ROAD TRIP!!! DAY 2

We woke at five in the morning. Both too cold to carry on sleeping, we decided we may as well just get up. As the sun rose we were able to see where we were. The view from the car window was spectacular as the sun peeled back the shadows to reveal a giant plateau spread out beneath us. We looked down on the great space as we ate our honey nut loops. I got dressed and put on as many of my clothes as possible. After a quick freezing toilet moment and a hurried brush of our teeth before the bristles froze we got back in the car and set off for a near by town; Page. We drove back the way we had driven in darkness the night before and couldn’t believe what we had missed. Jutting out at every possible moment were rocks too big for description, all at odd angles and looming forward in the distance. For as far as we could see there was nothing but wilderness. Not one trace of human activity for miles and miles. We had never experienced such massive space. Unless you actually came here I think it would be impossible to imagine. Such emptiness. A natural world. Unaltered forever.

We came to the ‘Navajo Bridge’. In the dark we must have driven across it but now in full daylight we were able to see just what we had crossed. The giant metal semi circle connecting the two sides of a giant gorge; a river gushing way down below. I had never seen anything quite like it. Such a clash of man and nature in a grey/orange smash. We walked across a footbridge opposite to get a better view. I took a few pictures but secretly I think we were both a little daunted! From nowhere an enormous bird appeared, circling above us. It was the biggest set of feathers we’d ever seen and it looked like it was sizing us up for breakfast. Before I knew it Ollie was running as fast as he could back to the car, he wasn’t about to wait for me! I ran after him but every time I glanced back the bird seemed to still be coming for me! Maybe it was an Eagle, I don’t know but it was certainly hungry!

We drove through Page and followed the road up to Lake Powell and the Dam there. From the visitors centre we could get a proper look at the awesome structure. They had a dinosaur display because they had found the remains of one when they were building the Dam. They also had a set of REAL dinosaur prints! The woman at the centre suggested we drive to the nearby marina and see if we could join a boat tour up to the famous ‘Rainbow Bridge’ arch. Personally I couldn’t believe there even was a marina out here amongst all the rocks and desert like plains! Situated on Lake Powell, the dozens of boats looked very odd against the bright orange backdrop of rock. The marina itself was deserted (because it’s winter of course!) but a girl did come out of an office to tell us about the boats. Apparently we could have phoned and got a charter to the arch but it sounded very expensive!

Deciding to drive on, our next stop was ‘Navajo Mountain’. It took us quite sometime to reach but was definitely worth it. Rising up in the distance, again the size was impossible to comprehend, but the map said over 10,000 ft. The mountain is right on the Arizona/Utah border and we took turns to stand in different states and be an hour apart (damn time zones!). We tried to take a shortcut onto our next route but very soon found ourselves without a proper road and on a dusty path. It would have been fine if we’d had a 4x4 but in our 'economy wonder' we could barely move! As we drove, the elevation of the road rose and rose until the road sides and the road were covered with snow. Our first of the year! Everywhere I looked was suddenly white. A white that stretched far off into the distance. Like everything here it just kept going. 

We reached the ‘Navajo National Monument’ covered in a thick layer of snow. We took a walk along one of the trails down to a platform where we could view the massive canyon. Walking through the snowy trees was magical, especially because we were the only ones there. The air was silent. Silence is free in abundance around these parts. We learned how the native Indians once lived and even got to see some of their dwellings that had survived since the 1200's in a large concave of the canyon. On the way back up to the car Ollie patronizingly warned me not to slip. Guess who was the first to...!

We had already covered over 200 miles and it was only half past two! From the map I guessed we would still have time to reach ‘Monument Valley’ today. So we set off on another epic drive through a landscape that has more surprises than you could imagine, it’s impossible not to keep looking. It’s not pretty. It’s not beautiful. Those aren’t the right words. The rocks are huge and strong, striding out with an invisible force that gives them a look of pride over their land. Perhaps they are handsome. Demonstrative and yet unassuming. They could be alive. I imagined that if I listened really carefully I might just hear them whispering. The many, many formations we saw along the way have stood for millions and millions of years. This is their land and as you drive through, you can feel it.

The approach to the valley was one of the most mesmerizing experiences of my life. As with everything here it just appears. As if it’s been hiding and then suddenly decides to say ‘boo’. The giant rock structures that line the way to Monument Valley look like giants' hands sticking out from the mud. Each slightly different but definitely finger like. To me it just looked like a giants burial ground. At any minute they might rise up and take a walk! It was a bit late to actually enter the park so deciding to visit tomorrow we drove on around the valley. The formations are as astounding as you see on T.V. Actually they’re more so. For the second time in two days I was speechless. In fact we both were. As we circled the perimeter of the park all I kept saying was ‘I don’t know what to say’, while Ollie repeated over and over ‘It’s beautiful’. I just can’t get my head around how these perplexing figures were formed. Scientifically I know it must be to do with weathering, fault lines and compression but secretly I’m sure it’s something more. How can something so extraordinary be completely by chance. It’s the giants I’m telling you!

The ‘Mexican Hat’ is a great rock formation, simply because it looks exactly like a Mexican wearing a hat! He has a face and everything! Well, Ollie says he has whatever you give him but I definitely saw a face and I wasn’t even expecting one! We got as close as we could to study the guy ‘Pablo’?! before continuing on to ‘The Valley Of The Gods’. Again this piece of jaw dropping eroded landscape was just suddenly there in front of us. We wanted to take a road that would pass right through the valley and get us really close. However no sooner had we started down the path, we hit a ditch of water. There was no way Ollie was risking the EW on that kind of terrain, so much to my disappointment, we had to turn around. I still got some great pictures though!

The sun was beginning to set behind the monuments as we approached them once more. Our plan was to sleep in the car for another night. But as the temperature gauge once more started to decline Ollie had other ideas. ‘That’s it. We’re staying in somewhere.’ And with that he refused to even contemplate the nearby lay-by or the charming little campsite locked between two giant rocks. I wanted to save money but he wasn’t having any of it. ‘We’ll freeze to death!’ A slight exaggeration perhaps, but I wasn’t about to argue. I quite liked the thought of a bed too! I am fortunate enough to be able to sleep just about anywhere but much to Ollie’s annoyance he just isn’t as ‘hard core’ as me! After a night on a bus and a night in the car he had reached breaking point!

So now, as I write, I’m all tucked up in a gloriously large comfy bed, very warm and very cosy! It might not be quite the ‘rough it’ trip I had imagined but sometimes a hot bath is a necessity! Well, it is practically snowing outside...

5/11/11