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Monument Valley - a photo essay [1]

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Date: 2023-10-15  

Mrs. Rocky and I recently had the chance to visit the beautiful Monument Valley, in the Navajo Nation. We were fortunate to have the chance to see the area with a native guide, one of the Dine' - he explained that Navajo was the name given to them, while they refer to themselves as Dine' (pronounced din-ay), "the people" in their native tongue. The photos may give some flavor of the beauty of the area but cannot do justice to the almost otherworldly vividness of the blue sky, the red rock, the green rabbitbbrush.

If you have the chance to go, I highly recommend taking a tour with a Dine' guide. Firstly, there are portions of the valley that you can only visit with a tribal guide (though there is a scenic loop drive on which you can see portions of the valley independently). More significantly, your experience will be much richer. Our guide shared anecdotes about Dine' customs, stories, culture, and how the landscape was made by wind and water. A special blessing was getting to hear him play his flute while we lay below Big Hogan, followed by singing from a second guide. Our tour group included a native Hawaiian islander, who the guides invited to share one of his people's songs - an unexpected privilege for us to hear that, as well.

After our tour we had dinner at Burger King in Kayenta, not because we were eager for fast food, but because they had an exhibit of Navajo Code Talker items on display - definitely worth checking out when you are in the area. The Japanese never could translate the Code Talkers' messages, providing a vital advantage for US troops fighting in the Pacific theater during WWIi.

On to the photos:

Ear of the Wind

Suns Eye

Totem Pole and Yei Bi Chei, catching late day sun

Petroglyphs near Suns Eye

Big Hogan

Looking up from under Big Hogan; from this perspective it looks like an eagle's head with the arch as the eye

Light from the setting sun on the buttes of Monument Valley

Kayenta Burger King with WWII code talker exhibit

Uniforms on display along with a captured flag

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