The rock formations in Monument Valley have been the background of many old Western movies. The West and East Mitten, the Merrick Butte, and the Three Sisters, are the most famous images. Monument Valley is not a National Park, but a Navajo Tribal Park. It is much ‘rougher’ than the other parks: fewer info and unpaved, rocky roads. For some reason, Kevin loved to drive here. Other nice formations are Camel and Elephant Butte (they really look like that). And John Ford’s point is a famous stop for photographers.
Afterwards, we drove to Canyon de Chelly. Both Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly are situated inside the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation. One of the pitiful things we witnessed here is the great poverty among the Indians, and the untended landscape that is a logical consequence (trash everywhere). I was surprised to see how clean the streets and towns are in the US, but not here.
At Canyon de Celly, we drove the South Rim and part of the North Rim: yet again we saw a totally different landscape. How wonderful these lands are! This canyon was very steep, but also very open, with a wide, flat bottom (and the opportunity to farm). Spider Rock – named after the goddess Spider Woman that lives here – is a colossal monolith standing in the middle of the canyon. Other viewpoints were Face Rock Overlook, Sliding House Overlook and Junction Overlook, but we didn’t really get those… White House Overlook on the other hand was very nice, with a view over the huge canyon grounds and a small and distance cliff dwelling. On the North rim we saw Antelope House (another cliff dwelling) and Navajo Fortress: it just looks like a huge isolated rock, but it was once an important Navajo refuge.
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