A Final Update From Moab (Utah) then Monument Valley (Navajo Nation) and Grand Canyon (Arizona)

I'm sat here in Grand Canyon, in a small internet cafe with the biggest cup of coffee ever, attempting to get an update in before I'm without internet again for another few days.

On Sunday we were hiking in Arches National Park. We went over there at about 10.30am and hiked until 5.30. The total walking time was about 5 or 6 hours, which felt a lot harder than it sounds, you'll understand when you see the photos!
Arches NP is, as the name suggests, full of arches. The park has around 200 but we only hiked to the main ones. Some were accessible by slightly rocky paths, others we had to climb up rock 'fins' to get to. I have never been so glad of my hiking boots and sandals, best investment ever. The temperature was pretty hot so we had to make sure we had at least a litre of water on us to drink at any time, as if you collapse from dehydration out there you have to be helicoptered out.

Here are some pictures of the arches and our walks (4 and 6 are the rocks we had to climb up to reach Delicate Arch and the next arch I'm photographed sitting in)....

That night we pretty much collapsed straight into our tents and fell asleep.

After a lie in, we travelled through to Monument Valley in the Navajo Nation. Navajo land is spread across Utah and Arizona, but is not governed by either, instead the Navajo themselves are responsible for everything. We took a jeep tour, run by a man called (disappointingly) Carlos. He was a Navajo Indian and had grown up in Monument Valley, he told us lots of stories and played his flute for us whilst we looked around lots of the rocks and caves.
Here is the sleeping dragon:

And here is Big Chief or Firebird (can you see either? Once you see them its so obvious):

Some ancient cave paintings:

And gods ear:

We spent that night in a hogon, the traditional home of the Navajo people. It's a small round house, built from juniper wood and covered in soil and mud with a little stove/fire in the middle. When entering a hogon, you have travel clockwise around the room, as a sign of respect.

In the evening we had a campfire and watched some dancing, then had to join in. It was hilarious, I can safely say none of us will ever become Native American dancers. I took a video but I can't upload it here, I'll show you when I get home.
Here me and the boys are sat on a rock on our night-time walk:

After a brilliant nights sleep, we arose at 5.50am to greet the sunrise (the Navajo thing to do). We were meant to run towards the sun shouting, showing it that we were there, but we were all too tired, so just watched it come up.

Once breakfast was over we left the Navajo and travelled into Arizona, and towards Grand Canyon. That afternoon we took a helicopter ride over the canyon itself before settling in for another campfire. Today we got a proper lie in! It was amazing, then went for a walk around the canyon. Some people hiked down to the bottom and back up but me, Lynsey and Katie just went for a walk around the rim.

And that brings me here, to this little cafe and the woman lecturing us about drinking enough water whilst we're hiking, lol. This post could have have been so much longer, but time is limited here and I wanted to leave some things to tell you when I get home. Can't quite believe its been a month since I saw you all!!


Lots of love,


xxxxxx