Monument Valley & Tony Hillerman

Tony Hillerman was an author who set his mysteries mainly in the Four Corners Navajo Reservation. The main characters were Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police. Four of his books were made into films that were featured on PBS Masterpiece Theatre. I’m a fan of the books, so I was especially interested in seeing the area in which they took place.

We had entered the reservation shortly after leaving the Grand Canyon National Park and had lunch at the Cameron Trading Post. Our afternoon break took place in Kayenta – the gateway town for Monument Valley. This was Director John Ford’s favorite place to film his westerns.

Although the state of Arizona does not observe Daylight Savings Time, the Navajo Nation does. So we were on a different time from the rest of Arizona while within the reservation.

Goulding’s Lodge was our destination. The Gouldings had relocated to Monument Valley in the 1920s and set up a Trading Post there. During the depression, the Gouldings traveled to Hollywood and convinced John Ford that Monument Valley would be the perfect location for his next film, Stagecoach, starring John Wayne. Since the valley is located within the Navajo Reservation, all income generated from it goes to the Navajo people.

After getting settled into our rooms (which had great views of the valley), we left in four wheel drive vehicles for a Navajo cookout in a small nearby canyon. After dinner, a storyteller told stories and sang songs. Two of his uncles had been Code Talkers during World War II.

The next day, we visited a Hogan after breakfast. A Hogan is a special kind of home. It is both sacred and a dwelling. It is important when entering a Hogan to move in a clockwise direction, never counterclockwise.

If someone dies in a Hogan, it is abandoned and never lived in again. So they continue to be built with logs, mud, and grasses — nothing very permanent. The one we visited had a sweat lodge nearby as well as a summer Hogan, which was much more open and built with logs.

Within the Hogan, a couple of women demonstrated carding wool, hand spinning, grinding corn, and creating a traditional Navajo woman’s hairstyle. Since I had long hair, I was chosen to be the model. I was able to keep it into the following day.

We then loaded back into the four wheel drive vehicles and went on a tour of the main views of Monument Valley. We saw the Left Mitten, Right Mitten, Merrick Butte, Elephant Butte, and John Ford’s Point, where there was a horse on which people could pose. Then we saw the Three Sisters, the North Window, Rain God Mesa, Cly Butte, the Thumb, and the Totem Pole. Even though I tend to prefer mountains, trees and lakes over deserts, I found Monument Valley to be breathtakingly beautiful.

We returned to Goulding’s Lodge for lunch and some free time. I explored both the Trading Post and the Trading Post Museum. The museum includes the living quarters of the Gouldings as well as mementos from all of the films made in the valley.

Next time – Arches National Park (in Utah) and the Colorado Rockies.

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