< Previous | List | Next > Hovenweep National Monument; Valley of the Gods; Mokee Dugway; Muley Point, Goosenecks; sunset in Monument Valley
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Hovenweep National Monument
Hovenweep National Monument
Valley of the Gods
Valley of the Gods
Mokee Dugway
Mokee Dugway
Muley Point Overlook
Mokee Dugway
Goosenecks State Park
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
The drive from Mesa Verde to Hovenweep took me over minor roads that were not very eventful. I'd taken my time getting ready, and as such I only arrived in Hovenweep at around 10am.
I took the short trail to Little Ruin Canyon, which allowed me to see the small remains of Tower House and Unit Type House. At some point, there was a sign indicating "Sleeping Ute Mountain" in the distance. The view of the mountain, eighteen miles away, was somewhat hazy; but true to its name it looked a little like a person sleeping on his back, with the head to the left. I reached Hovenweep Castle, a slightly larger and more complete structure that could be inspected from up close since it wasn't at the bottom or across the canyon.
I left Hovenweep some fourty-five minutes after getting there, and headed towards Valley of the Gods; which I reached in the middle of the day, at a time where the light was guaranteed to be flat. I still decided to drive the 17-mile loop road. While the light wasn't early-morning great - and in fact the surrounding rock was more brown than the red colour that normally characterizes the area during the golden hour - it still wasn't as bad as I had expected, and I stopped numerous times to take pictures. The surrounding area was greener than on previous visits, too.
Overall, it had taken me an hour and a half to drive the 17 miles, and I joined the paved highway for just a short while before hitting the next dirt road at Moki Dugway, a three-mile long road that switchbacks up onto the next plateau, which lies some 1100 feet higher. From below, it's hard to even see where the road is - that is, until you see a big white 40-ton truck coming down.
The drive up wasn't technically challenging - the dirt road was smooth and wide enough for two cars to pass. Once I reached the top I stopped to take pictures of the distant views. It's here where it was immediately obvious that the entire area was much greener than it had been on my 2001 trip - back then, everything looked a brownish red; and now everything was green.
From the top of Moki Dugway, it was but a short drive to Muley Point Overlook. The road was quite sandy, but still easily passable in my pseudo-SUV. Once I arrived at the overlook, I took a short break and scrambled around the large rocks. From here, it's possible to see the Goosenecks, as well as Monument Valley in the distance.
I returned the same way I came, which meant driving down Moki Dugway (and stopping for more photos). Once I reached the paved highway again, it was just a few more miles to Goosenecks State Reserve, so called because the San Juan River carved itself a deep riverbed that turns so much that each bend resembles the neck of a goose.
At around 4pm, I was on my way again, towards my final destination for the day: Monument Valley. Even from a distance, the buttes and mittens look remarkable, and it's plain to see why so many iconic movies used them as a backdrop. There's a cliché shot that can be taken straight from the road, and I decided to create a more unique version by driving the other way and framing it in my side mirror. Unfortunately, neither my car nor the mirror were clean, and since there was some traffic I couldn't exactly stand still on the highway; so I only used my small handheld camera.
A little later, I paid my entrance fee at the gate (Monument Valley is a "tribal park" managed by the Navajo, and not part of the National Park system). I parked my car at the visitor center, and took a first shot of the classic Monument Valley overlook. The light wasn't jaw-dropping yet, so I decided to drive the small dirt-road that loops around the main sights, mostly in an effort to pass the time until I could take the real sunset shots.
Once more, this turned out to be anticlimatic - after driving the Valley of the Gods loop earlier in the morning, I had already seen a mini version; but unlike that "insider" place Monument Valley was teeming with other tourists, which adds a layer of complexity because as you drive from one viewpoint to another you either get to drive behind a slow-moving car, eating up dust and getting annoyed by the low speed; or you overtake them and then feel stupid because you're both stopping almost simultaneously at the same viewpoint a few hundred feet later.
As such, I merely went through the motions; but my heart wasn't really in it.
By 6:30pm, the shadows were getting longer, and I was anxious to get back to the first viewpoint, where I was expecting to take the day's best pictures. By 7:15pm, I had set up my tripod and camera. I wasn't disappointed, as the sun was slowly turning the three mittens a deeper red. I talked to an Asian tourist for a while - had she approached me because I had the most professional-looking camera, or because I was closest to her age among the few scattered tourists who were watching the sunset? Unfortunately, there were no interesting-looking clouds, and as such there was something lacking in the background, as the perfect blue sky of the aftermoon had turned a little pale.
With the sun setting behind the horizon, I took a few last shots of the mittens in the dusk, then packed up my car and moved to the adjacent campground. However, I was unable to find anyone I could pay the campground fee to.
Miles driven: 227mi (365km)
Accommodation: Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park (Campground): -
Written August 5th 2009 in Luxembourg