Scenic Drive through Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park

I've been to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park twice: once in summer and once in winter. Contrary to all the other places in the South-West–which I find prettier and more interesting during winter–I found Monument Valley more scenic during summer.

Monument Valley in Summer

I think there are two reasons for that. First, Monument Valley doesn't get enough snow during winter and, therefore, it isn't uniformly covered by it. To me, the patches of snow make the Valley appear more "messy" and less "monumental." Second, contrary to the summer skies, during winter skies are usually clear and cloudless, which translates to less dramatic views and less original photos.

Monument Valley in Winter

Still, we found the 17-mile Scenic Drive through the Valley very enjoyable and we would recommend it to anybody passing through that part of the world, no matter what time of the year you're there.

Scenic Drive through Monument Valley

The drive took us close to many interesting rock structures, like the two "mittens"–East and West Mitten Buttes–pictured on the photo below.

Yours truly with East and West Mitten Buttes

To some, the rock on the photo below resembles a camel and, therefore, it got named Camel Butte.

Camel Butte

Here are the Yei Bi Chei-­Navajo spiritual gods–and Totem Pole.

The Yei Bi Chei and Totem Pole

Look how small our car is compared to the nearby rocks.

My Love and his red toy in the Monument Valley

Looking back at some of the photos I took during my recent visit to the Monument Valley, makes me see how the Valley got its name. It does look quite Monumental in places.

Road Trip 2008: Monument Valley

For years Monument Valley has been providing inspiration to countless number of photographers and filmmakers. It has even become an iconic image of the "Wild Wild West," primarily thanks to John Ford, who filmed many of his Westerns here.

Monument Valley gained further fame thanks to one of the Marlboro advertisements, and by some it's called "Marlboro Country."

Unlike most other natural wonders of the American South-West, Monument Valley doesn't belong to and is not administered by the American government/National Park Services, but instead it belongs to the Navajos. It seems that it's a major source of income for the Navajos, both from selling the entrance tickets to the park, as well as associated services such as selling fuel, food, accommodation and/or campground space. Good for them.

Agnieszka and I decided against sightseeing Monument Valley, as we're short on time and we had more interesting plans for the rest of the afternoon. So we only stopped for few minutes somewhere near the park to at least take a few photos of its iconic mesaa and buttes.