Before we left Monument Valley, we went for a hike.
We had heard that there were free range horses or burros in the area.
We saw signs of human life too.
The desert landscape fascinated me.
This is The View - every room has a wonderful view of the Valley.
There had been other critters on morning journeys too.
There was no danger of going too fast on the Valley Drive.
Though sometimes the directions did seem a bit off.
Several movies have been filmed in Monument Valley.
You can go here to see a list of movies and shots including the valley.
The Vanishing American (silent film of 1925) was the first film shot in Monument Valley.
Probably the best known is Stagecoach (1939), introducing John Wayne.
I was surprised to see a hogan on the Valley Drive (lower left).
Some of the geological features looked like they could have been petrified animals. Each of the formations has a name.
As soon as we entered the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park we went on the Valley Drive.
It's a 17 mile unpaved dirt road. The initial part of the drive was very rough. I'm glad my niece was driving an SUV.
This gives a little perspective of the road (at the bottom) compared to the buttes and spires. It was dusty.
Here is another perspective.
We turned north at Kayenta onto Highway 163.
We were seeing beautiful formations miles before we reached the Navajo Tribal Park.
We had heard that there were free range horses or burros in the area.
We saw signs of human life too.
The desert landscape fascinated me.
This is The View - every room has a wonderful view of the Valley.
There had been other critters on morning journeys too.
