We hadn’t planned to go to Monument Valley. It was an extra 4 hour drive that we did not want to make on our way from Phoenix to Page Arizona to visit the slot canyons the next day. We wanted to spend the day hiking Sedona since it was on the way there.
This past Memorial Day weekend however had other plans for us… a forest fire, incorrect GPS coordinates, a flash flood, and even an uncordial Park Ranger were all encountered on the same day. We had the modern day apocalypse thrown at us.
Location: Monument Valley, UT
Sensor: Sony A7R
Lens: Zeiss 21 Distagon ZE
Sedona had a massive forest fire that was literally engulfing the exact place we wanted to hike and the road out was closed. We decided to head straight on to Page AZ to see some of the slot canyons in the afternoon. It meant a continuous 4 hour drive if we made good time.
We had hoped to see the Meteor Crater near Flagstaff on the way but were turned off by an unhelpful Park Ranger, so we quickly nixed that idea. Continuing to drive up the highway we soon found that the road ahead of us completely closed. Apparently the GPS did not know that the road was still under construction and we had to turn back losing another 2 hours in the process.
Location: Monument Valley, UT
Sensor: Sony A7R
Lens: Zeiss 21 Distagon ZE
Finally turning into Page, we headed to the Lower Antelope Canyon which closed at 4PM. We were well ahead arriving around 2:30PM. However the gate was closed and no one there was available to answer questions. Apparently the threatening rain and potential flash flooding made the close. It would have been nice for them to have a sign explaining the situation. FAIL.
Page is a fairly isolated town with not much to do. In an effort to salvage at least part of the day, we decided to make the two hour journey to Monument Valley to hopefully capture the evening light and potential thunderstorms.
Location: Outside Monument Valley, UT
Sensor: Sony A7R
Lens: Zeiss 21 Distagon ZE
We finally arrived in Monument Valley around 6PM after a short rainstorm. All in all 10 hours of driving on day that we had hoped to drive for only 4.
