September 20, 2022 - Utah Flight
Monument Valley
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| We departed Gouldings Airstrip to the north, turned east, passed by Eagle Mesa and then we were in the famous Monument Valley. It's a magical place that I dreamed of visiting for a long time. I finally made it eleven years ago, and now I've flown it four times I think and toured it on the ground once. It's still magical for me and I never tire of seeing it. |
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Looking northeast at Highway 163.
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Our flight split up and everyone just toured Monument Valley on their own. We could see each other on ADS-B which helped avoid any unpleasantries.
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Passing by the "Totem Pole".
The Totem Pole was first climbed June 11–13, 1957 by Bill Feuerer, Jerry Gallwas, Mark Powell and Don Wilson. The first ascent route is rated 5.10 YDS A2 in the Yosemite Decimal System. A second route called "Never Never Land" was climbed in 1979. Parts of the 1975 thriller film The Eiger Sanction (U.S. director Clint Eastwood) were filmed at Totem Pole. According to author Ron Hogan, "[i]n addition to directing and starring in The Eiger Sanction, Clint Eastwood did all his own stunts during the mountain-climbing sequences." Hogan further adds that, Eastwood and his film crew "were the last people to climb Monument Valley's Totem Pole; in order to gain permission for the shoot, they had to agree to clear the mountainside of all the pitons from previous climbing expeditions".
The Navajo call the thicker spires to the left of the Totem Pole "Yei Bi Chei".
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| I took the following pictures with my Smartphone. They are not as reddish as the ones taken by the Cannon Digital Rebel. |
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| There's the Totem Pole again. |
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| A good look at Monument Valley as a whole. |
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| Looking down at "The View Hotel". |
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| We left Monument Valley and headed north. Our next destination was the Valley of the Gods, which I haven't been to before. |
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| On the way, we passed over the Goosenecks State Parks. Somewhere at the bottom of that deep canyon is the San Juan River. |
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Mark passes me on the right over Goosenecks.
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