Hunt's Mesa

Back to Monument Valley Main page.

Our itinerary included a climb to Hunt's Mesa with an overnight stay there. We started the roughly 3 1/2 mile hike in the early afternoon. We were told to expect a 10 ft climb up a rope ladder as well as a short scramble up some rocks. It turned out the rope ladder was about 60 ft long. You could travel the lower 75% of it by using the ladder as a big rope to pull yourself up the 60 degree slope. The last 15 ft was vertical. We did this with camera bags and tripods. Check out this photo by Patti Schulze to see what it was like. This is me on the ladder with Tom our guide.

Most of the group was not expecting such a climb and did not enjoy it to say the least. After that there were two additional nearly vertical ascents involving a few hand and toe holds chiseled in the rock. The only good thing about that part of the hike, was it waited to start raining until after we made it through. The sun still refused to cooperate. We got about 30 seconds just at sunset. Sunrise the next morning was in fog. Four of us made the trek back down to the valley floor. The rest squeezed into the two trucks and rode down the long way.

Click on images below for enlarged view.

Canon EOS 1Ds, Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L @ 46mm, ISO 100

Sunset from Hunt's Mesa

Here was our 30 seconds of sunlight. Even that was somewhat of a surprise.

Canon EOS 1Ds, Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L @ 180mm, ISO 100

Monuments in Clouds

This was the best of my images from the hike back down from Hunt's Mesa. An interesting view with the tops of the monuments in the clouds.

Canon EOS 1Ds, Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L @ 66mm, ISO 100

Flowers and Red Rock

We found these pretty flowers on the trail down from Hunt's Mesa

Canon EOS 1Ds, Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L @ 16mm, ISO 100

Pool below Hidden Arch

I like the flowing lines in the rock, the sand, and the little stream. It would have been exciting to see this the night before when it was raining like crazy.