Day 42, April 13, 2023, Thursday. Holbrook, AZ (36 miles) (elevation 5,082 feet)

We departed Winslow and checked into OK RV Park (FHU) in Holbrook. Then we visited the Petrified Forest National Park.  A sunny cool day with the wind gusts probably at least 50 mph. The park road is 28 miles north to south and we started on the south end which is where the petrified forest is. The north end is the painted desert. We began with the parks longest developed trail, a 2.6 mile out and back easy hike to the Long Logs and Agate House. We had seen petrified logs before like the two that were fenced in at Death Valley but nothing prepared us for this.  Petrified wood everywhere!  And with varied colors too. Some logs I measured at 44 paces not counting the portion that was buried. And we had the place to ourselves. We continued onward to the Agate House which is a re-creation of a dwelling constructed with petrified wood by the Native Americans. We continued the road north and visited at all the stopping points. One area, the Blue Mesa, had beautiful colorful geology with a trail that was one mile.  The trail is from the top of the mesa to the bottom. We began the trail but unfortunately we shortly decided to turn back as the trail had serious drop offs and the wind was too strong to always maintain our balance. The northern part of the park was beautiful painted desert overlooks and almost no one there but us. A very exciting day and I rate this park a must visit! 

Day 43, April 14, 2023, Friday. Olijato-Monument Valley, UT (36 miles) (elevation 4,840 feet)

We departed Holbrook and headed to Canyon de Chelly National Park which is located on the Navajo Indian Reservation near the town of Chinle. We drove the South Rim, a 37 mile roundtrip, and fortunately with enough room for the coach towing the car as the ranger at the visitor center advised.  The canyon follows the Chinle Wash and there are 6 overlooks on the South Rim.  We stopped at all of them. Very impressive canyon with depths of 800 feet. Some of the Navajo actually occupy the base of the canyon. I guess flash floods are not a concern. We ate lunch in he coach at one of the viewpoints - very convenient. I think the canyon is just grand! The North Rim has only 3 viewpoints and we decided not to take it since we still had a couple hour drive to our campground. We checked into Gouldings Monument Valley RV Park (FHU) which is located between two bluffs of red rock also on Navajo land.

Day 44, April 15, 2023, Saturday. Olijato-Monument Valley, UT 

We drove 5 miles from our campground to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.  The park is on the Navajo reservation is at an elevation of 5,564 feet with the monuments ranging from 100 to 1,500 feet tall. The 15 mile unpaved loop consists of gravel and sand.  The monuments are impressive but we feel that looking down at monuments from a canyon ridge is more impressive than looking up from the base.  After lunch we visited Goosenecks State Park, 31 miles north of Monument Valley. (On the way, we passed the town of Mexican Hat which has a monument named “Mexican Hat”. It actually looks like an upside down sombrero).  Goosenecks has a viewpoint of a 6 mile zig zag stretch of the San Juan River that actually only transverses a mile and a half.  Similar to Horseshoe Bend but may more bends and a lot fewer people. It was still early afternoon so we decided to head to Natural Bridges National Monument, 54 miles further north of Highway 261.  As we were driving along, we seemed to be heading directly to a tall mesa stretching the entire horizon. As I did not see any roads turning left or right, I wondered if there would be a tunnel. Then the sign: 3 miles of unpaved road with switchbacks and 10% grade and a speed limit of 15 mph.  We began the climb but with all the switchbacks there was no way to maintain that speed of 15 mph. Several cars coming down the mesa stopped to lets us pass as the “road” was too narrow for 2 cars in many places. After the climb we still had another 30 miles to go. We arrived at Natural Bridges at 4:15 and the visitor center closed at 4:00. Fortunately, we already had the park map with trails. There are 3 natural bridges at the park. We stopped at the first bridge overlook and took the trail to be closer to the bridge. The hike included ladders and stairs and included good views of the bridge. We visited the viewpoints of the other 2 bridges but did not do the trails since is was getting late in the day. The view of the second bridge did not allow a full view of the bridge opening. On the return drive, we decided to take a different route so as to avoid going down the 3 mile switchbacks since I would have had to ride the breaks all the way (as my car does have a way to stay in first gear). This added about 40 miles to the drive back but Rosemary was very happy!  Me too. About 10 miles from our campground, we stopped to take the Forest Gump photo on Highway 191. This spot was crowded with people taking photos of Monument Valley in the middle of the road. The speed limit is even reduced in this area because of the crowd.  I managed to get the photo without people in it. I guess I will have to watch the movie again to see this scene.

Monument Valley 

Mexican Hat

Goosenecks State Park

Natural Bridges National Monument

Day 45, April 16, 2023, Sunday. Olijato-Monument Valley, UT 

An unusual day. We rested! Did laundry. Washed the bugs off the front of the coach. Washed the mud off the car windows. Posted photos as the wifi actually worked in the middle of the day when others were out of the campground. After dinner, we walked around and found a campground hike to an arch and a view of some of Monument Valley. Also a view of the campground which was surrounded by red rock cliffs.