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Monument valley area questions.

Mike S

Senior Curmudgeon
OK gang, questions for the VAF database/brain trust.

We are starting to plan for a trip to the Monument Valley and Four Corners area----------so far, plan is to fly into Page, and do an air tour of the area, possibly later rent a vehicle and drive around.

What are "Not To Be Missed" attractions in the area???

Canyon de Chelly for sure..........
 
When we made our trip in the fall, I originally planned to fly into Page. Instead, we ended up flying into Canyonlands and rented a car from there. It worked out great. It's an AMAZING part of the county. Don't neglect Lake Powell, that was really awesome.

Canyonlands

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Arches Natl Park, Deadhorse point State park, Canyonlands, Lake Powell. A full-moon night tour of MV is very cool. Do a float on the river for half or full day. Ive heard there is some big dam in the area that might be worth a look too.

erich
 
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Mike,

Following is a link to our trip to Monument valley and Page:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/107646684575855201411/albums/5400346540138248481

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/107646684575855201411/albums/5400796747658300593

Don't miss Antelope Canyon that is just outside of Page in the Navajo land.
IMG_8489.JPG


Rainbow bridge is hard to get to, but you can do an air tour:
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It is a challenge to find it:
SkyVector+Flight+Planning++Aeronautical+Charts+-+Google+Chrome+3242014+72513+PM.jpg


Horse shoe bend is south west of Page:

IMG_8537.JPG


You may fly to Marble Canyon or drive there through continental divide:
IMG_5547.JPG
 
Lots of secret stuff:
Take a 10 min flight to Marble Canyon strip. Legal and below rim with amazing views
Land over at West Grand Canyon strip for a touch and go. Puts you over the edge of the canyon in the pattern legally if you swing wide. Right over the Skybridge.
In Page take a slot canyon tour as somebody showed with a photo. Very pretty...
Ask for the air to air freqs on the ramp. Then when you head uplake towards Monument Valley you can keep track of the Caravans.
Get gas at Classic. Tell Chris Nick sent you and get free ice. Great people!
Landing strip at Monument has a breakfast place you can walk to..
Meteor Crater is fun too..
Half day river trip is low cost and a blast. The best part starting out is the ride down the tunnel into the gorge clear to the bottom of the dam. No whitewater but very pretty.
Free tour inside the dam is dam interesting. dam this iPad has poor language.
Have a great trip!
 
Its easy to get permission to fly into Goulding's and stay there, the runway is a short walk and they will pick you up if they see you land. Hotel rooms are very reasonable and a half-day tour is $65/person. Will definitely go back.

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After leaving Page Arizona, back to Salt Lake City...........I'd usually fly up the main channel of Lake Powell to Moab, and over the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers. Lot's of great scenery. On the way to Page, I would land at Bryce Canyon airport. Bryce Canyon looks great from the air.

A good trip was Salt Lake to Bryce, onto Monument Valley for lunch, and then Page Arizona for mexican dinner. Then head to Sedona, and the Grand Canyon area on day two.
 
Thanks for the input so far, just what I was looking for :D

We are thinking late May for the trip---------or will it be too hot by then???

Anybody here live in Mogollon airpark---------any input about the place??
 
If you continue northeast on US163 beyond Monument Valley, you'll get to Mexican Hat, UT. Just north of town, Utah 261 forks to the northwest. Continue on that to the top of the Moki Dugway. You'll see a good (no high clearance needed) dirt road on the left. Proceed on that to Muley Point. From memory it's less than 20 miles out of Mexican Hat. The views of the Goosenecks of the San Juan River are sublime.

If you have more time, continue north on 261 to Utah 95 and turn left. Natural Bridges National Monument is a few miles further, and worth a visit.

With a 4wd vehicle in that part of the world, the possibilities are endless.
 
There is so much to see in that very large general area that you might not see all you would like. If you decide to stop at UT25 Gouldings Lodge for lunch. It is a very good stop and they serve LARGE lunches. Best to split lunch! Been there, did a flying tour and liked it very much. So we are going back for over night and the ground tour April 1st. Wife says so. :) Bring your own spirits if you want some, It's on a reservation.

A side note: We think the flight from Page AZ to Grand Junction CO following the river is as good as it gets. It is a beautiful sight! Larry
 
San Juan River, Mexican Hat Rock

That is some good flying! On our trip to Monument Valley, we literally stumbled upon this area. Then at one point after following the river (as best we could) we spotted that very familiar looking rock dead ahead! Nice primer for approaching Monument Valley!
 
Bryce Canyon (BCE) is 50nm NW of Page. Book a room at Ruby's Inn Best Western. They will pick you up at the airport. The Nat'l Park shuttle van picks you up in front of the hotel for the trip into the Park. Other than the loop road, bus stops, and a lodge, Bryce Canyon Nat'l Park is below ground level and the views are spectacular.
The field elevation is 7600 feet and the runway is just as long.
 
That is the plan--------trying to get all the ducks marching in the same direction at the moment. The lack of available rooms is putting a big crimp in our plans...................
 
Lake Powell

Circled Tower Butte on departure from Page this morning. It is early in the season and quiet. Later, there will be a helicopter sitting on top with tourists peering down over the abyss. A fun trip I would guess. A little short for an RV landing though.
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Mike, most of the strips on the reservation are used regularly for air medical transport. I was on Tuba City strip this week. North end sort of frost heaved. The air med guys use the first part. Chinle is similar. Just fly over and check for stuff that doesn't belong... before you land. Living or non living...stuff that is.
 
I suppose taking pets with you (German shepherd) is not advisable on a trip like this? I would think lodging would be an issue and also going on trails.

But it looks like a great place to visit, going to plan for it.
 
Anybody flown into Chinle Muni Airport E91????

Yes, I flew into Chinle (E91) 3 years ago. Runway was decent. Some King Airs flew in while I was there. No facilities. Our Canyon De Chelly guide picked us up at the airport (for a few extra bucks) and then dropped us off after the tour. Convenient. Link
 
Conveniently South

We're sort of along your way.....and Skip cooks up a storm. if you want to add Tucson, Tombstone, Tucumcari, oh wait, too far East. Add Tucson and we'll put y'all up at our RV/Motorcycle hotel.
 
Look into making your dog a service dog. They do serve us, don't they?

As much $$$ and effort we have spent on training her, she should qualify well and I have been known to have at least a few handicaps, so that alone should justify it :)

I think we may plan a trip for the end of April.
 
I think we may plan a trip for the end of April.

We are going in late May----------and it is getting hard to find hotel accommodations already, but we are going on a holiday weekend, so that may be a factor.

I suggest you make plans ASAP, and get your reservations in.
 
WX last week of November

My good RV buddy (Sibirsky) and I are planning to roam Wild West on turkey day weekend. What kind of weather to expect at the end of November? Should we stick to larger airports/FBO with the ability to preheat the engine? We plan Monument Valley area, a bit of backcountry, Salt Lake City maybe. Could reach Las Vegas as well. Any feedback from the locals appreciated. :)
 
Our western wx seems to come in 3-week spurts. We just exited a period of relative calm, now comes a period of cold fronts marching across the country before the next high pressure dome sets in. WYSIWYG. How many days do you have scheduled for this adventure? I'd allow at least four just to get out here and back to Jersey.

Fly the southwest for the scenery. SLC and Vegas are just big cities with nothing but people stuff, and nothing of that to recommend them in my less than humble opinion.

Visit Moab for Arches and Canyonlands. You'll need a car for either if you hope to hike around (Arches especially) to really appreciate the territory. Moab's airport is interesting. The runway is oriented to the "prevailing" wind, which is a pussycat, and were it a crosswind a non-issue. But when a front passes, the wind howls out of the north, 30k ninety degrees to the centerline. There's no crosswind runway.

Escalante region with its slot canyons is unique; do it. Again, you'll need a car so maybe land at Bryce, see that on your way to Escalante. Both airports have FBO services.

Rocky mountain spectacular: Telluride, CO.

Everything is high (by eastern standards), night temps freezing. Likely there will be some thin snow on the ground. Utah's back country airports are decidedly not RV friendly.

John Siebold
 
I concur with John's above choices for scenery and would add a visit to Dead Horse Point near Moab. Check out the bizarre blue colored deposits there using Google Earth and see it for yourself when there.There is also a nice swimming hole to be found by sloshing up the creek that can be accessed from the end of Powerhouse Lane in Moab.

erich
 
Vlad headin West

Vlad,
I was starting to get worried cause its been a while since your last report. I was starting to think that I was going to have to settle on watching Oak Island Treasure or Gold Rush on TV after Thanksgiving. Now I can look forward to a trip report and lots of pics!

I know you will have a great time and I know we will have a great time reading about it. You make the RV folks proud!


My good RV buddy (Sibirsky) and I are planning to roam Wild West on turkey day weekend. What kind of weather to expect at the end of November? Should we stick to larger airports/FBO with the ability to preheat the engine? We plan Monument Valley area, a bit of backcountry, Salt Lake City maybe. Could reach Las Vegas as well. Any feedback from the locals appreciated. :)
 
If you're heading to 4 corners, it wouldn't be much further to land at Cortez and do a bit of exploring in the Mesa Verde.

I stopped off there earlier this year on the way to SnF. Well worth the visit, especially with the flight over Lake Powell and Monumnet Valley on the way.

Some of my photos here.
 
Vlad,
I bring my pre-heat with me so I'm not relying services/people that may not be available, plus it's usually FREE!
For preheat while traveling I toss in a paint-removing heat gun ($20-$30, same one I used for melting heat shrink) and as long of an appropriately sized extension cord that I have room for. More than adaqute for a preheat if you plug the cowl inlets and have a blanket over the cowling.
 
Don't want to sound like a butthead, but to correct the previous post, Page is in Arizona (just south of its northern border), and northwest of there is Utah. New Mexico is way off to the east.
 
Goulding's Lodge Airport is a private, paved airport right in the middle of Monument Valley, across the roadway from the lodge, store, etc. It's private, but you can get permission to land there (see the web site link below). I've landed my Cherokee there in the past, so obviously very doable for a RV as long as weather conditions allow. Land uphill/toward the bluff, take off downhill/away from the rocks. Ask for Emilio and see if he happens to be driving the shuttle when you're there - great guy!

http://www.gouldings.com/airport-information/
 
Have the Navajo taco at the restaurant at Goulding?s because that is what you do. However, trust me, order the half sized or you may have MTOW issues. They are huge.
The rates at the lodge vary widely depending upon the season and they often book up from tour buses so make your reservations early. For groups, they also have houses in town that they rent. They have steel cables strung along the parking ramp but you need your own straps. It can get very windy there as a big Venturi Canyon points right at the strip.
You do not want to power taxi in the ramp area as the loose material is sharp and light and you will suck it up into your prop. What the pros do is carry enough momentum on the runway rollout to shut the engine down and coast off onto the ramp and do a 180 to point downhill for parking. When you are ready to leave, It is then an easy pull to get your prop over the asphalt to start and then you can taxi up to the upper paved ramp to warm up and run up.
 
Goulding's Lodge Airport is a private, paved airport right in the middle of Monument Valley, across the roadway from the lodge, store, etc. It's private, but you can get permission to land there (see the web site link below). I've landed my Cherokee there in the past, so obviously very doable for a RV as long as weather conditions allow. Land uphill/toward the bluff, take off downhill/away from the rocks.

Fly your final approach pretty flat----the upslope of the runway adds to your decent angle, and can lead to a somewhat "firm" touchdown:mad:
 
...planning to roam Wild West on turkey day weekend.
If you end up at Page, Classic Aviation is an awesome FBO. I was stuck there for four days last week with a mechanical problem. For only $7 a day tie down fee, they shuttled me around town and back and forth to my motel; Their shop loaned me tools. Tell Kris "The guy in the little white Lancair sent you".
 
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