Monument Valley, Arizona/Utah

The iconic Monument Valley straddles the border of Arizona and Utah.  The park is on Navajo tribal land and actually it isn’t part of the National Parks System. Instead it is maintained as a Navajo Tribal Park.  Kevin had been to this area before, years back, and he thought he’d seen what there was to see.  But as we found out today, there is much more to Monument Valley than what you can see from the highway.  In fact some of the park’s best views aren’t visible from the highway, or even from the visitor’s center.

 Most of the Valley’s monuments are best seen by car from a 17-mile rough dirt road.  The road is open to the public, but we really weren’t too keen to take the van off-roading.  So instead we called Navajo Spirit Tours (ranked #1 on Trip Advisor, for good reason) and booked an afternoon tour.  It turned out to be the best thing we could have done.

Garry Holiday, a Navajo guide who grew up in this area, runs the tour outfit with his wife Michelle.  They picked us up in their 4x4 truck – they had several rows of shaded seats fitted into the back of the truck bed.  It turned out to be a private tour, since no one else had booked for the afternoon.  Which was great for us, especially when we saw how some of the other tour companies really packed them in.

Once we saw the dirt road, we were especially glad we hadn’t brought the van out there.  The road was pitted in some places and steep in others, with rocks and ruts that could take out the undercarriage of your car if you weren’t careful.  We did see a few gutsy people driving it in Cameros, Mustangs – even a Prius.  So it can be done on your own, but you get so much more out of it with a guide.  Garry made it a point to pull off in the less crowded spots, where we would all get out of the truck and he would explain the significance of the formations to the Navajo people.  Since so many movies and commercials have been filmed here (Stagecoach, The Searchers, Wind Talkers, National Lampoon’s Vacation, to name a few), he also made sure to point out where certain shots were filmed.

Totem Pole Formation, a thin spire of rock 450 feet high

Garry and Michelle took us through the public part of the road, as well as a restricted road through the valley that you can only access with a guide.  We saw several settlements along the way – most of the park is private land and there are traditional homesteads here where Navajo families farm and graze sheep.  We stopped at the hogan of Susie Yazzie, a skilled Navajo weaver who has been living here for more than 100 years.  She showed us first how she carded the raw wool, then how she spun it into yarn that would be dyed and used to weave rugs.  She had a gracious spirit and a contagious laugh.  She was joking about something but since she was speaking Navajo, we didn’t catch the punchline.

Garry told us that the Navajo people believe that Monument Valley is like a body, with hands (the mitten rock formations) and other body parts.  This natural arch is called the Ear of the Wind.

And this enormous arch is called the Sun’s Eye.  We were the only people there at first.  While Kevin and I gazed up at it, Garry sang a traditional song and played the drum for us.  Shortly afterward, one of the other tour company’s trucks brought a larger group of people.  You can see their group at the base of the rock, to give you an idea of the scale of the Sun’s Eye formation.

One of the best parts of the tour was when our truck met up with another tour being guided by Garry and Michelle’s daughter, Miesha.  They took us to a natural amphitheater and performed four songs, the three of them playing drums, guitar, and the Navajo flute.  At the end Miesha sang the National Anthem, only she sang it in Navajo.  She sang beautifully and her clear voice was amplified by the curvature of the rock behind us.  As I stood there with my hand on my heart, there were tears in my eyes.  So needless to say, if you are ever in Monument Valley, I cannot recommend Navajo Spirit Tours highly enough! 

Garry has given his permission for us to include an mp3 of one of the songs he played.  Here he is playing the drone flute, which can play two notes at the same time.  If you listen, it sounds like two flutes but really it is just one instrument.  The acoustics in the natural amphitheater were fantastic, not sure if this recording does justice to the hauntingly beautiful sound.



After the tour, Kevin and I checked in at the campground and had a snack before heading back over to capture a photo of the Mittens at sunset.  Gorgeous, isn’t it?  I swear, each day of this road trip seems to be better than the last.

From left: West Mitten Butte, East Mitten Butte, Merrick Butte