Some of the most recognizable scenery in the Southwestern United States is in Monument Valley.
This page displays mesas and buttes and the breathtaking vistas and landscapes of Tse Bii' Ndzisgaii
(the Navajo (Dine) name, meaning “Valley of the Rocks”). A few of the images on this page are also on
the Mesas and Buttes page (a few of whose images are also seen here). The iconic landscapes of
Monument Valley were made famous in many Western films, and you will very likely recognize
several of these scenes. There are images below taken at first light, dawn and sunrise,
mid-morning, sunset and dusk, but in whatever light these scenes are The West.

Click an image to open a larger version.
Use your back button to return to this page.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

There are 14 Sections in the Photoshelter Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection

Direct Links to the Monument Valley images:

Monument Valley Scenics
Monument Valley: Hogans and Petroglyphs
Susie Yazzie Monument Valley

Indian Lands Select (150 Selected images)
Anasazi and Fremont Petroglyphs

Monument Valley Dawn Mittens and Merrick Butte X9916

Dawn breaks over the West and East Mittens and Merrick Butte
on a cold December morning. Just another day in Monument Valley.

This is one of the most famous silhouettes in the Southwest.

Monument Valley Buttes at Sunrise X9923

Gray Whiskers (at left) and Mitchell Butte from the Loop Road early in the morning, near the entrance to the Tribal Park.

Monument Valley Sunrise
Merrick Butte and Mittens X9930

West and East Mittens and Merrick Butte at Sunrise.

Monument Valley Totem Pole at First Light X1294

Braving the -10 degree temperatures to catch the dawn over Totem Pole and Yei Bi Chei on
a brutal February morning from in front of Thunderbird Mesa. This is the silhouette at First Light.

Monument Valley Totem Pole Dawn X1318

Totem Pole and Yei Bi Chei at Dawn.

-10 degrees is cold enough at any time, but when you are standing around waiting... whew!

Monument Valley Landscape Spearhead Mesa X9942
(634 KB)

Spearhead Mesa forms a backdrop for this landscape shot taken from the Loop Road on the way to Artist’s Point.

Monument Valley Landscape
Gypsum Creek Area X9948

The Gypsum Creek Area on the left side of the Loop Road. In the background are Mitchell Mesa and Mitchell Butte.

Monument Valley Landscape Gypsum Creek Area X9943

Another Gypsum Creek Area scene taken from the Loop Road. From left
are the Three Sisters and Mitchell Mesa, Gray Whiskers and Mitchell Butte.

Monument Valley Landscape Mushroom Rock X9945

An unusual undercut rock which some call Mushroom Rock (there are several rocks in
Monument Valley with that name) next to Spearhead Mesa on the right side of the Loop Road.

Monument Valley Landscape Gypsum Creek Area X9946

One last Gypsum Creek Area landscape scene from the left side of the Loop Road.
On the left are Mitchell Mesa and Gray Whiskers. On the right are Mitchell Butte in front
of Sentinel Mesa, and on the far right you can see Setting Hen and Big Indian Butte.

Monument Valley Landscape X9940
(630 KB)

Long-leafed Yucca in the foreground of a typical Southwestern desert landscape.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

There are 14 Sections in the Photoshelter Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection

Direct Links to the Monument Valley images:

Monument Valley Scenics
Monument Valley: Hogans and Petroglyphs
Susie Yazzie Monument Valley

Indian Lands Select (150 Selected images)
Anasazi and Fremont Petroglyphs

Monument Valley Landscape Artist's Point X9950 pano

A panorama crop of the scene from Artist’s Point Overlook.

From the left are Merrick Butte and Sentinel Mesa, with Eagle Mesa in
the distance at right center, then Big Indian. In the foreground left is East Mitten,
and at far right is the formation called Castle Rock, Bear and Rabbit and Stagecoach.

Below are two more views of the scene from artist’s Point.

Monument Valley Landscape Artist's Point X9951

Monument Valley Landscape Artist's Point X9954

Monument Valley North Landscape at Sunrise X1326

The North Landscape of Monument Valley in the golden glow of Sunrise.

Mitchell Mesa, Elephant Butte, East Mitten, Big Chair and Spearhead Mesa.

Monument Valley Landscape
North Window Area X9939

The North Window Area from a distance. This is the scene on the left side of the previous image, from in front of Big Chair.

Monument Valley North Window X9961
(724 KB)

The North Window is framed by Elephant Butte (on the left) and Cly Butte, and reveals a view of the northern buttes.

Monument Valley North Window X9965
(663 KB)

Elephant Butte (left center) and Cly Butte (right) form the North Window, framing a view of the
formation known as Castle Rock, Bear and Rabbit, and Stagecoach, and the East Mitten Butte.

Monument Valley Landscape 3 Sisters X9968
(627 KB)

The sandstone landscape in front of the formation known as the Three Sisters. De Chelley sandstone and siltstone of the Cutler Formation form the majority of the landscape.

Monument Valley Landscape Elephant Butte X1860
(526 KB)

A 14mm shot of Elephant Butte and the Northern Buttes. The distortion of Elephant Butte is caused by its placement in the corner of the frame of an extreme wide-angle lens.

Monument Valley Landscape Elephant Butte
3-shot composite  —  the full size image is an XXL
(Monument Valley Landscape Elephant Butte 16x9 XXL, 6350 x 3700, 20MB)

This is a composite of three portrait images, also taken with a 14mm lens.
Edge Distortion is avoided by placing subject material in the center of the lens.

Elephant Butte is in the center of the scene. To the right are Merrick Butte in front of
Sentinel Mesa, Setting Hen and Big Indian, Brigham’s Tomb and East Mitten Butte.

Monument Valley The Thumb X9960

The Thumb is a separate spire formation next to Cly Butte.
The small structure at the base of the cliff provides scale.

Monument Valley The Thumb X9963

Thin clouds moving in front of the sun altered the character of the light. Note the difference in the saturation of the rock.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

There are 14 Sections in the Photoshelter Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection

Direct Links to the Monument Valley images:

Monument Valley Scenics
Monument Valley: Hogans and Petroglyphs
Susie Yazzie Monument Valley

Indian Lands Select (150 Selected images)
Anasazi and Fremont Petroglyphs

Monument Valley Sand Dune Totem Pole X1830

A sand dune in Sand Springs, with Totem Pole in the background.

Monument Valley Sand Dune X1834

Monument Valley Sand Dune X1835

The two shots of a sand dune above were taken with different settings of a circular polarizer.
The image on the left was taken with minimum polarization, and on the right, 50% polarization.
Besides the effect of darkening the sky and making the clouds pop, note the color saturation.

Monument Valley Yei Bi Chei Totem Pole X1813

An extremely difficult mid-morning shot of Sand Springs, Yei Bi Chei and Totem Pole
taken nearly directly into the sun, which is just out of the frame to the left. Shooting against
the light is tricky. Processing to get good contrast and color saturation is the real challenge.

Monument Valley Yei Bi Chei Totem Pole X1827

Yei Bi Chei and Totem Pole from Sand Springs at mid-morning.

A tighter shot (32mm instead of 17mm) and 18 minutes later. The sun
is less of a problem as it is higher in the sky and further out of the frame.

Yei Bi Chei (Maternal Grandfather of the Yei) is another name of the Talking God
who speaks for the other Holy People (The Yei). It is also the name of the nine day
ceremony in which masked dancers personify the gods, also known as the Night Chant.

The formation was named Yei Bi Chei because it is said that
it looks like a group of dancers at the Night Chant ceremony.

Monument Valley Sunset Artist's Point X1658

Detail of Big Indian, Brigham’s Tomb, Castle Rock, Bear and Rabbit and Stagecoach,
and the East Mitten from behind Spearhead Mesa overlooking Artist’s Point at Sunset.

I returned to this spot the following morning to shoot the sunrise. The wider scene is below.

Monument Valley Cly Butte Artist's Point at Dusk X1661

Cly Butte on the left and the Northern Buttes of Monument Valley,
shot from behind Speahead Mesa overlooking Artist’s Point at dusk.

Monument Valley Artist's Point at Dawn X1715

The same scene taken from a bit further down the path behind Spearhead Mesa the following morning to allow Merrick Butte to peek out from behind Cly Butte on the left.

Monument Valley Cly Butte
Artist's Point at Dawn X1719

This is a wider angle of the same scene, shot just before the sun began to peek out over the horizon.

Monument Valley Artist's Point at Sunrise X1762

Sunrise overlooking Artist’s Point from just behind Spearhead Mesa.
On the left is Cly Butte, and beyond from left to right are Merrick Butte,
Setting Hen, Big Indian, Brigham’s Tomb (or Saddleback), Castle Rock,
Bear and Rabbit and Stagecoach, and on the right is East Mitten Butte.

Monument Valley Artist's Point at Sunrise X1765

The full glow of sunrise illuminating Cly Butte on the left. The character of the light shifts rapidly as the sun rises.

Monument Valley Cly Butte
Artist's Point at Sunrise X1789

In this image (20 min. later) the light is already getting hard.

Monument Valley Cly Butte Artist's Point at Sunrise X1767

Sunrise overlooking Artist’s Point from just behind Spearhead Mesa.
On the left is Cly Butte, and beyond from left to right are Merrick Butte,
Setting Hen, Big Indian, Brigham’s Tomb (or Saddleback), Castle Rock,
Bear and Rabbit and Stagecoach, and on the right is East Mitten Butte.

Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection where a Gallery can be selected.

There are 14 Sections in the Photoshelter Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection

Direct Links to the Monument Valley images:

Monument Valley Scenics
Monument Valley: Hogans and Petroglyphs
Susie Yazzie Monument Valley

Indian Lands Select (150 Selected images)
Anasazi and Fremont Petroglyphs

Click the Display Composite above to visit the Mesas and Buttes page.

Click the Display Composite above to visit the Mystery Valley and Arches page.

Click the Display Composite above to visit the Hogans and Petroglyphs page.

Susie Yazzie

The display composite above links to
the Hogans and Petroglyphs page, where
images of Susie Yazzie are displayed.

Click the Display Composite above to return to the Indian Lands and Anasazi Sites Index page.