Monument Valley December 6

December 6 Monument Valley, Utah

Monument Valley is a geological wonder.  It is part of the 130,000 square mile Colorado Plateau. The heights of the these monuments range from 100 feet to 1500 feet tall. What made this place famous was the filming of western movies with John Ford directing John Wayne in many classic western movies.  However, this landscape was known to inhabit a group of Navaho Indian people who have sustained a living here for hundreds of years.  There are families here today who eek out a living on the valley floor.  There homes are primitive and they have no running water.  They need to drive about 12 miles to get their water from a well in Goulding’s. The Goulding’s were a British family who settled here in the 40’s.  They dug a well, which is still supplying water to the Navaho people who live here, for free.

The monuments are deep red reflecting the iron oxide in the soil. Clay is the element within these rock formations that actually holds them together. Many of the monument have holes that appear through the structure, these holes are air bubbles that have escaped. I remember when Robin and I took a pottery class and we needed to work out the air from the clay so it wouldn’t explode in the kiln. This is a magnification of that process.

Many of the monuments have names of animals that are evident in their shape like elephants, or the three sisters.  I prefer to see the faces of the ancient people who lived here.  It is easy to see a face looking up at the sun or moon.  Sometimes the faces are smiling, some mouths are open wide as if singing.  I like to imagine these ancient faces are whispering secrets to the people who live here now.

Sage brush plants are prolific on the valley floor.  They are green grayish color mostly but on a closer look some are spring like green with tiny yellow flowers.  When looking out into the distance, they can give a blueish hue almost like a water scape.  These plants are not for human consumption but are a food source for the small animals that live here.  Sage plants grow right up to the base of the monuments brushing away the sand stone like tiny whisk brooms and ever so slowly and patiently changing the monument noticeable in a millennial time period.

The Navajo are a beautiful people and have a special connection to this land.  Our guide pointed out the Bears Ears Monument off in the distance. Sadly he commented, “They continue to take away our land.” Just a day or so ago, Trump took this land away for the right to mine minerals there.
We asked how the Navajo felt about Trump and all he would say is that most of the people did not vote for him.

It has been a beautiful adventure  to visit this extraordinary geographical site but it has been an honor to know that this land is loved and cared for by the Navajo people.  As Chief Seattle once said,” Man does not weave this web of life.  He is merely a strand of it.  Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”  Hopefully, their culture will live on for centuries to come.

I have been reminded throughout our time in Indian Territory to take a closer look at the small things, the gray sage plant is beautiful and colorful close up. The forces of nature are ever present, the sun is bright and warms the day, the moon is bright and lights the night.  But the most important is water.  Water is life in this desert terrain.  I appreciate the slow movement of geological time and know that small changes take place every moment.