Monument Valley, Utah

Monument Valley is a place we've always dreamed of seeing and it did not disappoint.

Looking north from the Visitor's Center.

The park is governed and maintained by the Navajo Nation so hikes, walks, trails are very restricted. They would prefer to have the land kept as it has been for years. This is understandable as it's sacred to them.

There is a 17 mile road that visitors can drive along to get closer to the monuments themselves. It's a rough dirt road but well worth the time and effort.

Every "rock" formation had a name. Some were from the Navajo and some were based on imagination...what it looked like to the early explorers.

The red in the rock was even more pronounced at sunrise and sunset....morning was cold so we bundled up and took some photos from the van. Sunset was a bit better becuase we had the sun at our backs and it highlighted the bluffs.

Sunrise

This is a great photo that shows the deterioration of wind and rain erosion. The bluff to the left is the start, then it becomes a spire in the middle and ends up going to a smaller and smaller bluff to the far right and ends up as desert dirt.

The red dirt was very fine so it got all over our van, coach and shoes. This was a nice one-day visit but so difficult to show the vistas with photos. These rocks were HUGE!

We've posted more photos here should you want to view them.

https://picasaweb.google.com/100376105788369441882/MonumentValley#

Next stop: Road to Four Corners and Four Corners itself.

Kim and Steve