Arches and Monument Valley turned out to be the two coolest, brightest, and most memorable places for us in America. And as it usually happens, that's exactly when our camera died.)))))) We had to take photos with a 0.3-megapixel camera. Better not to have taken any at all))) But let's take things in order. (The photos I posted were downloaded from the internet just so you could imagine what it looks like.)
On the morning after the Rocky Mountains, we continued our journey along the road running through the Colorado River Canyon, right above the current. Then we drove onto a road through the desert (the American desert—read our semi-desert—is characterized by the expression "not thick, not empty"). Stopping was forbidden here due to frequent sandstorms. We weren't planning on it anyway.) Another 20 minutes of driving and we enter Arches National Park. Rocks and sand all around, everything a rich copper color.
Noon, the sun is baking, and it becomes clear why everything around is so red. "The iron and copper content gives it blah-blah-blah..." they will tell you—don't believe it. With this sun, anything would be red, even a waffle towel or Michael Jordan!!
The first point is the Broadway. A flat valley 3 kilometers long and 400 meters wide, with sheer rock walls on both sides about 300 meters high. It looks insane against the blue sky, so we don't let our cameras out of our hands. Exhausted Asians are scurrying around, making us envious as they snap photos with cool, high-end cameras)) The view from the valley is even cooler. The sky is divided into 3 equal parts. Two crimson and one saturated blue. You can't stand with your head tilted back for long, so after 20 minutes of climbing around the nearby area, we head to the car.
Talking about the park and trying to describe it is a waste of time. I'll just note—there are about 2,000 natural arches here. A couple of dozen of them are huge and super cool. I must say that you are obligated to do at least one thing here—hike to Delicate Arch. It is located on a flat plateau on top of a mountain. It's visible from everywhere, but that's not the same as when you look at everything around from it. It's a 4-kilometer hike uphill, though. It will be very tough. I promise)
People dying, lying under 20-centimeter bushes, will be begging for water. Your legs will magically turn into cotton. Sweet voices in your head and behind you will be begging you to turn back. Don't listen and keep going! Sing Malinin's songs to yourself, play chess in your mind, imagine yourself as Bruce Willis saving the planet—in short, do anything, but make it there. It is so worth it that it's hard to even imagine. It's not for nothing that this arch became the symbol of Utah—if it were something else, I would be offended)
Right by the Arch is a kilometer-deep cliff. The whole park is like in the palm of your hand. You can sit in safety if you don't like extreme sports, or you can walk along the edge a couple of times and stand on one leg for a photo—decide for yourself. But you have to climb up, that's all there is to it.
Also, among the most outstanding places, one should note Double Arch, Landscape Arch in Devil's Garden, and Balanced Rock. Just for this, it will take 7-8 hours at a normal pace, because you can climb everything here, squeeze through everywhere, and since you can, arch after arch, hill after hill—and you've already lost a couple or three hours that you expected to spend on a hearty lunch).
Anyway, with numerous sighs and delights, we leave the park around 4 o'clock—after all, today we still need to make it to the sunset in Monument Valley!!! We expect to see more rocks, nothing special, just pieces of stone sticking out of the ground.
Yeah. Right.
As we approach the Valley, everyone's jaw drops. No one expected to see THIS. I think this is the coolest, coolest, coolest, coolest thing I've seen in the USA. Maybe it's because we arrived at sunset and twilight, I don't know. But if someone tells me that there is another world somewhere—I know where to look for it. Huge mysterious silhouettes appear on the horizon, changing their outlines depending on the turns of the road. They are all around. There is nothing behind and nothing in front, except for them. The dark blue sky blurs the clear boundaries, and you begin to understand why the Indians believed that spirits live in this very land. Complete night silence lies here even before the night itself arrives. The sky is a huge dome.
On one side, stars are already appearing, while on the other—yellow, red, and burgundy flashes. Between them—a blue-dark trembling something. We feel that it is getting dark rapidly, we stop and greedily begin to peer, trying to almost eat what we see with our eyes. Never in my life have I wanted the sun to linger so much. We barely talk. We just stare. However, the light inevitably fades, and all this plunges into a primordial, original state. Barely thinking, we get into the car.
Ooooooh.... Even now, remembering it takes my breath away.
And if I'm told to choose one place to visit again in America—it will be Monument Valley. Period.
P.S. We didn't have enough time, but next time we would definitely visit Canyonlands, specifically Island In The Sky, and also (we wanted to, but the weather let us down) Antelope Canyon—if it's sunny. This is a canyon with mega-cool falling sunlight. Anyway, check out the photos on Google)
