Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
Monument Valley is located along the Utah/Arizona border towards the southeast corner of Utah. It is located in the Four Corners area of the Southwest, about 175 miles northeast of Flagstaff, AZ
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is one of those unique places where family vacations become an outdoor adventure trip as you explore nature’s beauty, backpack and hike the desert, and horseback ride as a Navajo guide expounds on what you’re viewing, telling the legends they’ve been told throughout countless generations. It’s well worth a stop-off while you’re visiting the other great National Parks in Utah and Arizona. Check below for great Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park information.
Uniqueness
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is 29,817 acres and sits at an elevation of 5,564 feet above sea level in the southeast portion of the Great Basin Desert. This great valley boasts free standing sandstone masterpieces that tower at heights of 400 to 1,000 feet framed by scenic clouds casting shadows that graciously roam the desert floor. The angle of the sun accents these graceful formations, providing scenery that is simply spellbinding, creating a truly magical desert landscape. The landscape overwhelms, not just by its beauty but also by its size. The fragile pinnacles of rock are surrounded by miles of mesas and buttes, shrubs, trees and windblown sand, all comprising the magnificent colors of the valley. All of this harmoniously combines to make Monument Valley a truly wondrous experience. There’s camping, hiking, backpacking, plenty of views for those outdoor pictures that will make this one of those family vacations you won’t soon forget.
Monument Valley became world famous when it was featured in many western film classics, including John Ford’s Stagecoach, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Cheyenne Autumn. The Navajo Nation established the tribal park that includes some of the most dramatic buttes, mesas and monoliths, making the area accessible to thousands of tourists who visit the region each year and providing a major source of income to the Navajo people.
Monument Valley provides perhaps the most enduring and definitive images of the American West. The isolated red mesas and buttes surrounded by empty, sandy desert have been filmed and photographed countless times over the years for movies, adverts and holiday brochures. The valley is not a valley in the conventional sense, but rather a wide flat, sometimes desolate landscape, interrupted by the crumbling formations rising hundreds of feet into the air, the last remnants of the sandstone layers that once covered the entire region.
This visitor center is one mile east of U.S. highway 163 on the Arizona-Utah border. Hours of the visitor center are identical to those of the monument. It is open year-round except Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Summer hours, (May-September) are 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Winter hours, (October-April) are 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The visitor center has an extensive gift shop as well as various exhibits of the Navajo Nation and the area’s history. Various tours of the monument, including jeep and horseback, are available by commercial guides. Check at the visitor center for a list and for road conditions. Both the visitor center and Mitten View Campground are equipped with handicap facilities.
The state line of Utah and Arizona passes through the most famous landmarks, which are concentrated around the border near the small Indian town of Goulding – this was established in 1923 as a trading post, and now has a comprehensive range of visitor services. A paved side road heads past the village to the northwest beneath Oljeto Mesa and has views of other less-visited parts of the valley, then another route (Piute Farms Road) continues all the way to the shores of the San Juan branch of Lake Powell.
Ice Age Paleo-Indian hunters occupied the Monument Valley area between 12,000 and 6,000 BC. Archaic hunter-gatherers left evidence between 6,000 BC and the Christian era. Anasazi farmers arrived about the beginning of the Christian era and suddenly disappeared around 1300. Because of their unique pottery styles, they are called the Kayenta Anasazi. As early as the 1300s, San Juan Band Paiutes frequented the area as temporary hunters and gatherers. They named it “Valley or Treeless Area amid the Rocks” and ascribed supernatural powers to the area. For example, Totem Pole Rock is said to be a god held up by lightning, El Capitan, a sky-supporter, and all of Monument Valley near Goulding’s Trading Post, a hogan that faces east.
Spanish and Mexican expeditions arrived in the 1700’s to explore the area and to control Navajo raiders. In the early 1860’s, Kit Carson, accompanied by Utes, rounded up Navajos who had fled to Navajo Mountain. He relocated them to a reservation, but most Navajo returned in 1868 to find themselves competing with prospectors seeking silver.
In 1884, President Chester Arthur added this region to the Navajo Reservation, but prospectors continued to search for silver. John Wetherill and Clyde Colville established a trading post at Oljeto in 1906 until Wetherill moved to Kayenta. In 1924, Harry and his wife Mike Goulding established a post which is still in operation today and bears his name.
Before human existence, the Park was once a vast lowland basin. For hundreds of millions of years, materials that eroded from the early Rock Mountains deposited layer upon layer of sediments which cemented a slow and gentle uplift generated by ceaseless pressure from below the surface, elevating these horizontal strata quite uniformly one to three miles above sea level. What was once a basin became a plateau. Natural forces of wind and water that eroded the land spent the last 50 million years cutting in to and peeling away at the surface of the plateau. The simple wearing down of altering layers of soft and hard rock slowly revealed the natural wonders of Monument Valley today.
The reddish hues in the sand and rock of the valley are due to iron oxide; the black streaks of desert varnish are manganese oxide. Eroded by wind and rain, soft red shale undermines the stronger, vertically-jointed sandstone, producing the many buttes and pinnacles. The buttes and pinnacles of Monument Valley are composed of Permian-age (270 million years ago) Cedar Mesa Sandstone. The slopes at their bases are usually composed of Halgaito shale, while many of the spires have caprocks of red Organ Rock shale, also from the Permian period.
Volcanic activity subsequently occurred in areas surrounding the Uplift, releasing molten rock from underneath. The only remnants of the many volcanoes are the hardened cores (igneous dikes) whose scattered silhouettes tower in the distance. El Capitán, as Kit Carson called it, or Algathla, “the place of the animal hides,” as the Navajo call it, is one of the most prominent volcanic monoliths. It rises 1,500 feet at the south end of the Monument Valley Uplift. Alhambra Rock is another igneous dike; it protrudes above the surface north of Monument Pass.
Monument Valley is the home of the famous “purple sage” of western lore, looking more dramatic because of the red sands of the area. There are very few trees in the area because of the extreme dryness and lack of moisture, but an occasional juniper can be seen near the edges of the valley. When moisture is available, Cliffrose, Rabbitbrush and Snakewood can be seen growing. Due to the sparse habitat, there is not as much wildlife in Monument Valley as in other Colorado Plateau parks nearby.
From the visitor center, you see the world-famous panorama of the Mitten Buttes and Merrick Butte. You can also purchase guided tours from Navajo tour operators, who will take you down into the valley in open-air jeeps for a narrated cruise through these mythical formations. Places such as Ear of the Wind and other landmarks can only be accessed via guided tours. One mile before the center, numerous Navajo vendors sell arts, crafts, native food and souvenirs at roadside stands.
The view from the visitor centre is spectacular, but most of the park can only be seen from the Valley Drive, a 17 mile dirt road which starts at the centre and goes south east amongst the towering cliffs and mesas, which include The Totem Pole, an oft-photographed spire of rock 300 feet high but only a few meters wide. The road is very uneven and difficult for non 4 wheel drive vehicles. As well as eroded rocks, this area also has many ancient cave and cliff dwellings, natural arches and petroglyphs that provide many exploring opportunities.
Summertime maximum temperatures at Monument Valley can be very warm, averaging in the 90s, with nights considerably cooler. Because of the mile-high elevation, winters can be very cold and snowy, with minimum monthly lows in the 20s.
Permits are required for camping, hunting, fishing or investigative projects. The Navajo ask prior consent before photographing them or their property.
Make sure you have plenty of sunscreen lotion, proper layered clothing for the season and good walking shoes.
The Navajo people have dogs and sheep which also discourage an abundance of wildlife.
Admission fees are ages 8 and up: $5.00. Ages 7 & under are free.
Regular camping fees are $10 per site per night for up to 6 campers during the summer. In winter, the fees are $5.00 per site per night.
Camping is available only in designated campgrounds. There is no backcountry camping in Monument Valley. Mitten View Campground near the Visitor Center has 99 camping sites available. The campground is open year round on a first-come, first-serve basis. Campsites include a table, grill, ramada and trash barrel.
During the summer, a comfort station with restrooms, coin-operated showers and a filling/dump station are available, making it assessable for RV camping as well.
Firewood gathering is prohibited. Campfires are permitted only at designated campsites and fire sites. No open fires are permitted in the campground.
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Manti-La Sal National Forest, Natural Bridges National Monument and Canyonlands National Park are all close by the park.
There is only one main road through the valley, US 163, which links Kayenta, AZ with US 181 in Utah. The highway cuts through the mesas at Monument Pass, near which several dirt tracks branch-off in both east and west directions and criss-cross the red sandy landscape. These offer a more close up enjoyment of the rock formations.
Approximate Mileage from the following major cities to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park:
By Car:
Moab, UT – 146.03 miles
Provo, UT – 336.72 miles
Grand Junction, CO – 259.46 miles
St. George, UT – 280.82 miles
Bullhead City, AZ – 353.53 miles
Flagstaff, AZ – 172.33 miles
North Rim, AZ – 246.73 miles
Navajo Parks and Recreation Department, P.O. Box 308, Window Rock, AZ 86515
OR
Monument Valley, P.O. Box 360289, Monument Valley, UT 84536
435 727 5874
