Showing posts with label Utah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Utah. Show all posts

Friday, July 5, 2013

Friday Photos: Monument Valley, Utah

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Friday 19, October, 2012 was the day I ‘died and went to heaven’, and here are the photos to prove it. Ok, so my idea of heaven may be different from yours, but I will take Monument Valley’s stunning landscape any day, over some mythical landscape in the hereafter.



The area is part of the Colorado Plateau. The elevation of the valley floor ranges from 5,000 to 6,000 feet (1,500 to 1,800 m) above sea level. The floor is largely siltstone or sand derived from it, most of which was left behind by the rivers that once carved out the valley. The vivid red colour comes from iron oxide exposed in the weathered siltstone, while the darker, blue-gray rocks in the valley get their colour from manganese oxide.


A very modest $5.00 will get you entry into the park, where the adventurous can embark on a 17-mile (27 km) dirt road route that passes some of the largest and most spectacular land formations.


The buttes are clearly stratified, and reveal three main layers. The lowest layer is known as the Organ Rock Shale, the middle is de Chelly Sandstone, and the top layer is the Moenkopi Formation.


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Thursday, July 4, 2013

Monument Valley, AZ/UT

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My travel journal entry for Friday 19, October, 2012 begins:

Today I died and went to heaven - and I have the photos to prove it.

Yes, that was the day I fulfilled a life-long ambition to visit Monument Valley. The valley spans the Arizona/Utah border, with the most iconic buttes and mesas on the Utah side. It was everything I expected it to be and more. Even in the middle of the day the setting was larger than life, with massive red monoliths dominating the landscape.

I had been driving my Dodge rental car up from Flagstaff, Arizona for several hours, watching as the landscape slowly changed from pine forested open country to vast expanses of dry desert covered in the valley's distinctive vivid red―a colour which is produced from iron oxide exposed in the siltstone covering the valley floor. In many respects the colour of the earth reminded me of the rich reds and ochres of the Australian outback, especially in an area often referred to as the ‘red centre’.

Welcoming billboard on the Arizona/Utah state line
Monument Valley (Navajo: Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, meaning valley of the rocks) is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of vast sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 1,000 ft (300 m) above the valley floor. It is located on the Arizona-Utah state line near the Four Corners area. The valley lies within the range of the Navajo Nation Reservation, and is accessible from U.S. Highway 163. [Wikipedia…]
The American director, John Ford used the location for a number of his best known films, including his now classic 1939 movie, Stagecoach, and The Searchers, while the latest Hollywood film to feature scenes shot in the valley is The Lone Ranger, which coincidentally opens today in the cinema complex a few minutes walk from where I sit writing this.

One of the massive outcrops in Monument Valley

To my surprise, the cost to enter the park was a very modest $5.00. Once inside the park visitors can drive on a 17-mile (27 km) dirt road (a 2-3 hour trip) that passes some of the largest and most spectacular land formations. Guided tours are also available, as are horse rides and overnight camping trips. Apparently, hot air balloon flights are also available between May 1 through October 31, although I did not see any during my visit.

Sadly, my day trip to Monument Valley was over way too soon. The eleven hour round trip outing left me tired but exhilarated, and wanting much more. Far from removing the valley from my ‘bucket list’, the area remains among the top ten locations on the planet I want to visit or return to. When I do return to Monument Valley, I want to make the Navajo Tribal Park a major part of my experience, and I figure the only way to do that properly is find accommodations inside the Tribal Park.

Thankfully this is easily done following the construction of The View Hotel, located right inside Monument Valley.

The View Hotel [image courtesy The View Hotel website...]

The View Hotel is the only hotel located inside Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park adjacent to the Monument Valley Tribal Park Visitors Center. Each of the hotel’s 95 rooms features a private balcony with unobstructed views of the valley floor, and the massive sandstone monuments that tower out of the stunning landscape.

Just writing and thinking about my visit, makes me want to pack my bag and catch the next flight to Los Angeles! But patience is the order of the day, at least until next year. Then all being well, I will make my return to the valley of my dreams.

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Wednesday, April 8, 2009

New Hotel Opens Inside Monument Valley

~ On my next trip to the United States, I am heading south to see one of the greatest iconic American landscapes of all: Monument Valley.

The natural formations of Monument Valley, the ones we have seen countless westerns and TV commercials, stand so close that you feel like you can reach out and press your hand to them…the Mittens - left thumb, right thumb, and the third monolith Mitchell's Butte, rising to the right. There is an amazing panorama with colours so vivid that it looks like a Hollywood stage set. The landscape is painted with the colours that that you find in Navajo art and jewellery: a turquoise blue sky, white clouds, and a vast desert rich in reds sprinkled with green and jet black accents.

All this, and more, is said to be the view from a guestroom balcony at the newly opened VIEW Hotel in Monument Valley.This one-of-a-kind hotel is big news for tourists but even bigger news for the Navajo Nation. This is the first hotel ever built on Navajo Tribal Park land, in the very first Tribal Park ever established, and this year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the park.

Ray Russell, Director of Navajo Parks & Recreation, says "The VIEW Hotel is a groundbreaking event for the Navajo Nation. The location was selected because it is adjacent to the Park Visitors Centre which has served tourists for over 50 years. This project is our first step to utilize the tourism resources of the Navajo Nation in a manner similar to the US Department of Interior when they have partnered with the private sector to improve and provide visitor services in National Parks. The workforce constructing the hotel is over 90% Navajo Nation members. The hotel, restaurant and store will eventually provide jobs for over 100 people.”

Jobs in the Navajo are big news. The Navajo Nation (over 27,000 square miles, the size of West Virginia) has a staggering unemployment rate of nearly 50%. Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley says “Job creation on Tribal land means economic opportunity but also translates into cultural preservation. When family members can find employment close to their traditional homes they stay connected with their culture and their language. This fosters an environment where traditional ways of the Navajo people can be passed from generation to generation. The VIEW Hotel in Monument Valley will provide opportunity in a very needed region.”

The VIEW Hotel is 100% family owned and operated – Armanda Ortega of the Kiy`anníí (Towering House) Clan welcomes the opportunity to host guests from around the world in a place of beauty and spiritual importance to the Navajo people. “Our hotel is designed with respect for the sacred setting in which it is located – it has been designed to exist in harmony with this unique land. Every guestroom has a view directly facing the Mittens and the exterior of the hotel will be from a colour palate of the red earth that surrounds us.”

The hotel is an environmentally friendly design with a low contour that conforms to the mesa overlooking the valley. The VIEW goes beyond what have become standard eco-friendly building practices using low-flow water devices, extra insulation, windows with energy efficient values, and fluorescent lighting. There are operable windows in public spaces including the soaring two story lobby that allows for natural air flow for energy efficient cooling.

Every guest in the 90 room VIEW Hotel will have a private balcony that faces the famous panorama of the Mittens and the great desert expanse. You can actually see four states from The VIEW which is located adjacent to the Tribal Park Visitors Center in Arizona – the formations in Utah stand to your left, the Mittens are in Arizona directly in front of you, and the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado rise in the distance. The third floor Star View rooms combine the vista of the majestic formations with an unobstructed view of the stars above.
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