Monument Valley UT25?

Anybody used Monument Valley UT25 recently? I've got conflicting information on how much of it is actually paved now. And about type/quality of tiedown anchors if any...

Thanks in advance for any first-hand info.

--Paul

Was there a couple weeks ago. The runway is very nice with a hard surface 3900-4000 feet. Parking has no tie downs so bring your own. The restaurant was very good as well. It sure is a beautiful place. Larry

Larry -- I have one report from a year ago that there are cables in the tiedown area, to tie your own ropes to. Is that still the case?...

Thanks!

--Paul

I was there last month. It is mostly paved now. (shame) The parking area has cables to attach your own tiedowns. Even landing on the upper paved part, you'll still need power to taxi to the top. Don't be tempted to park on the upper paved ramp, or you might find a bunch of agitated caravan/ twotter pilots.
The half sized Navajo taco is plenty big. The soft serve in the convenience store at the gas station is delightful. The rooms at the lodge are a bit pricey, but comfortable.
My first real flying job was a daily touron trek there for Lake Powell Air over 22 years ago.
We try and get back at least once a year. I can't wait to take the RV there.

Awesome scenery

We flew there for breakfast 2 weeks ago. Good food and lots of it. The side of Navaho fry bread is meal itself. Fully paved runway. Bring your own gustlocks and chocks. The native salesgirl in the gift shop was incredible on the double flute.

It's actually a private strip. We phoned the prior day asking about conditions, etc. Management asked we fax them a "hold harmless" document listing the pilot names, N-numbers and approx arrival times. I didn't have to do that before my last visit 8 years ago.

Be careful of NORDO ultralights operating from the strip. A Cessna tour plane called them out to us when we were 5 north. I followed one of the ULs on final and then the pilot stopped on the runway, did a 180, and took off toward me. Spacing was good so I sidestepped right and landed without incident. The RV behind me got a little hot & bothered. After the UL pilot landed, his buds chewed him out and then he apologized to us for not using his radio (it was a handheld stashed in the flight bag), mumbling something like "there wern't any other planes around before".

That is interesting about the hold harmless. I have never done it and they have never said BOO about it. They even picked us up in the van and drove us up to the restaurant.

There can be cattle and coyotes on the runway. I've seen as many as 18 to 20 aircraft on the ground at one time and back in the day we used to go in groups of as many as 6 or 7 at a time. I've seen small bizjets use the strip. We pushed them back to the end of the runway for takeoff and then blocked traffic on the highway for jet blast.

Steve said:

It's actually a private strip. We phoned the prior day asking about conditions, etc. Management asked we fax them a "hold harmless" document listing the pilot names, N-numbers and approx arrival times. I didn't have to do that before my last visit 8 years ago.

Click to expand...

Since we called for reservations a month ahead of time, they had us fax our liability policies, which are now on file.

L.Adamson -- RV6A

Spend a night or two there and take the guided trip through Monument Valley. Bring a camera.

Monument Valley UT25 trip report

Thanks everyone for the input on Monument Valley (UT25). We flew our RV-6 there from San Diego the last week in June 2009 to float the San Juan river and had a great time. Here's a few photos. (Click to see a larger version.)

UT25 doesn't have fuel, so we planned a stop at Valle AZ (40G), about 18 miles south of (and with cheaper gas than!) the big Grand Canyon National Park airport. A very neat small airport with several hangars full of meticulously restored old cars and planes. As it happened a couple Mustangs and a Corsair (and a B-25 not shown) were ready to depart as we showed up, so we got a group photo:


As a side note, on the way to 40G, looking for better winds we put on the O2 and got a popup clearance from LA Center for a climb to FL 190. 27 degrees F, IAS 106 kts up there... not too bad considering we were about 1720 lbs GW at this point.


Departing 40G we took the Zuni Point corridor over the Grand Canyon; here's a shot looking west:


Leaving the corridor, we followed Marble Canyon north toward Page AZ.


Here's a view of the Page airport (KPGA), the town of Page, Glen Canyon dam, and Lake Powell:


Monument Valley (UT25) is 60nm east of Page. Here we are about to turn wide left base to land south on the narrow paved 4000' runway, with Goulding's Trading Post, lodge and restaurant up against the sandstone formation at the far end.


And here we are tied down and buttoned up, with our kayaking friends helping out with the ground transportation.


The plane was tied down there for 5 nights as we floated the river. We didn't stay at the lodge, though we did have a dinner and a breakfast there (pretty good food, too). We had emailed Ronnie, the manager of Goulding's, with info about our planned arrival and departure times, and that we carried liability insurance.

--Paul

VALLE AIRPORT

The museum on the south side is a part of the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino. Some of the display aircraft move back and forth between Valle and Chino. There is a Lockheed Connie and Martin 404 on display outside.
On the opposite side of the ramp is the Grand Canyon Airlines collection. 1917 Standard J1, 1927 Stinson Detroiter SM1, 1928 Curtiss Robin, 1929 Travelasir 600A and 1929 Ford Trimotor 5AT-74. Grand Canyon Airlines dates to 1927 and all but the Standard represent airplanes operated by GCA. In the EAA Rockford era the Ford was owned and operated by John Louck of Monmouth IL. John flew 100,000 passengers in the Ford. I paid for several rides in this same Ford. The standard "fuel donation" for a P51 ride in those days was $20. Pilots were Jerry Walbrun and Paul Poberezny. I never got the P51 ride. Crazy Horse P51 is now is around $2500 hour.

I used to do an annual trip to Monument Valley with a group of guys flying Kolb ultralights - great country for low and slow, especially in the early morning and near sunset. The campground is good if you are on a budget - showers are available. Havent tried it, but I know they offer a guide who will take you up into the cliffs behind the campground with offroad ATVs if you are into that sort of thing. He main attraction is the landscape of course which should be seen from both the air and from the ground. Gouldings will set you up with a small group in some open air vehicles on a daily basis. Also not to be missed, if you can time it right, is the night tour of the valley which they do when the moon is full.

They sometimes ask for insurance if they know you are coming, but they have never made a big deal about it. I didnt have insurance for my ultralight and they never enforced it or even brought it up once I was there. I certainly wouldnt let that stop you from going if you have chosen to be self insured.

erich