Monument Valley on horseback: A different world

Monument Valley trail ride with Roy Black's Guided Tours. Photo Credit: Elizabeth Winfrey

Monument Valley is the quintessential backdrop to countless westerns and Warner Bros. cartoons. The chiseled spires are a recognizable silhouette of the Wild West in movies such as Easy Rider, Back to the Future and Forrest Gump. But to physically stand in the technicolor landscape is mind blowing and exceedingly larger than expectation. At first, your eyes try to make sense of the surreal siltstone monoliths tower 1,000 ft. into the air between enormous red mesas. Boulders as large as buildings are scattered around the embankments. The mammoth sandstone buttes are located on the Colorado Plateau of the Great Basin Desert inside the Navajo Indian Reservation near the border of Arizona and Utah. Monument Valley is operated by the Navajo Nation Parks & Recreation. It is sacred land to the tribe, called "Tse’Bii’Ndzisgaii" in Navajo, meaning "valley of the rocks". The dramatic sculptures are remnants of ancient mountains once covered by a vast ocean. The spectacular designs are carved from centuries of erosion. Wind and rain etch ever-changing patterns in the sand. During the day, the rocks look bright orange and purple with neon green and yellow gramma grass sprouting through the red basin.

Totem Poles in Monument Valley, Navajo Nation Photo Credit: Elizabeth Winfrey

At dusk the stones come alive, radiating a deep umber under the last rays of the sun. Light and shadow move with the sun and clouds to create optical illusions in the rocks. Tourists flock from all over the world to see the iconic images. Most people see Monument Valley from behind a face mask inside a tour bus. But the more adventurous tourist can get an intimate glimpse of the past riding through the land on horseback.

Etched Sandstone carved by wind and water. Photo credit: Elizabeth Winfrey

Monument Valley is still an actual working Navajo farm teeming with life. As you ride, you might see a goat herder with his flock or pass a Navajo hogan, a sweat lodge used in cultural ceremonies. There is an unshakable spiritual feeling in the area and all who have visited experience the phenomenon. A Navajo Proverb reads, "Be still and the earth will speak to you." Riding slowly in and out of the immense sandstones on horseback gives a sense of what it must have been like when horses were the only way to get around. It doesn't even feel like you are on the same planet as you get lost in your surroundings. Up close the buttes are so high, it is hard to take it all in.

An informative Navajo guide from Roy Black's Guided Tours led our horseback ride through  Monument Valley. We met our guide at dawn and mounted up at the bottom of a mesa, heading out on the aptly named John Wayne Trail. Before we knew it, we were immersed in the landscape. Lost in time. "The mountains, I become a part of it… The morning mists, the clouds, the gathering waters, I become a part of it." -Navajo Proverb.

Roy Black's Guided Tours inside Monument Valley, AZ. Photo Credit: Elizabeth Winfrey

Sources:

Roy Black's Guided Tours: royblacksguidedtours.com

Navajo Nation Parks & Recreation: https://navajonationparks.org

Photo credits: Elizabeth Winfrey & Creative Commons.