice spot. I became that overlander guy who kept lending gear to the other campers because they had forgot.

After talking with the owner, I realized that what I had seen so far was just the beginning, as the real Monument Valley was just over the rise. The next morning I set out in that direction. There was a small fee to pay, then a “scenic drive” to see the valley. This area was a different flavor from the rest because it was on Navajo land. So the valley was run by them, not a state or national park.

The road into the valley was quite rough for a tourist road. It had sandy sections and some steep hills. I think they were trying to discourage cars from going through, but I did see one car near the start that was turning around once they realized how the road was. From my perspective, it just made the experience a bit more real.

The area was quite scenic. There had been some rain throughout the night, and there were some areas where the green plants were really vibrant.

Oh, I should mention. Most of my knowledge of Monument Valley comes from an iconic view that I’ve seen many a photograph from. I had started to wonder if I’d missed it, but I found it on the highway north of the valley.

I pretty much finished with the area by noon. I had kind of decided to slow down a bit since I had extra days, but I didn’t want to stay at the same campsite again. So I found a spot about an hour north and headed in that direction. As I neared the turnoff, I remembered: I had noted the campground I was going to was $10 per night. I only had $20s…and most of these recreation areas are self serve. There wasn’t any towns nearby to stop and get change, so I looked around more on google and saw a bit further up was the Valley of the gods. It was just a BLM area with a road running through it, and free dispersed camping. So I headed down there…and really enjoyed the rougher backroad and the scenery.

There were some dry river beds running through the area, and the trees and shrubs beside them were so incredibly green! I’m sure they weren’t really greener than usual, but to my eyes, when surrounded by the drab desert, the green really popped.

I ended up with a wonderful little camp spot by a dry river bed, under the shade of a Juniper tree. And as is becoming usual, no plans were made for the next day…aside from knowing I was driving to Moab. Plans can be good or bad…if I had planned in advance, I probably wouldn’t have ended up in the Valley of the gods, enjoying the roads, scenery and camping.

Btw, I should mention, I’m not super happy with the color balance on these photos. It’s too different from my usual green blue and grey for me to understand how to fix them. But, I try to get these blog posts out as they happen…I’ll have to come back and fix these photos later…