Monument Valley, Navajo Nation 6/10/2013 -- 6/12/2013  [Back to Photo Page] [Monument Valley Gallery] [Slide Show]

Monument Valley (Navajo: Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, meaning valley within the rocks), a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of vast sandstone buttes, was created from nature's patient and timeless erosion.  Extending into Utah and Arizona, this great valley boasts sandstone masterpieces that tower at heights of 400 to 1,000 feet surrounded by miles of mesas and buttes, shrubs, trees and windblown sand, all comprising the magnificent colors of the valley.   Director John Ford used the location for a number of his best known films (starting with Stagecoach in 1939), and had defined what decades of moviegoers think of when they imagine the American West.

Getting there ...

The drive from Arches to Monument Valley was a 150-mile scenic route.  Especially when we approached the valley on Highway 163, I could not resist to stop to take a few shots of the panoramic view with the straight road leading to the valley (and I had to ask Woanyu to watch my back for traffic ....).

[Arches (6/8--6/10)] [Monument Valley (6/10--6/12)] [Antelope Canyon (6/12--6/14)]

Day 3 (6/10) ...

• View Hotel
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  We checked in at the View Hotel at about 2:30PM, and were immediately awed by the incredible views just from our room balcony.  The world-famous panorama of the Mitten buttes and Merrick Butte was just outside our window.

• Mystery Valley & Teardrop Arch
  We met our tour guide (from Black's Tour) at the hotel lobby at 3PM.  Mystery Valley, which is adjacent to the south side of Monument Valley, once home to the ancient Anasazi, “The Ancient Ones”. There are  many ruin sites where the Anasazi had left their homes and rock art as a reminder of their habitation, where they then mysteriously disappeared from the area.  This area also has many natural sandstone arches formed from erosion over millenniums.  The road was so sandy and bumpy that it was quite a ride in a 4x4 Jeep (video). Along the way, we saw a few wild horses, roaming the plains. I was shocked by how skinny these horses were.

On the way from Mystery Valley to Teardrop Arch (which is an unmarked location on the map outside of Monument Valley), we passed by a few vista points which had very nice panoramic views of the Monument Valley.  We met a couple from China who were lost and trapped on the sandy road in their rental passenger vehicle.  Our guide helped them push and drive their car to get them out.
The Teardrop Arch/Window frames the mesas and buttes perfectly with warm late afternoon light.  It's an iconic shot I did not want to miss even though it has been done so many times before by others.

• Sunset
  The good thing of staying at the View Hotel was that I could shoot sunset views while I was eating dinner with my family.  I just walked back to my room every 5 min ...

Day 4 (6/11) ...

• Sunrise tour
  We were picked up at 5:30AM to start our sunrise tour (Linus and Iris were not fully awaken yet...).  We went to the sand dunes close to the Totem Pole where it is a restricted area that you are allowed to enter only with Navajo guides.  After I was done taking pictures of the sunrise, we continued deeper into the restricted area, where we came across the Sleeping Dragon, the Suns Eye, the Submarine Rock, and the Ear of the Wind. The the slope to the Ear of the Wind was extremely sandy, and while Woanyu and I took the less steep slope down, Linus and Iris sprinted down the steeper side, getting mounds of sand into their shoes.

• Horse Ride
  The most special activity on this trip was the horse ride tour.  It was my first time to be on the back of a horse, and, to be honest,  I was kind of nervous.  I was not very sure how to control the horse, so it turned out to be the horse controlling me (and it did throw me off once ...).  We wandered through sand dunes (with scary steep downhill portions), creeks, desert plains, and the Big Hogan.  We took a break at the Big Hogan where there was a big tourist group from Germany, and we got a free show of native Navajo music. 
  On the way back to the stable, we trotted or galloped from time to time to get a faster pace.  However, my butt was in so much pain that I almost could not take it anymore by the end of the 2-hour ride....

Originally I planned to stay in a traditional hogan (as part of the tour offered by Black's Tour).  But since the View Hotel was so nice that we changed our mind and decided to stay in the hotel room for another comfortable night

Day 5 (6/12) ...

• Sunrise

Next stop: Antelope Canyon and Lake Powell

[Arches (6/8--6/10)] [Monument Valley (6/10--6/12)] [Antelope Canyon (6/12--6/14)]

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