Monument Valley rock formations

Monument Valley straddles the border between southern Utah and northern Arizona. The valley is part of the native Indian Navajo Nation Reservation; their name for the area is ‘Valley of the Rocks’. The valley is a part of an area known as the Colorado Plateau, a broad flat area of red siltstone and sand, that in tern is made up of iron oxide, which gives the valley and the rock formations their highly distinctive red hue.

This flat valley is dotted with very unusual high hills, known as buttes. These buttes rise vertically out of the flat ground to produce stunning flat topped tiny mountains that are a truly breathtaking sight. There are several well known and unusual buttes including the ‘Eye of the Sun.’

You may think that you are not familiar with Monument Valley, you are certainly wrong. Hollywood has always had a love affair with the valley as a stunning backdrop to several hundred westerns, including many John Wayne classics such as Stagecoach.

Modern movies shot at least partly in this directors dream location include, Forrest Gump, Stargate, Back to the Future 3 where Marty drives through the movie screen into advancing Indians. In addition, most dramatically at the beginning of Mission Impossible 2 where Tom Cruise is hanging onto a mountain by his fingertips.

Although Monument Valley is a huge area of land, nearly all of the most renowned scenic attractions can be found within Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. This is the Navajo Nation’s version of a national park. There is a well established visitor’s center, combined with a small restaurant, souvenir shop and convenience store which can be found high up on the rim of the valley, with great views across the Monument Valley rock formations..

 

Here visitors pay a small fee to be able to drive down into the park via an 18 mile long dirt road. This road is reasonably well maintained, but the trip takes from two to three hours. You should keep in mind that the road has been left purposely un-paved, so as not to ruin the appearance of the valley with a black tarmac strip.

There are also several tours of various types and lengths’ that range from around $40 to $100. There are large parts of the Monument Valley Park that can only be accessed with the assistance of a tour guide, including Hunt's Mesa and Mystery Valley.

One of the most interesting ways to explore the valley is on horseback; these vary from a short horseback ride, to all out camping excursions across the length of the valley floor.

Monument Valley has been left totally un-developed as its beauty lies in its natural splendour not in a ‘Western theme park’. One slight drawback to this is that there is a distinct lack of accommodation available in the area. Especially between May and October the parks peak season, there are a handful of small hotels and Bed and Breakfast establishments within twenty miles of the park, although non its immediate vicinity. There is a campground operated by the Navajo Tribal Park very close to the rim of the park area.

(This is my absolute favourite place in the world, although there is not an enormous amount to do once you have taken the tour - we stayed in the campsite on the rim and spent the evening looking out across the blistering red rock formations across the floor of Monument Valley...awesome!)