Navajo helps visitors see beauty

MONUMENT VALLEY, Utah — It's 6:30 a.m., an hour before sunrise. Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is pitch black, and I'm the only person at the locked gate outside the visitors center.

In a few minutes, headlights appear on the road leading into Monument Valley. I'm hoping it's Tom Phillips, the 54-year-old Navajo guide who is going to take me on a sunrise photo tour among Monument Valley's imposing sandstone monoliths.

"I think I need a 9-to-5 job earning minimum wage," a sleepy Phillips complains as he steps out of his Jeep Cherokee, holding a mug of coffee. "I think I'd like it better."

Phillips has been leading tours into Monument Valley "off and on" since 1979, and about five years ago he started his own small company, Keyah Hozhoni Tours. Now he's burning the candle at both ends, leading sunset tours that finish after dark and then coming back before sunrise for more.

Phillips enjoys photography and specializes in tours for photo enthusiasts, although the hours wear on him. Straddling the Utah-Arizona border, Monument Valley and its haunting rock formations are a mecca for photographers.

I'm in the front seat with Phillips as he steers his small SUV over the ragged dirt roads that serve as the infrastructure inside Monument Valley. The roads are more suitable for all-terrain vehicles, but Phillips knows every boulder to avoid and every dip to negotiate. He grew up on the huge Navajo reservation, which occupies a large chunk of northeast Arizona and also extends into southeast Utah and northwest New Mexico. Monument Valley lies on Navajo land.

Our destination is Totem Pole, Phillips' favorite monolith for sunrise photos. But on this morning in mid-October, the sun rises behind a curtain of clouds, so there will be only soft light to work with rather than the kind of light that turns Monument Valley's rocks a flaming red.

Fewer photo opportunities allow more time for talk — about things like the valley's spiritual connection for Navajos. This is said to be sacred land.

"A lot of people use this area for prayers," Phillips says. "For me, I wouldn't say it's any more spiritual than another place. But people would disagree with me.

Although I want to see all the famous rock formations that I've seen in movies or in coffee-table books, Phillips takes me into the backcountry, eager to show that Monument Valley offers more. As a permit-carrying guide, he's allowed to veer off the main road. We see rock art and ruins left behind by the valley's earliest inhabitants.

Phillips' truck takes a pounding on Monument Valley's bumpy roads, which are akin to an obstacle course in some spots. In this part of the country, these kinds of roads are referred to as native roads. The Navajos want Monument Valley to remain as close as possible to its natural state. Out here, there's nothing but rocks, dirt, sagebrush and a few other desert plants.

Comments