Monday

We woke up before the sunrise this morning.  It was as beautiful as expected.

We ate a quick breakfast in our room and then immediately headed out to do the Wildcat Trail loop around the west mitten.

It was recommended that we take one liter of water per person. Luckily we took more. It was amazing to hike that close to the mitten.

We only ran into a few other hikers. It truly is a sacred valley. I had a difficult time completing the 3.5 mile loop in the hot sun and through sand dunes. I am grateful for a patient partner. When we made it back up from the valley floor I made him take my picture of triumph.

We had lunch in the restaurant here that looks out on the scenery we had just experienced up close. Then we decided we wanted to explore more of the area. We drove north to the Valley of the Gods.

I did not really know anything about it and I had forgotten our ice water in the room. It was an amazing 17 mile drive through another valley. Since we had no map we made up names for all the amazing rock structures we encountered.

Lucky for us the car didn't break down and we stopped for water in the town of Mexican Hat.

Back to Monument Valley in time for the sunset.

Tomorrow we head for Zion, with a few stops along the way.