24 hours in Monument Valley

Monument Valley was definitely a bucket list location for me. The iconic red sandstone buttes rising out of the completely flat landscape creating iconic views that have featured in no less than 60 films. It is a beautiful area of Navajo land and if anyone is in doubt about whether they should visit, my recommendation is a resounding yes!

So, the first question that you may have is how long do you need to visit? Obviously it depends on what you want to do but I would say a minimum of 3 hours, if you are just stopping in as you pass through the area but if you have 24 hours in your schedule then here are a few ideas of what you can do and see.

I will just start with a quick bit of useful information - if you visit during the summer months then you need to be aware of the time changes. Navajo Nations observe Mountain Daylight Saving Time as does Utah, Arizona however does not. Monument Valley is Navajo land but is located in the are where the Utah and Arizona geographical borders meet. This means that for the whole day my iPhone was jumping around with time and got itself (and me) very confused about what time it was. I ended up just asking Google what the time was in the end.

Talking of time, let me get back to my guide to an absolutely amazing 24 hours in Monument Valley!

I arrived in Kayenta, Arizona which describes itself as the “Gateway to Monument Valley”. There is a little gem of a museum located here, in all places, a Burger King! It is a museum of the Windtalkers.

A private collection that was put on display to show the incredible effort that the Windtalkers contributed to the war effort. Their messages remain the only communication code that was never cracked.

There is a new museum being built next door to the Burger King but this insightful small collection in the restaurant is a wonderful little find.

The land is rightfully protected and to visit most areas of this park requires you to be part of a guided tour. I chose the Teardrop Arch Tour with Navajo Spirit Guides and I wholeheartedly recommend this.

Arriving at the pick up location, we met the guide and were told that it is one of their quieter tours and we were the only ones booked on, so it turned in to a private tour. This tour doesn’t actually go in to the Monument Valley Park, it instead takes you to get some incredible views of it from restricted land.

The jeep ride out to where we would explore was fun! Very bumpy and very windswept, you head out on off roading Navajo Trails to get to some secluded areas. Our guide was incredible, so knowledgeable and made the tour good fun with his sense of humour. Every tour includes a performance and he played a beautiful song on the pipes for us whilst we visited an ancient cave house.

We then scaled rocks to get some incredible views of the Park. The final location was the tour’s namesake, the Teardrop Arch. A beautiful frame for Monument Valley and I took photos that I will treasure for a lifetime.

The tour was approximately 2 hours 30 mins.

There is a charge to enter and that allows you access to the scenic drive and the hiking trail. The scenic drive is a 17 mile loop that takes you around all three of the iconic Buttes.

I opted to do the hiking trail, namely The Wildcat Trail. A 4 mile hike that takes you from the entrance of the park on a circular loop around the Left Mitten. The trail is very flat and it is a clear path. It is fully exposed to the sun, with very little shade, so do take water and suncream.

The trail gives you incredible views of the Left Mitten, you can see everything about this Butte. It also affords wonderful views of the Right Mitten and Merrick Butte. You get so close to them and I believe far better views than the scenic drive.

This hike took approximately 1hr 45mins, with plenty of photo stops.

There are two hotels that you can stay at in the Park and I took the leap and booked the Top Floor King Room for the night. This came with a balcony and no restriction above you. A night of sunset watching, star gazing and sunrise watching was in order.

The View Hotel is beautiful, the view is incomparable and the rooms are excellent and clean. The restaurant food on the other hand had consistently received poor or mediocre reviews in everything that I had read with many commenting that it was incredibly expensive at a minimum. I therefore planned ahead and stopped off at Walmart on the way to have a balcony picnic that evening.

Sitting out and watching the sun set over that iconic view is a memory that will last a lifetime. I was fortunate that jet lag still had its hold on me and it was no problem to wake up before 06:00 to catch the sunrise.

Following an early morning exploration of the Hotel grounds and taking in the John Wayne Viewpoint, it was time to head out on the road.

Exiting the park it was a 20 minute drive to the final stop for Monument Valley: The iconic “Forest Gump Hill”. This is marked on Google and Apple Maps but you will definitely know when you reach it, as plenty of other sightseers will be parked up at the right point. This is the location where, in the film, Forest stops running.

The road leading off in to the distance is the photo that everyone is trying to take. Be careful of traffic, but have fun and get that snapshot of you running! A lovely photo opportunity and even if you don’t know the film, it is still a photo worth taking!

So that is my recommendation for 24 hours in Monument Valley. A beautiful and relaxed day taking in the best views.

Did you know?
Mission Impossible 2 requested to film the opening scene in the Valley and was refused. The compromise that was reached was that Metallica could film the video for the soundtrack song on one of the Butte’s.