Big Chief Butte

The weather forced me to make a change in our travel plans.  After leaving the Navajo reservation, I was planning to go boondocking for a few days in southern Utah and up near Moab.  But, the weather was forecast to turn hot.  In the high 90’s type hot.  The type of hot that made this RVer (not a camper anymore) want to have air conditioning when I sleep.

Monument Valley was the first place we headed.  Goulding’s Lodge & Campground, just outside the Monument Valley Tribal Park, is a gorgeous place to hang out even when its hot.  It’s got full hook ups, food, fuel, a restaurant, and a pool.  And views of the valley and red rocks that are mesmerizing.  Here’s a gallery of some pictures from Goulding’s.

We were just there last year, but its a beautiful place that I didn’t mind going back to.  So, I booked two days at Gouldings.  On our first day, we visited the Monument Valley Visitor Center and the views were just as breath-taking as they were last year.  You can read about last years visit here Monument Valley – An Awesome Place.

J. Dawg and son at Monument Valley

I’m a huge John Wayne fan.  I can watch his movies over and over and never get tired of them. I keep a collection of them (maybe 25 CD’s) in my RV.  Our visit to Ridgway last week was a treat being able to see many scenes from True Grit.  I just had to watch that movie while we were there after seeing several of the real scenes.

Without a set agenda for this stop, we got the idea to watch The Searchers while at Monument Valley.  It’s a great movie and one of my favorites.  Much of the movie was filmed in Monument Valley.  Watching the movie gave us an idea for the next day – why not go into the park and see if we could figure out where the various scenes from the movie were shot?  We would become the searchers, searching for the scenes from The Searchers.

It took two viewings of the movie, looking at our pictures from this year and last year, and studying the views from the park.  Here’s  a map of the park and a summary of what we found.

Monument Valley Map

• Opening Scenes, The Raid, and Burial at Aaron and Martha’s Ranch – The ranch seems to have been located on a sandy rise just to the south-east of the front of Sentinel Mesa.  This mesa is on your left as you drive up to the Visitor Center.  It appears that the ranch was located very near the entrance road where the current stables and tribal campground are located.  The burial scene is also near this mesa.
• Rangers Riding After the Comanches – Some scenes are in front and back of the West Mitten.
• Ethan, Brad, and Martin Searching for Lucy and Debbie – The sandy scene’s appear to have been filmed in front of Thunderbird Mesa about 8 miles from the ranch and very near where the Medicine Country scenes where shot.
• Comanche Indian Encampment in “Medicine Country” – This is where Ethan (John Wayne) and Martin (Jeffrey Hunter), with the help of the Mexican gentleman, finally come face to face with Chief Scar.  In the film, it gives the appearance of being in Mexico. This scene appears to be about 3-4 miles south-east from the ranch scene near the Totem Pole Mesa and Yei Bi Chei Mesa.
• Comanche Encampment Prior to the Rangers Raid – This is just to the north and below Ford’s Point.  Martin Pawley is lowered down from Ford’s Point by Ethan and Captain Clayton (Ward Bond) to allow him to sneak into the camp and rescue Debbie before the raid.  Funny how in the movie, Ethan and Martin search many years for little Debbie yet the encampment scene is just 1 mile from where the ranch scenes were shot.
• Ranger’s Staging Area Before the Raid – This scene is in front of the West and East Mittens.  Funny how it’s in a different area from where the Comanche Camp is shown to be.  Based on the shadows this scene is shot in the mid to early morning and its purposely under exposed to make you think it is before dawn.
• The Raid – The rangers need a flat place to ride for the film.  This appears to have been shot north of Monument Valley off Route 163 on the way to Mexican Hat.

It was fun finding these places.  It also gave me more appreciation for the genius of John Ford.  John Wayne was in three movies that were filmed in Monument Valley – The Searchers, Stagecoach, and She Wore A Yellow Ribbon.  Goulding’s Lodge has the cabin that was used as Wayne’s quarters in She Wore A Yellow Ribbon set up as a museum.

The Tribal Park and Goulding’s Campground where full each day with visitors.  Most were from foreign countries.  At Goulding’s, we were surrounded by visitors from The Netherlands and Switzerland.  Monument Valley is a popular place.  Here’s a picture gallery of our visit.