It will be a highlight of your southwest road trip. Trust me, you don’t want to skip over it.
However, Monument Valley is a place you should get up close and personal with. From here, they take advantage of the terrific photo ops and take in Monument Valley from a distance. Many visitors tend to drive into Utah and stop at the popular Forrest Gump Point. The area’s beautiful red sandstone buttes and panoramic views have become symbolic of the American West and are usually the first thing that comes to mind when one pictures the southwest today. They really put the region on the map and were the beginning of its increasing popularity.
Ford’s films made Monument Valley one of the most familiar landscapes in the United States. In 1938, John Ford, a director, fell in love with the area and chose the location for his well-known western film, Stagecoach. Monument Valley became an integral part of his films and was featured in many more over the years. A permanent Navajo jewelry store is located nearby, and visitors can recreate the iconic image of a lone rider on a horse standing at the edge of the viewpoint for just $2 per person - paid to the owner of one of the horses stationed here most of the day just for this purpose.Monument Valley was a relatively unknown area until the 1930s. Along with Artist's Point (viewpoint number 9), this is the best overlook in the park and has a suitably large parking area to accommodate the many tour buses that stop here.
17 MILE DRIVE DIRECTIONS PLUS
The main summits in view are Sentinel Mesa, West Mitten Butte, Big Indian, Merrick Butte and the Castle Rock-Stagecoach group, plus Three Sisters/Mitchell Mesa to the west and Elephant Mesa to the east. Opening hours are 6 am - 8 pm (May - Sep) or 8 am - 5 pm (Oct - Apr).įilm director John Ford used Monument Valley as a location for many Westerns between 1939 (Stagecoach) and 1960, and one site that featured often is now known as John Ford's Point - a promontory at the edge of a plateau overlooking a large area of uneven, undulating desert land around the first few miles of the Valley Drive, with several isolated peaks beyond.
The road can become very busy during summer days, with queues at the major overlooks early morning is the preferred time to visit as the light is better for photography and there are far fewer people than later in the day. 15 mph is the nominal speed limit, and some places are too rocky and bumpy to go any faster, though other sections are quite smooth (with a surface of hard pressed sand), and up to 40 mph is possible.
17 MILE DRIVE DIRECTIONS FULL
The drive is 17 miles long of which 13 miles is a one-way loop, and typical times for the full trip are 2 to 4 hours. Heavy rain may temporarily make the road impassable for all but 4WD vehicles, however. Although the surface is unpaved, only large RVs and unusually low clearance cars should not make the journey. Various services are available including horse rental, a basic tour of the valley, and longer, more expensive tours that visit places not reachable on the Valley Drive, but still the majority of visitors travel along the road in their own vehicles. The paved road to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park crosses the Utah-Arizona stateline, passes the entrance booth and reaches the visitor center complex, which includes a gift shop, cafe and the new View Hotel, a timber building looking out over the first few miles of the park scenic road (the Valley Drive) as it heads towards a group of red cliffs in the distance.
0 kommentar(er)
