Road Trip 2025: Day 17

Valley of the Gods was definitely one of the nicest campsites we’ve been to. It was quiet and scenic and I slept really well. I was up early again and enjoyed the stillness of the morning with a cup of coffee and some reading time.

Our first stop of the day was supposed to be Monument Valley which is on the Navajo Reservation. When I looked online, the website said the park was open Monday through Sunday. However, when we arrived early this morning, it was closed. Other people in the parking lot looked as confused and disappointed as we were. There was no explanation, just a sign on the welcome center that said, “Sorry Closed.” Even though we couldn’t get inside to drive the scenic loop, we were able to see the monuments from the road. The monuments are a series of sandstone land formations that look similar to the ones we saw in Valley of the Gods. The sandstone is a rusty red and the monuments are considered sacred to the Navajo people.

Monument Valley is one of the most photographed areas in the United States. This is in part due to the fact that Hollywood frequently uses it as a backdrop. Monument Valley is seen in the clip where Forest Gump stops running. The opening and closing scenes of WindTalkers, the movie about the Navajo code talkers during World War II, were shot there. Thelma and Louise passed through the valley. And numerous old school westerns favored the location. The Navajo Reservation is the largest in the United States. It is 16 million acres—roughly the size of West Virginia—and it spans parts of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. It is home to 200,000 Navajo.

We are concerned about our cats. Our neighbor did not stop in yesterday. Not giving them wet food is okay because they have the automatic feeder. However, they are extremely low on water. Kati texted our neighbor and she promised that she would go over this afternoon to tend to their needs. Hopefully, she gets there soon.

I think, of the big five parks in Utah, my favorite was Bryce. I thought the rock formations there were the most stunning. From the moment we first looked down into the canyon, I was in awe. No other moment, in any other Utah National Park, matched that internal response. Maybe, I would think differently if it hadn’t been the first park we saw, but it did set the bar extremely high. However, the most amazing experience I had in the parks was hiking Angels’ Landing in Zion. That was definitely one of the highlights of this summer.

We stopped at Four Corners, the spot where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. Ironically, it is on Navajo land. It was a tourist trap. I knew it was going to be a tourist trap and still I wanted to go since it’s something I wanted to do since college when it first came up in a conversation with friends from the west coast. Back then, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado felt worlds away. Sure I’m a different person now, with loads of travel behind me, but still I felt the need to satisfy the desire of a younger me who had seen much less. While there, G3 thought of his grandmother and picked out a hand made Navajo souvenir for her.

Our big stop of the day was at Mesa Verde National Park to see the Pueblo cliff dwellings. To get here we hopped into Colorado. (Since we left Utah sooner than expected and love National Parks, we figured we’d wind our way home by visiting a few more parks. Ones we have not yet been to. Which route home will allow us to explore the most National Parks?) As you know, I am fascinated by Native American history. I always have been, so I was excited to see the cliff dwellings. My family expressed slightly less enthusiasm.

The first evidence of dwellings in Mesa Verde dates back to the mid-500s. These first permanent shelters were pit houses and they were constructed partially underground. This helped keep them cool in the summer and warm in the winter. About two centuries later, they graduated to building single story villages, and then, two hundred and fifty years after that they were living in multi-story villages. Early on, homes were built using wood, but by the mid-900s they shifted to using stone masonry. A testament to their skill as masons is the fact that some of the structures are still standing today.  It wasn’t until the 1200s, when the Pueblo reached the peak of their civilization, that they moved into the cliffs. At that point, roughly 40,000 people lived in the Mesa Verde Region. The alcoves in which the Pueblo people built the homes were already carved out from erosion. When they selected places to live, rocks that had naturally fallen became their primary building material. Often, springs ran close to their dwellings and in some places, if you peer hard enough, you can see hand and toe holes that they used to climb up and down the cliff.

To survive, Pueblo people hunted deer and bighorn sheep. They grew squash, beans,

berries, and corn, which was their primary staple and the foundation of most meals. Overtime, they became adept at adapting to population growth and drought. Then, in the late 1200s the migration out of Mesa Verde began as the people started moving south. According to oral legends, they left because they felt they learned all they could from living there and that it was time to move on. Historians and archaeologists suspect they moved because of a combination of factors, including extended drought, social upheaval, and an exhaustion of resources.

While I very much enjoyed my time at Mesa

Verde, it involved way too much driving. We have spent a great deal of time in the car these last two and a half weeks and when I get to a national park I like to stretch my legs, take a hike or a walk and spend some time outside. Mesa Verde had longer hikes I could have taken—I would have enjoyed seeing the Petroglyphs—by neither G3 nor Kati were up for a walk, nor were they interested in petroglyphs. I did, however, take a short hike on the Soda Overlook trail. The hike itself wasn’t terribly exciting, but it did allow me to see one last cliff dwelling before leaving the park.

It was extremely fascinating to stand at various overlooks, see numerous dwellings, and contemplate what life might have been like for the Pueblo people. How did they not get frustrated living so close—almost trapped—to other people? How did the elderly or infirm move around and leave the dwelling? Climbing could not have been easy. How did they keep small children from falling? And if you woke up in the middle of the night to pee, what did you do? I probably would have rolled off my sleeping pallet, stumbled over a stone, and fallen to my death. Seriously, I have trouble most times not tripping over the tent stakes in the middle of the night.

Once again, we are camping for free on public land somewhere in northwest New Mexico, just south of the Navajo reservation. We didn’t have many options due to the large swath of Navajo country we drove through. But I can’t be bitter about it, considering how much land we stole from them. I am grateful we found a place to lay our heads since it was getting late. G3 was too tired to set up his tent so he’s sleeping in the car. My alarm is set for an early wake up tomorrow since G3 requested that we return to Arizona. He’s bothered by the fact that we are missing a national park and may never have cause to return to the state. We’ve only been to Saguaro and Grand Canyon. We need to see Petrified Forest.