Fortunately it had not rained too much to make the sand/clay/rock roads impassable. Just a few kilometres outside the camp a small gravel road called “Valley of the Gods” starts. It is a very beautiful scenic track through a valley in-between small and large eroded table mountains. There are lots of open camping spots along the way. In many places the track is narrow and steep so you need a car with high clearance and a short overhang. We were not sure if we could make it to the end but we did. From the “Valley of the Gods” it is only a short drive to the major attraction in the area “Monument Valley” a Navajo tribal park. In this park the sand road is wide and bumpy. It does not have narrow steep sections so tourist can make the 17 miles loop in their own car. The red coloured table mountains are the ones we are all familiar with from the cowboy movies or various commercials. The table mountains are much larger than the ones in the Valley of the Gods but there are many more people driving around so your sense of adventure disappears. In the evening we camped a bit further up the road at the Navajo National Monument. The campsite is on top of a mountain at 2200 m. Snow is on the ground so we are expecting another cold night. Fortunately the heater is working well and tomorrow morning before getting up Jamaliah will switch it on again.
Rudy Welling's Travels 