Monument Valley
Frommer's 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up:
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Monument Valley
The Iconic Wild West Landscape
Location: Kayenta, Arizona, USA
Ages 6 & up
Places for Kids > Out & About > In the Saddle
Information: U.S. 163, 30 miles north of Kayenta ☎ 435/727-5870; www.monumentvalleyonline.com
Airport: Flagstaff Pulliam, 200 miles.
Lodging: Goulding's Lodge 2 stars Monument Valley, UT ☎ 435/727-3231; www.gouldings.com Hampton Inn Kayenta 2 stars U.S. 160, Kayenta, AZ ☎ 800/HAMPTON [426-7866] or 928/697-3170; www.hampton-inn.com
Why they'll thank you: Just like the movies—only more so.
Airport: Flagstaff Pulliam, 200 miles.
Lodging: Goulding's Lodge 2 stars Monument Valley, UT ☎ 435/727-3231; www.gouldings.com Hampton Inn Kayenta 2 stars U.S. 160, Kayenta, AZ ☎ 800/HAMPTON [426-7866] or 928/697-3170; www.hampton-inn.com
Why they'll thank you: Just like the movies—only more so.
When most of us think of the American West, this is what clicks into our mental Viewmasters: A vast, flat sagebrush plain with huge sandstone spires thrusting to the sky like the fingers of ancient Mother Earth clutching for the heavens. Ever since movie director John Ford first started shooting westerns here in the 1930s, this landscape has felt familiar to millions who have never set foot here. (Just outside the park, Goulding's Museum and Trading Post re-creates the era in the 1920s and 1930s when the moviemakers first discovered the area.) We've all seen it on the big screen, but oh, what a difference to see it in real life.
Because the park is on Navajo tribal lands—their name for it is Tsebii'nidzisgai, "the valley within the rocks"—there are only three ways to tour the area: driving the 17-mile Valley Drive past 11 photo-op overlooks; taking an off-road jeep tour with a Navajo guide; or on guided hikes and trail rides, which range from 1-hour loops to 8-hour excursions. The classic way to experience these dramatic scrublands, of course, is from on a Western saddle, the way John Wayne saw it. The native guides, born and bred to this barren landscape, will not only lead the ride, they'll help you appreciate the intricate beauties of this landscape, which is sacred to their tribe. One of the most comprehensive tour companies (jeeps, hikes, horses, you name it) is Sacred Monument Tours ☎ 435/727-3218; www.monumentvalley.net . Many of the trail rides follow the Mittens trail, which heads north to Sentinel Mesa and then comes back along the floor of the West Mitten mesa; longer rides add on the Castle Butte, Stage Coach, or Big Indian Spire mesas. Another popular option for more experienced riders goes into backcountry, outside the official park boundaries, to visit Teardrop Arch and Horseshoe Canyon. If you possibly can, time your visit to include sunset—as the sheer walls of these monoliths capture the light of the setting sun, they truly seem to catch fire.
Although most of the park lies in Arizona, it is right on the state border, and you enter it from Utah. The Valley drive circuit is a good way to get acclimated; be sure to get a map so the kids can learn the eccentric rock formations' names—such imaginative names as Three Sisters, Camel Butte, Elephant Butte, the Thumb, and Totem Pole. And as you stare at them, take an extra moment to imagine the forces of nature that have sculpted the soft desert stone into these incredible shapes. It's an only-in-America panorama that the kids won't ever forget.
Monument Valley, scenic arid region, c.2,000 sq mi (5,000 sq km), SE Utah and NE Ariz. Located in the Navajo Indian Reservation, Monument Valley is not a true valley but an area of monolithlike buttes and pinnacles that rise as much as 1,000 ft (300 m) above the desert. Best known as the backdrop for John Ford's Stagecoach (1939) and other westerns, the predominantly red and orange sandstone, siltstone, and shale landscape is sacred to the Navajos because of its burial grounds and holy places. Anasazi and older remains are also found in the valley. Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park (29,817 acres/12,076 hectares) contains some of the most notable features, including El Capitán (7,100 ft/2,170 m), known to the Navajo as Algathla.
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Monument Valley
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2009) |
Monument Valley (Navajo: Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, meaning valley of the rocks) is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of vast sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 1,000 ft (300 m) above the valley floor. It is located on the Arizona-Utah state line (around 36°59′N 110°6′W / 36.983°N 110.1°W), near the Four Corners area. The valley lies within the range of the Navajo Nation Reservation, and is accessible from U.S. Highway 163.
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Contents
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Geography and geology
Location of Monument Valley in the United States.
The area is part of the Colorado Plateau. The floor is largely siltstone of the Cutler Formation, or sand derived from it, deposited by the meandering rivers that carved the valley. The valley's vivid red color comes from iron oxide exposed in the weathered siltstone. The darker, blue-gray rocks in the valley get their color from manganese oxide.
The buttes are clearly stratified, with three principal layers. The lowest layer is Organ Rock shale, the middle de Chelly sandstone and the top layer is Moenkopi shale capped by Shinarump siltstone. The valley includes large stone structures including the famed Eye of the Sun.
Between 1948 and 1967, the southern extent of the Monument Upwarp was mined for uranium, which occurs in scattered areas of the Shinarump siltstone; vanadium and copper are associated with uranium in some deposits (see Uranium mining in Arizona).
In media
Main article: List of appearances of Monument Valley in the media
Monument Valley has been featured in many forms of media since the 1930s.
Tourism
Monument Valley is officially a large area that includes much of the area surrounding Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, a Navajo Nation equivalent to a national park. Oljato, for example, is also within the area designated as Monument Valley.
Visitors may pay an access fee and drive through the park on a 17-mile (27 km) dirt road (a 2-3 hour trip). Tours are also available, and the fee varies between about $40 and $100 per person depending on the services provided and route. Parts of Monument Valley are accessible only by guided tour, such as Mystery Valley and Hunts Mesa.
Horseback rides are also available from various establishments both inside the park and in the general Monument Valley area, and rates vary widely depending on the length of the ride. Rides may be only an hour, or overnight camping trips. Additionally, hot air balloon flights are available May 1 through October 31, and small airplane flights are sometimes available.
Monument Valley is part of the Grand Circle, which includes the Grand Canyon National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Natural Bridges National Monument, Hovenweep National Monument, Arches National Park and many other attractions.
Gallery
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East Mitten and West Mitten Buttes
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View from John Ford's Point
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The North Window
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The North Window
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The Totem Pole
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The Thumb
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Three Sisters
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Interior of a "male" style Navajo hogan, with a stove made from a 55 gallon drum
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Monument Valley panoramics
See also
References
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Monument Valley |
- Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park website
- Map of Monument Valley
- Monument Valley Tours
- Los Angeles Times article about Monument Valley
- American Southwest Guide
- Energy Information Administration notes on uranium mining and its decommissioning
- IMDb list of movies and television shows with scenes in Monument Valley
- Column from PopMatters.com on Monument Valley in film
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Frommer's 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up
Copyright © 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Columbia Encyclopedia
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.
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Mentioned in
Seasons of a Navajo
(1984 Culture & Society Film)
Earthscapes
(1994 Nature Film)
Gathering Spirit
(1993 Album by Bryan Lloyd)
Elements: Reflections
(2003 Album by Various Artists)
» More