Monument Valley

Monument Valley is special
Spectacular buttes as high as a 70-story building rise from the desert floor in Arizona, as do majestic spires and mesas.

Monument Valley tips and insights
Best hours
The best times of the day for sightseers and photographers are early morning and late afternoon. The sun's low-angled rays intensify the shadows and red hues of the scenic rock formations.

If possible, enter the Monument Valley Tribal Park when it opens (8 a.m.) to see the reddish sunrise effect on the rocks. Or stay overnight inside the park (see accommodations section below).

The morning view of the same butte will look markedly different than in the afternoon light. Try to see the major ones at both times.

Top two highlights

• The three major buttes
  View them (see photo) from the Visitor's Center.
• Totem Pole
  This spire resembles its namesake and soars 125 meters (400 feet).

Tours
You can take a self-guided private tour in your car – or a Navajo Indian guided tour in a 4-wheel vehicle. I recommend that you take the latter because it goes places where private cars are prohibited – and your guide will explain Navajo culture.

The self-guided tour takes 2 to 5 hours, depending mainly on how long you linger at the scenic viewpoints. Most guided tours last about 4 hours, though longer ones exist.

Some roads are paved, others are dirt/gravel surfaced with bumps galore.

Horseback trips and flight-seeing tours are also available.

Filming
Many famous movies and high-budget TV commercials have been filmed using the buttes as backdrops. The first film was Stagecoach (the 1939 classic western starring John Wayne). Others include the Academy Award winning Forrest Gump and Stanley Kubrick's space epic 2001.

Creation
The buttes and mesas were carved by eroding winds and rain over millions of years.

Accommodations
The only accommodations within Monument Valley Tribal Park is the The View Hotel. The rooms offer good vantages of the desertscape and buttes. And you're inside the park before the gates open and after they close to other visitors.

The closest other accommodations are in the nearby Indian town of Goulding, Utah.

Official name and location
The wonder's official name is the Monument Valley Tribal Park. It lies entirely in Navajo Indian territory - and sits in two states, Arizona (mostly) and Utah.

Location in America