Four Corners & Monument Valley

Yesterday, Friday, April 12,  I motorcycled out of Canyon De Chelly and the adventure continued with a stop at the Four Corners where Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado meet.  The only place in the United States where four states intersect in one place.  I then backtracked to Monument Valley.  The entire trip was approximately 200 miles.

The Four Corners was a bucket list stop and a place where I could be in four states at the same time.  It was a check off the list, but I must say, a little underwhelming.  However, if you want to be in four states at the same time, it is the only place to do it.

After my stop at the Four Corners yesterday, I moved onto one of the most magical and mystical spots I can imagine.  I mentioned that Canyon de Chelly was special, and it is.  Monument Valley is Canyon de Chelly and more.  Its grandeur took my breath away and I could not stop looking in awe at the sites that surrounded me or the tales I was told.

Monument Valley is host to towering sandstone rock formations that have been sculpted over time and soar 400 to 1,000 feet above the valley floor. Combined with the surrounding mesas, buttes, spires and desert environment, it truly must be one of the natural wonders of the world.

I lucked out when I booked an all-day tour and found out that, as the only person, I had a private tour of the Valley.  My tour guide for the entire day was Reever (not his Navajo name – I could neither spell or pronounce his name when he told me anyway) a 35-year-old Navajo who grew up in the Valley, like his parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and great-great grandparents.

Reever told me that he had met his Great-Great-Grandmother who lived well over 110, maybe as much as 120, and his Great-Grandmother who passed away at approximately 110.  Reever’s grandmother, 97 years-old is a Shaman.  One who is in touch with the spirits.

As a Shaman, she had instilled in Reever a very spiritual connection with the Valley.  For instance, when I wanted to enter and photograph a cliff dwelling that we had reached in the backcountry, he adamantly told me not to.  Not because of tribal law, but because it was a bad omen to disturb the ancient ones.  Reever was very spiritual, sincere, and an incredible guide that I spent 8 hours with and enjoyed every minute.

Because I was the only person, and I can still hobble up the side of a rock, we explored beyond the reach of average tours.  For most of the day, we were well off the beaten path as we explored places that Reever had heard about but never seen.  For most the day, we never saw another person.  The quiet and solitude was, was, well, spiritual…

We got close enough to Cliff Dwellings to look inside if not enter, we climbed up rocks to look in caves and explore arches that one could not see from the ground.  We were close to Petroglyphs to study them in detail.  It was an incredible experience from the moment I rode my Indian Motorcycle into the Valley.

The following is a video that you will very much enjoy listening to.  It is Reever playing his flute.  He did this a number of times during the day in very quiet places.  He plays here and the echo reverberates off the walls of the small canyon we are in.  What can I say other than “spiritual”

I do not know if I will be able to top the Valley, but tomorrow, bright and early I bid farewell to Monument Valley and I head north to Moab, UT and Arches, and Canyonland National Parks.

Keep Wheeling!