Into the Wild - Monument Valley in Utah and Arizona

Our stage today took us from Farmington in New Mexico to the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park in Utah. On our way there, because it was practically on the way, we visited the Four Corners Monument Navajo Tribal Park. Here, the borders of the four states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona meet and form a cross. All of this is located on Navajo Indian territory and is under their administration. You have to give the First Nation people one thing: they can make money. They gladly charge for every viewpoint that is special or offers a particularly beautiful view. You can't get anywhere with the "America, the beautiful" card here. Here, you want to make your credit card glow or make sure you have cash in your pocket, as the people of Cologne would say.

For the visit to the Four Corners Monument, we had to pay a slim $16. Besides deep potholes in the parking lot, there is not much offered. The legendary cross, on which Skyler White (a short trip to Breaking Bad) dropped the coin indicating which state she wanted to "escape" to after finding out what her husband Walter was "cooking", can only be entered for a maximum of 3 photos, then you have to make way for the next visitors... The place is lined with countless stalls run by the Navajo. And the prices that are called out there for jewelry, t-shirts, and other "handicrafts" are not insignificant. For us, we were only able to purchase a usual magnet and then we continued.

Next stop was the Gooseneck State Park. Here too, because it is on Navajo land, you have to pay $5 for a look into nature. The twists and turns of the San Juan River, which has carved its way around the rocks like a goose neck, are interesting.

We are heading towards the town of Mexican Hat, passing its namesake, the Mexican Hat, a rock formation. And once again, we wonder who placed such a flat stone on a rock so that the whole thing looks like a Mexican's hat. Whether it's balanced rocks or this Mexican Hat... we borrow the sentence from Katja Ebstein: Wonders always happen again ... 😊

Just before Monument Valley, our actual destination for today, the long straight road leads us to the "Forrest Gump Point". This road is known to many people from the movie of the same name with Tom Hanks. Even though there weren't many people on the road today, the Asian girls in particular populated the road. They lie down on the road, dance or just pose to increase their Instagram follower count. However, we also wonder here, as we have done so many times before: won't these Instagram hotspots soon be as common as the sack of rice that falls in China...???

Arriving at the Monument Valley Tribal Park, once again the open hand at the counter. But well, compared to the Four Corners Monument, which charged the same price, you get a lot more here. The view is incredible and you can also drive through the park in your own car. We were here in 2015 and back then we did a guided tour and learned a lot about the land and the Navajos who still live there. Today, we found $80 per person for a ride on the open jeep for about 2 hours to be too much.

Although the roads through the park are not necessarily made for driving with a normal car, we still dared to do it, especially since many private cars were driving on the paths and made it to the exit without breaking down. After our experience on Apache Pass a few days ago, we thought things couldn't get any worse and set off (we hope our car rental company doesn't read this post... because it is not allowed to drive such roads with the rental car...)

The roads were really in bad condition. And then there was the sand that the wind blew across the road and sometimes settled on the road like in the desert... All we could do was hold onto the steering wheel and gently accelerate. Driving faster than 10 to 15 mph was not allowed and usually not possible.

But this independence also gave us the chance not to stop at the scenic points with a crowd of tourists (this time there seemed to be a travel wave in India or Pakistan) and take photos in peace.

A special point is the John Ford Point. This point is not only known to Western enthusiasts or fans of John Ford, it is also the spot where the advertising photos for the cigarette brand "Marlboro" were taken. The "Marlboro Man" sits here with a red Western shirt on a horse standing on a rock ledge, with the monuments visible in the distance. In the past, there really was a rider in a red Western shirt who allowed himself to be photographed here for "small coin donations". Today, the man is retired and only a - at least living - horse stands on the rock, on which - today as well as in the past - you can have yourself photographed for "larger coin donations" (10 dollars for a photo on the horse). Here again, great respect for the entrepreneurial spirit of the Navajos.

There must be a reason why the roads are not made a bit more car-friendly: they don't really want visitors to drive through the park with their own car, but rather book the expensive tour.

It is clear that the many different positions have produced many photos. In order not to overload the album, we have added a few photos before this post.

After almost three hours in the park, we headed to our accommodation at the Gouldings, all dusty as we were. Beautiful with a view of Monument Valley...