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 stopped for lunch on the shaded grounds of the Glen Canyon Dam Visitor Center.
We headed east into Navajo Nation.
I was still fascinated by the geological features periodically appearing on the plateau.
At one point I felt like we should be in Australia.
We began to see hints of Monument Valley.
A last glimpse of Black Mesa before we turned north to Monument Valley.
Our next destination was Monument Valley, in the northeast corner of Arizona. Due to a road closure, we traveled northwest to Kanab, Utah. We drove along the Vermilion Cliffs and then up onto the plateau of the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument.
We continued to see unusual geological formations.
We eventually came off the plateau.
Finally, a portion of Lake Powell in view.
