Gouldings RV Park March 30 - April 1

Day 63, 64  Thursday, Friday,  March 30 – April 1, Goulding’s RV Park, Monument Valley, AZ

We tucked the MH into our spot at Goulding’s RV Park and scheduled a tour of Monument Valley!  

Elephant Foot formation along highway

Gouldings near Monument Valley

Our campsite

Our tour bus

We took way too many pictures, and the cloudy sky and late afternoon light gave us some beautiful pictures.  Our Indian guide had lots of stories to tell about the names of the rock formations and stories of the history of Monument Valley.  John Ford began filming his Western movies, often starring John Wayne, in this valley, drawing attention to its unique beauty.  Extensive commercial development was not allowed, and the valley now belongs to the Navajo tribe.  Goulding’s is a historic hotel, restaurant, and campground that is just outside the official Monument Valley area.

View from the Visitor Center

John Wayne Point, with a horseman!

Can you see the horses?

More natural arches!

Ancient images!

Afternoon light

No copter fun for Jim here!

Eagle

Ancient Petroglyphs

Indian horses on the range

Driving back from the tour

The next morning we went on a hike out of the campground, up into the rocks, and saw a natural bridge and other rock formations.  Our trail kind of dead-ended, so we scrambled on the rocks a while, finally saw what looked like a real trail.

Up the canyon to a dead end!

Can you see Jim?  These are big rocks!

Our campground from the trail 

Another natural arch near the campground!

After our walk Linda walked down to Goulding’s Museum, which had very interesting memorabilia, both of Monument Valley in early years and the movie filming in the 1940’s and 50’s.  Jim walked down and we had lunch in the restaurant.  After lunch we went back over to the valley and did a hike around two of the buttes, Left Mitten and Right Mitten, out in a big loop in the desert.

On the trail

Right mitten from the back side

On the trail

Left Mitten and Right Mitten