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Monument Valley, AZ

Monument Valley Travel Blog | Travelogue | Travel Journal

In the summer of 1996 my cousin and I travelled through the Southwest. 4,000 miles on the road, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco plus a dozen National Parks including Grand Canyon, Canyon de Chelly NM, Mesa Verde, Monument Valley, Arches, Dead Horse Point SP, Bryce Canyon and Yosemite. Glorious days.

Monument Valley, AZ

Sunset in Monument Valley, UT. I took this photo of the two "Mitten Buttes" and "Merrick's Butte" within a stone's throw of our tent.
Arround noon we started for Monument Valley.
Since I am German my image of the "Wild West" from childhood on had always been stamped by old Western movies and - shame on me - cigarette commercials! Since a lot of them featured Monument Valley as location going there to me was a trip to the "real" West.
We found a free space at Mitten View Campground which is definitely among my five favourite campsites so far.
A hand reaching out...
The setting is awesome! Since the sun was still up we grabbed the chance and drove into the valley with our rented car. The short descent turned out to be very humpy. The underbody of the car hit the ground several times. This was the very moment when both of us thankfully remembred what the guy at the car rental had told us! :-D Driving arround Monument Valley is a must-do. The landscape is speactacular. Unbelievable colours and rock formations.
Later in the evening when we were back at our tent we sudenly heard loud percussion music. Intrigued we went to the Visitor Center and found an Indian percussion group performing a little jam session. Although they probably just played for the tourists I enjoyed it very much. It added to the marvelous view.
Sunset in Monument Valley, UT. I…
Sunset in Monument Valley, UT. I...
A hand reaching out... (Rain God…
A hand reaching out... (Rain God...
Monument Valley, AZ
Monument Valley, AZ
Damage to the car is already in…
"Damage to the car is already in...
West Mitten Butte, Monument Vall…
West Mitten Butte, Monument Vall...
3,273 km (2,034 miles) traveled
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