If you grew up watching old Westerns or were raised in the age of Forrest Gump, you’ve probably had a glimpse of Monument Valley! When we started planning our Epic Roadtrip tour of National Parks in the Southwest, John made sure we made a stop at Monument Valley! He had read about it in a textbook as a kid and it had been on his bucket list ever since!
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
The Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is located on the Navajo Nation Park on the border of Arizona and Utah. Majestic sandstone formations rise out of the ground creating some of the most amazing scenery. From the sandy desert floor, a demonstration of what millions of years of erosion can create stands towering throughout the area known by the Navajo as Tse’Bii’Ndzisgaii.
Our trip started out in the Moab, Utah area where we visited Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park. We spent a full day in Moab at the two parks, and after dark, we started our drive down to Monument Valley. The drive south is about two hours and forty five minutes. Between Moab and Monument Valley, you’ll drive along a two lane highway, right down the road where Forrest Gump finally decided to stop running! It’s a stunning view…. BUT we saw none of it, since it was dark! We thought about going back the next day to check it out, but we had a pretty tight schedule and didn’t do it. We did however, see some wildlife. Some deer and coyote, and even a skunk made their appearance near the road to welcome us on our journey!
The View Hotel
When we are trip planning, we like to watch YouTube videos of the places we are going to get the best tips and tricks. When we saw the video of The View Hotel by Through My Lens we just knew we had to stay there too! Every Single Room in the hotel faces the monuments. Every Room! We were able to book one of the ground floor rooms… if I could have booked a little bit higher, I would’ve because the view would have been just a tish better, but the view we had was still amazing. It was arguably the best view we’ve ever had in a hotel! As I mentioned, we traveled in the dark, and arrived around midnight. Even in just the moonlight, we could go out on our balcony and see the monuments rising up out of the earth. It’s so peaceful there, with nothing but the monuments in your view, stretching out across the land.
The rooms face east, so when you wake up, the sun is rising up behind the monuments. It is nothing short of spectacular. We hung out on our balcony to watch the sunrise (and maybe take an obsessive amount of video and pictures), and soak it all in. West and East Mitten Buttes are two of the most easily recognizable landmarks, and the sun was coming up right behind them.
The hotel room we stayed in had two queen beds, a bathroom, a microwave and mini fridge, coffee maker, desk, comfy chair, safe, bench, and balcony with a table and chairs. In the morning we were able to grab continental breakfast. The hotel is a pretty popular place to stop even if you’re not staying there, so it looked like you could pay for breakfast as well. There is an observation patio that overlooks the valley as well. A trail you can hike begins there. We didn’t have any extra time to do the hike, but I think it would have been a fun one! The hotel also has a nice gift shop with a lot of Navajo items for sale.
17-Mile Loop Scenic Drive
Can you get down among the monuments instead of just looking out over them? YES! The 17-mile loop drive begins right there at The View Hotel. It is a bit off-road-y. We were driving a rental mini-van and made it fine, but it is a bit rough. The road takes you down among the landmarks rising up all around you. The Mitten Buttes, Merrick Butte, Elephant Butte tower over you as you drive. They are examples of the sandstone layers that were deposited in the area and then were worn down by water, ice, and wind. You’ll feel like you’re in your very own western as you drive through… well, as much as you can in say, a minivan anyway!
The area is all a part of the Navajo Nation. As you drive through the monuments, they offer other opportunities to share in the local culture: horseback riding, guided tours, shopping, and food. We spent a couple of hours in the morning exploring the valley and taking pictures.
Our next stop on our trip was Page, Arizona, a couple of hours to the west. Subscribe to our blog to catch the next update to see what we did when we got there!
Thank you for checking out our visit to Monument Valley! It is a beautiful location and we highly recommend seeing it!
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[…] stayed at The View Hotel in Monument Valley, where your room’s balcony literally looks over Monument Valley. We had a pretty full moon that […]
[…] you’re traveling, particularly during “daylight saving time”… we started our day off in the Monument Valley area, and drove about two hours to get to our tour. We had booked it a couple months ahead of time, […]