Somehow I forgot to post this. We stopped here between Cortez, Colorado and Holbrook, Arizona but in the excitement I filed the pics in the wrong spot and forgot them. Anyway if anyone reading this post doesn’t recognise these scenes then I’d ask what planet do you live on? Almost every western movie ever made somehow managed to get this scenery in the movie. The Duke, John Wayne, made his first movie here (“Stagecoach” – 1939) and he went on to make 3 more here in this location he apparently loved dearly. The first 10 photos are pre-arrival with the 11th being taken from our RV Park early on day 1 here.
Into the Valley We Go
We only had 2 days here so we wasted no time crossing the highway & heading into the National Park. So we flashed our National Parks Pass at the gate and drove up to the visitor centre. Being such a well known location they have a huge visitor centre, lodge and café/gift shop. The rooms at the lodge are set right on the edge of a mesa facing the valley with glorious views. We stayed here just long enough to get a map and continued on into the valley. I have said often that the NP authorities have to walk a fine line between making a park so easily accessible that too many visitors damage the site and not making it accessible at all thereby closing it off to the very same people who own it. This park is joint owned and operated by the NP and the Great Nation of the Navajo People and they are doing a good job at balancing the visitor ratio. They could, however, grade the road a bit more often.
Self-Guided Photo Tour
I will leave out the descriptions of much of this gallery so I won’t bore you. But the last dozen or so photos might warrant my intervention on your self-guided photo tour. I have labelled several of the photos where a pertinent remark is required but you’ll see those. After the last ‘selfie’ of Shane and I you’ll see some photos taken from the lodge/visitor centre (though one is a shot towards the VC from below in the valley). I have included the John Wayne Plaque and there’s a very interesting story of the Navajo Code Talkers of WWII. While on this subject if you haven’t heard of the Code-Talkers there are several good films about this but at least read this explanation off the internet. . The best film about these guys was a John Woo film called “Windtalkers” made in 2002 with Nicolas Cage and Adam Beach in the leads.
The final 5 photos were taken in our RV Park which sat in a gorge directly opposite the National Park gates. Even with the perfect blue sky it was still cold enough for a fire to get rid of the last of our firewood. If you’re interested in this post there’s a video here that I took in the valley for your pleasure.
Cheers
Garry & Shane