{"id":778,"date":"2017-07-20T16:47:06","date_gmt":"2017-07-20T14:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.travelspotting.de\/?p=778"},"modified":"2019-06-02T15:49:30","modified_gmt":"2019-06-02T13:49:30","slug":"gesicht-des-wilden-westens-das-monument-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelspotting.de\/en\/face-of-wild-west-monument-valley\/","title":{"rendered":"Face of the Wild West: Monument Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"Monument Valley looks and feels very common and familiar to most people. Since it frequently appears in TV shows and movies, Monument Valley is very well-known. Its distinct reds rocks and stone formations make a unique impression; Monument Valley is a rare beauty that you should definitely see. Many popular Western of US cinema were shot here. The park, located on the reservation of the Navajo Indians is a very filmable place, looking absolutely impressive in films. By its high presence in the media, this place has defined how we see the \u201cWild West\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Monument Valley \u2013 Part of the Navajo Reservation in Utah and Arizona<\/h2>\n

The Monument Valley is a three-hour-drive from the Grand Canyon. It is located northeast, right at the Arizona state border in middle of the Navajo reservation. There is only one hotel in the valley: the View Hotel. Another option to spend the night is in Kajeta, a little village 20 minutes from Monument Valley. Kajenta does not offer much; it\u2019s in the middle of nowhere. Don\u2019t expect more than a place to stay for one night. Monument Valley can be combined with a ride to the Grand Canyon Nationalpark or the Arches Nationalpark in Utah. Both parks are about 3 hours from Monument Valley (Grand Canyon Southwest, Arches North).<\/p>\n

We drove from Grand Canyon to Monument Valley after sunset when it was too dark to stay in Grand Canyon and reached Kayenta in the evening. He had a room in Kayenta for one night and went to Monument Valley the following morning to see the sunrise.<\/p>\n

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Sunrise at Monument Valley – Breakfast in The View Hotel<\/h2>\n

Early that day, we drove to Monument Valley on highway 163 to see the sunrise. Sunrise is a very special time in Monument Valley: the light emphasizes the red color of the rocks even more. It is a very good time to take beautiful pictures. A viewpoint for this is the place in front of the visitor center (you also find the View Hotel here). This spot offers an extraordinary view to the popular rock formations. The view you have here is the well-known perspective of the valley. Until here, it is easy to drive yourself. A proper, solid street leads to the visitor center. The hotel had a breakfast buffet. We were thinking it\u2019s not worth asking, this place is super-exclusive and breakfast will cost more than 20 Dollars per person. But that was wrong, I\u2019m glad we asked because the breakfast was only 10 Dollars. Having a breakfast here was the right thing to do: sitting at your table and enjoying the view was perfect after that sunrise. I would recommend doing that.<\/p>\n

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Monument Valley is located on a plateau, quite above sea level. That is why it can be cold in winter. On the pics you see in tiny bit of snow in the valley. Watching the sunrise was really cold, even though we had proper winter clothing. You will probably need a warm jacket here, unless you come in the summer months.<\/p>\n

Driving on 27 km Unpaved Road \u2013 Monument Valley Road<\/h2>\n

The only way to continue your route and drive in the Valley is an unpaved road called Monument Valley Road that starts at the visitor center. Lonely Planet says this can be done in a standard passenger car. But I disagree, we tried it, it didn\u2019t work. We did the first bend of the road, drove a bit further down a hill and a little further just straight. All in all, maybe 800 meters. This little part was enough for us to give up: the car bounces, we heard bumps and noises all the time, and potholes were everywhere. The ground was wet, muddy and plashy; you could only drive walking pace. We stopped because there was a huge puddle all the way across the road. We don\u2019t know how much water it had but it definitely looked deep. We decided to not drive any further and not take any risk with our rental car. Maybe it would have been possible to drive cross that puddle, maybe we should have been driving faster while crossing those potholes. That\u2019s difficult to say now. For us, it was too risky to damage our rental car.<\/p>\n

The residents of the valley offer Jeep tours. There are different tour options available. All these jeeps drive faster and with much more routine and confidence through these potholes and all the mud. We could not have done it ourselves. Anyways, most likely they try to fill the jeep that means you will have to squeeze and share the car with other guests.<\/p>\n

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We were there in very low season (you can the snow on the pics). The valley had very few visitors. In and in front of the visitor center, there are many tour options and offers available. The shortest tour was offered for 80 bucks per person. None of us wanted to pay that much. We were a group of four: we would have to pay 80 dollar per person, not per jeep. After long and difficult negotiations, the price became much less. In the end, we paid 25 dollar per person. I doubt this would have worked the same way in the main season. When we were there, there were rarely any other tourists around. I think they decided to drive for little money instead of not driving at all.<\/p>\n