Review of Monument Valley: An iconic locale that conjures up memories of western movies…
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| Monument Valley, AZ |
John Wayne: “So this is where God put the West.”
Growing up in South Korea as a young kid, I watched many American television shows and movies. Some of the most notable ones were shows like the “Six Million Dollar Man”, “Wonder Woman”, “Combat”, “the Dukes of Hazzard”, and “the Bionic Woman”.
While all these television programs showed a glimpse into what living in America might be like, the westerns showed side of America that I always wondered about. In western movies starring John Wayne, among others, I saw this great American West landscape that can only be described as alien, but incredibly beautiful.
Back in the late 70’s to early 80’s, typical places I would see in Seoul, South Korea was cityscape, full of polluting trucks/buses/cars, throngs of people, and hundreds of apartment complexes. The West, as depicted in countless western movies, was like a fantasy, a dream, which looked unlike anything I have ever seen…
When my family immigrated to America in early 80’s, I would find out that many westerns’ film locations were in places like Arizona and Utah. Once I learned that Monument Valley was the location for 5 of John Wayne’s movies, I always knew I had to visit it.
My chance to visit the Monument Valley finally came in December 2022, when my wife and I set out on our cross country road trip going from North Carolina to California. Among the places we wanted to visit during our trip, Monument Valley was near the very top of my list, and for a good reason. After checking out of the Sleep Inn & Suites on the morning of December 27th, we headed out of Page (Arizona), towards northern Arizona for Monument Valley!
The drive to Monument Valley would take little over two hours (130 miles or so). During the drive, we witnessed the landscape slowly changing over from yellow/light brown dirt to dark brown/red dirt. We also saw snow on some hills as we made our slow climb out of Page, with elevation of 4,100 feet, to Monument Valley, with elevation of 7,000 feet.
I think I saw maybe one speck of civilization, in the form of a small gas station and a convenience store, on our way to Monument Valley via AZ 98, AZ 160, and AZ 163. It felt remote, similar to many western states we had driven in so far during our cross country trip.
I took a brief glance towards my wife, sitting on the passenger seat, and noticed she was taking a quick cat nap. Without a partner to talk to, I drifted off to my own little world, fully embracing the beautiful landscape surrounding us.
I surveyed the landscape, appreciating the small hills, the distant mountains, and the sparse desert vegetation. The beautiful desert scenery was providing a welcome relief from a monotonous drive. By that time of what would be a 2 and a half month long cross country trip, my wife and I had driven well over 4,000 miles. We were grateful the drive had interesting and beautiful things to look at.
On certain parts of the drive out of Texas and Arizona, for example, we were getting antsy, sleepy, and unnecessarily tired from flat roads that seemed to go straight for hours, without much to look at. It’s times like these when you have to focus, listen to music, eat, and/or talk to someone, to break the trance-like state of driving for hundreds of miles.
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| Driving towards Monument Valley |
The desert landscape may look devoid of life, but it really isn’t, with birds visible, gracefully gliding in the skies above. The snow that had fallen (lucky for us, not on the roads!) had covered the hillsides with pristine white stuff, almost making it a beautiful winter wonderland…
When my wife woke up from her beauty sleep, we were nearing Monument Valley. We both looked at the familiar landscape of small buttes jutting up into the sky, all brown and majestic, and knew we were getting closer.
When we were about 5 minutes out of the visitor center at Monument Valley, we pulled over like several other cars, to take in the scenery. We weren’t even at the actual iconic site, yet it looked incredible. It started to feel exactly like the shooting location from many westerns!
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| Pulled over the road here for photos |
After taking some photos, we continued another five minutes and arrived at the Monument Valley Tribal Park Visitor Center. After parking, we went inside the visitor center to pay the $8 per person daily use fee to drive the 17 mile loop drive, then looked around the various movie paraphernalia and Monument Valley history.
We saw “the Duke” John Wayne proudly displayed in bunch of movie posters, and we read about the architect of Monument Valley, Harry & Leone Goulding, who purchased substantial plot of land from the Paiute Indians.
Monument Valley’s fame grew after the the Gouldings traveled to Hollywood to meet the famous movie director, John Ford. Bringing Hollywood to Monument Valley brought Monument Valley to the world.
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| John Wayne and John Ford! |
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| Taken from the back of the visitor center |
The weather that day was quite cold and windy, but we braved the weather to see the scenery right outside the visitor center. The landscape was just mind blowing…Checking out the views didn’t last long, as it really was biting cold! We jumped into our car then turned right, to drive on the famed loop drive.
About 5 minutes into our drive, we saw the entrance station. We showed our receipt for admission for two people and drove in. The first stop: The View Hotel and the Trading Post.
The View Hotel is the only lodging inside the Monument Valley Tribal Park, so naturally we stopped by to check out the most iconic landmark in all of Monument Valley. There were hundreds of cars parked even on a cold winter day in December.
We parked, then walked towards the viewing area. We immediately recognized the iconic and recognizable butte formations thanks to movies like Mission Impossible 2, and several John Wayne movies.
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| Instantly recognizable Monument Valley |
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| View from the viewing area near the View Hotel |
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| Looking at the View Hotel on our right |
The views were amazing. It was exactly what I saw in movies and in documentaries all these years. Viewing those beautiful buttes makes you realize how incredible and amazing nature can be. As amazing as a man made work of art can be, nature doesn’t take second seat to man when it comes to work of art!
Just viewing the incredible scenery made me smile and made me feel grateful that we’re finally enjoying great places like this. It almost made me poetic even though I have no idea how to write a poem! The views were that incredible…
We walked inside the Trading Post on the ground floor to make a pit stop and to check out the store. It was not unlike Indian City in Arizona, selling Native American themed items. We thought the views outside were fantastic right within the store. We wondered if the store employees get to enjoy that iconic view during their work day…
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| Trading Post, Monument Valley |
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| Check out that view inside the Trading Post! |
We walked out of the Trading Post after about 5 minutes, so we can finally get on the loop drive. We saw that the loop drive was not paved, but even sedans were driving on it, so we felt safe enough to do so on our SUV.
We headed towards the entrance to the loop drive, then turned right to start our tour. We saw that the road itself was basically a dirt road (red and brown colored dirt), and it was bumpy at times. We drove nice and slow, going at around 10-25 miles to avoid hitting anything, as there were the occasional small/medium sized rocks strewn around the road. We were just glad it wasn’t raining that day to really make things interesting…
We pulled over on our left to see the first of many iconic butte formations called East Mitten and West Mitten. See below:
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| Dirt road everywhere on loop drive |
We continued our tour, then made a stop at the Three Sisters. It really looked like figures of three people!
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| Three Sisters, Monument Valley |
We moved on, following the slow traffic starting to build in front of us. We made slow progress but were actually feeling lucky as we were able to see the surrounding scenery better. We made multiple stops along the loop drive, seeing what can only be described as mammoth and out of this world.
The immense size of these buttes and mesas up close, really put things into perspective. We were just in awe at the power of nature which carved out these gigantic masterpieces! We were feeling lucky, happy, and grateful we finally got to see these in person…
We took so many photos at the Monument Valley! Here are some more. Enjoy!
Completing the loop drive took little over an hour for us. We ended up back at the View Hotel to make another pit stop before getting back on the road for our hotel in Moab, Utah. As we were heading out of Monument Valley going north, we saw a tiny sign that warned drivers to watch out for pedestrians up ahead.
We wondered what that was all about, and finally saw why. The location was the famous movie locale for Forrest Gump, when the main character runs with bunch of other joggers behind him, with the iconic Monument Valley behind them!
We pulled over to check it out, and recognized it instantly! Cool!
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| Movie Forrest Gump film location! |
In conclusion:
Monument Valley was everything that I thought it would be. It was like visiting the Empire State Building for the first time after seeing it on films and in magazines when I was growing up. It was such an iconic part of Americana that I was able to recognize it immediately as soon as I saw it in person.
Monument Valley should be on top of everyone’s list of places to visit when planning a visit to Arizona or Utah. Just to be at the same place as countless movies got my blood pumping, and the views are not bad either!
Please keep up with us on our continuing journey going from North Carolina to California, and thank you for reading!
Jake
Wandering Money Pig
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