Ok, I know I keep saying this for every day that passes. But today was possibly one of the best days of my life! All the reasons I came away happened today. So here's my day...
We had two stops today - Mesa Verde and Monument Valley. Truth be told I hadn't even googled Mesa Verde, I thought it was just a national park so I'd only focused on Monument Valley, well it turned out to be one the most beautiful places I've ever seen. As with most national parks the good stuff is always at the top of a mountain, so we had to ditch the trailer at the bottom first before starting. We drove up twisting roads which gripped the side of the mountain, the other side sheer cliff edges with perfect panoramic views of the landscape. There was a view point on the way up where we stopped. Oh lord, the views, we were basically stood on the cliff edge of a huge ravine. When I came on this trip I said I was going to say yes to everything even if it terrified me, so here was the time! Now I've very funny with heights and I hate seeing people go near edges, odd maybes I know. So seeing fliss teeter totter on the rocks edges almost pushed me over it! But I thought no, I'm here once, I'm getting a photo on the edge...
And I did!! (It was like 2000ft high here FYI).
We then made it to the top where there was already a large group of people waiting, I didn't even know what tour we were doing, I was in for such a shock! Once everyone had arrived the ranger began his welcome speech. What's the first thing he says? If your scared of heights or small spaces, this will mess with you! Oh well there's my heart going already! He then went on to explain the tasks included in this tour (isn't it just walking through pretty scenery!?) which were:
• a 32ft ladder up a rock face
• a further two 15ft ladders up rock faces
• very small confined tunnels
• pulling yourself up the cliff on a chain path
• sheer drops with no barriers
OH FUN! But as I said, I'm here once, I'm doing it.
Our first stop was right before our decent on the top of the cliff, it overlooked the entire ravine for miles to see. The ranger gave us information on the Pueblo people who housed in the caves below and used the land above. He told us how they'd lived above land for many years but abused the soil. After about 100 years on ground the soil was failing to produce good crop which resulted in violence and theft in the camp due to lack of food. They believe the only reason they would retreat into the caves below is for protection. We walked along the cliff edge about 500 meters looking out on the views until we reached it. My Everest. The 32ft ladder, I don't know why I'm so scared of heights, because they don't actually bother me, I think it's more the fear of falling, because going up ladders scare the hell out of me!! I just looked at fliss and said 'let's do this!' I've honestly never been that scared before, climbing a 32ft ladder up a cliff face 2800ft high, but then I've never been so exhilarated or proud of myself either, it was a huge thing for me to do and I'm glad I did it.
Unfortunately that wasn't the only thing to test me or fliss on this tour. Once up the ladder we were into balcony house which was just... Beautiful! It's exactly what it says in the name, it was part of the cave where the Pueblo people moved to from above and it just had the most perfect view I've ever seen... The ranger told us stories of the life they had and they built a life for themselves in the caves. We went through a very narrow tunnel to the other side of the mystery wall (which they sealed to protect they're resources) where there was more of the living space and ceremonial rooms. I'll let the photos do the telling, because there's just no words to describe how beautiful it was...
We passed through the 3rd and final room where the ranger told us about the day to day life on the Pueblo people. They would use sand stone to grind the corn to use for the tortillas they would eat, the problem being sand stone is very soft, so with every grind of the stones it would give of a heavy grit with the ground corn, so when they eat it would grind they're teeth. This led to them loosing they're teeth very early on and would develop into infections. Life expectancy was around 30-35...
Now with the tour ending here I thought I'd escaped the 2 ladders and chain walk, SCORE! Oh no, they were right round the corner waiting for me. I saw the base of the ladder and told myself - 'don't look back and don't look up!' The first ladder was easy, I powered through that but then I saw the chain path... Oh lord, so your on a very steep slope with only foot indents for steps and a wobbly chain to hold on to, genuinely the worst part. My heart was beating 100 times a minute but I kept my eyes forward until I hit the next ladder, GIVE ME A BREAK!?
Making it right to the top and feeling that sense of achievement, whether significant or not to others was huge to me. The reward? The view.
It was non-stop driving to Monument Valley. We had to make it there on time as our valley tour started at 5:30. We made it there in good time, as we peaked the top of the hill there it was, directly in front of us, the perfect outline of the monuments. I was so excited!! We stopped off at the mile point 13 which is actually the point in which Forrest Gump ended his running! Little fun fact.
The visitors centre was a proud standing building on top of the hill, it looked out onto the desert and the 3 iconic monuments. SELFIE!!!!
I've thought about this for a little while now about whether or not to share my experience in Monument Valley. When I first started I figured I'd put pretty much everything on but I never expected to have an experience like I did there. I've always though it's daft when people talk like this but I genuinely felt a connection with that place, it felt really special and I haven't felt that genuinely happy in a long time. I decided I would put part of it on because I think it's important to share your experiences but I also think there are something's that are for you, and for you only... So here's my pictures and a few of my favourite parts.
The Sun Eye.
Ok so all monuments in the Valley are named after what they look like. Everything in Navajo culture using imagination and is very visual. Sun Eye was one of my favourite monument, firstly because you can get right up close to it, most you view from a distance, and secondly when you look up against the huge rock, which is almost vertical straight up, there is a hole in the rock which fills with bright blue sky. The contrast against the yellow stone and blue sky compliment each other so well. We went to a smaller part where there was wall carvings and the guide told us all about his own culture and even explained about how the Navajo people speak, it's very difficult I can tell you that for free!!
Sand Hill/Evening Entertainment.
I'm literally laughing so hard rethinking of this while I write. So we went to the Sand Hill which he actually nicknamed 'The G Adventure Playground' total bullshit for our group but I enjoyed it! It's basically just a mound of very fine sand that people do photos on, videos and action shots on, purely there for photos. So we all kicked off our boots and socks and legged it up the sand. You'd think it easy right? Turns out, harder than it looks! Never panted so hard in my life when I got to the top!! Then the tradition is to have a race to the bottom! Becca said she was going to show us how it's done, well did she ever!! She started off pretty well, good speed, not tripping.... UNTIL she hit a ditch and went face first into the sand with her ass in the air, literally never laughed so hard in my life!!! She rolled over, did a sand star fish and a Beyoncé hair flick to try save herself, but let's be honest, GIRL JUST FACE PLANTED SAND! She'll struggle to live that one down!
Under The Stars.
So this has got to be my favourite part of the whole trip so far. After dinner and the entertainment they'd provided, they took us to our hogan. Hogans are wood buildings covered in clay and with a furnace in the middle, they are used as their houses but they have separate (and different shapes) ones for men, woman and children. We had a dome one which is traditionally for women but commercially acceptable for everyone!! No one slept inside that's safe to say! We all set up our mats and sleeping bags slipped in and just star gazed all night. I've always wanted to see a shooting star but never been able too, tonight I saw 5! 4 small ones and one which was huge! Even Becca said it was the biggest one she'd seen! It was a blaze of light in the dark sky and even left a trail of smoke behind it! The stars just lit up the night sky, because the Valley has zero light pollution so you see every star in the sky, there were even light hazes which we were told were actually galaxies! You could see galaxies!?!? It was everything I'd wished for from Monument Valley and 100x more, if anyone if visiting America make this top priority of things to do!!
So the three of us (me, fliss and Becca) all fell asleep under the starry sky (after talking myself round from the shape shifters he'd told us about!) with alarms set for an early wake up as we are seeing the sunrise!!
x
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