Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is on the border of Utah and Arizona in the Four Corners Area.
Its mesas and buttes are some of the most recognizable Southwestern scenery, made famous by films
created in the 1930s and later by John Ford and John Wayne, and many other iconic Western films.

Monument Valley (Tse Bii’ Ndzisgaii is the Navajo (Dine) term, which means Valley of the Rocks) is a
vast landscape of sandstone buttes and mesas and free-standing formations on the Colorado Plateau.
A part of the Navajo Nation Reservation, it was occupied by Paleo-Indians from 12,000 BC, the Archaic
hunter-gatherers from 6,000 BC, Anasazi farmers from 1-1300 AD, Paiutes from 1300 AD, and finally the
Navajo. The Anasazi left behind some ruins and a number of petroglyphs which are shown in this section.

This page is an overview, containing selections from the 142 images in this section, detailed in the four
sub-section pages (Scenics, Mesas and Buttes, Mystery Valley and Arches, Hogans and Petroglyphs).
The Hogans page has images of Susie Yazzie, Centenarian Matriarch of the Navajo Todicheenie Clan,
a famous Navajo weaver, author and Tribal spokeswoman who appeared in several John Ford films.

The Photoshelter Monument Valley galleries contain 190 images.

Click a preview image for a larger version.
Use your back button to return to this page.
Click a Display Composite to visit the 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:

The Monument Valley Collection

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

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

Monument Valley Cly Butte Artist's Point 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 (aka Saddleback), Castle Rock,
Bear and Rabbit and Stagecoach Buttes, and on the right is East Mitten Butte.

Monument Valley Sunrise
Merrick Butte and Mittens X9930

West and East Mittens and Merrick Butte at Sunrise. These buttes have been seen in a great many famous Western films.

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 X9943

The Gypsum Creek Area landscape shot from the Loop Road. From left
are the Three Sisters and Mitchell Mesa, Gray Whiskers and Mitchell Butte.

Monument Valley Landscape Artist's Point X9951

The Northern Buttes as seen from Artist’s Point Overlook.

Monument Valley The Thumb X9960

The Thumb is a separate spire formation next to Cly Butte.

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)

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.

For more images like those shown above, click the
Display Composite below to visit the Scenics page

Monument Valley Merrick Butte and Mittens X9978

Merrick Butte (foreground) and the West and East Mitten Buttes at mid-morning.

Monument Valley Camel Butte X9955

Camel Butte at mid-morning in December.

Monument Valley Elephant Butte X1864

A Juniper Tree and Elephant Butte near Artist’s Point.

Monument Valley Three Sisters Cly Butte X9957

The Loop Road draws the eye towards Cly Butte and The Three Sisters, left of Mitchell Mesa.

Monument Valley Three Sisters Mitchell Mesa X1807

Three Sisters and Mitchell Mesa overlooked by the Moon.

Monument Valley Thunderbird Mesa at Sunrise X1330

Thunderbird Mesa in the golden light of Sunrise.

Monument Valley Rain God Mesa X9952

Rain God Mesa is in the geometric center of the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.

For more images like those shown above, click the
Display Composite below to visit the Mesas and Buttes 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

Dancing on a Saucer Mystery Valley X1471

Providing elegant scale, a young lady strikes a pose atop one of the Saucer Rocks
which caps a petrified dune in Mystery Valley. Beyond her are (from left to right):
Eagle Mesa, Mitchell Butte, Setting Hen, Brigham’s Tomb and Gray Whiskers.

Mystery Valley Petrified Dunes at Sunset X1508

Mystery Valley Petrified Dunes at Sunset X1501

Two images of the scene to the west of Saucer Rocks of the Petrified Dunes and Mystery Valley.
In the distance are the Northern Mesas and Buttes of Monument Valley in the golden light of Sunset.

Mystery Valley Honeymoon Arch and Ruins X1445

Honeymoon Arch and Ruins, shot while laying on my back below the arch.

In a cleft under Honeymoon Arch is Honeymoon House Ruin,
the remains of an Anasazi granary built over 1000 years ago.

Mystery Valley Honeymoon Arch 1060

A view of Mystery Valley from within Honeymoon Arch.
Honeymoon Arch is in one of Mystery Valley’s box canyons.

Monument Valley Tear Drop Arch X1647

Teardrop Arch in Horseshoe Canyon frames a view
of Brigham’s Tomb and King on his Throne Buttes.

Mystery Valley Saucers X1482

The view across Mystery Valley past the Saucer Rocks and Petrified Dunes
towards the Northern Buttes and Mesas of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.

For more images like those shown above, click the Display Composite
below to visit the Monument Valley: Mystery Valley and Arches page

Monument Valley Navajo Hogans at The Hub X9937

The quintessential Navajo pastoral scene.

On the plain in front of the butte called The Hub is a set of Navajo Hogans.
On the left are two dome-shaped Female Hogans and a Summer Shelter.
To the right of them is a Male Hogan, and to the right of center is a corral.

Monument Valley Female Hogan X1565

The Female Hogan was the Navajo home, and played a significant role in the religious and secular lives of the Dine. All Navajo ceremonies and rites are performed in Hogans. The door to a Hogan faces East towards the rising sun.

Monument Valley Navajo Outbuildings X1578

Navajo outbuildings near the corral. On the right is a traditional high desert wood stack, an efficient method of keeping the wood dry yet readily accessible. Left of the wood stack is a traditional stacked-log building behind the plank-and-tarpaper building and the foreground building constructed of planks. The corral is just out of picture to the left.

Monument Valley Male Hogan X1568

The Male (forked-pole) Hogan with its vestibule. This is the earliest traditional type of Hogan,
usually formed of three forked poles at the North, South and West, with the forked tips interlocked
at the top. Two poles are then laid against the forked tips from the East to form the entryway. Poles
are laid between the forked and entry poles to fill spaces, then the assembly is covered with earth.

The dome-shaped circular Female Hogan is made of wood, packed earth and mud.
Cribbed logs are placed in a roughly circular pattern, gradually stacked to create a frame.
Smaller logs are then used to support the domed roof, similar to the interior of a Kiva.
Earth is then packed on the outside and reinforced with insulating layers of mud.

Monument Valley Eye of the Sun Petroglyph X1560
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An unusual representation of a Pronghorn Antelope standing between two spirals. It appears as if it is riding a bicycle.

Monument Valley Eye of the Sun Petroglyphs X1554
(964 KB)

A stylized, triangular anthropomorphic figure with nine dots in the headdress. This is often interpreted as a Shaman figure.

Monument Valley Eye of the Sun Petroglyph Wall X1551 Inversion
(555 KB)

A channel-balanced grayscale conversion and level-adjusted inversion of the
Petroglyph Wall opposite Eye of the Sun Arch in Monument Valley. The inversion
brings out the faint, lower-contrast detail in this scene. This image is an overview of
the major section of the wall, showing several Anthropomorphs (Shamans and others),
 Zoomorphs (Pronghorn Antelope, Bighorn Sheep, Snakes, and others), numerous
symbols, and the story of a Shaman (or Chief) who was struck by Lightning.

Monument Valley Eye of the Sun Petroglyphs X1525
(749 KB)

In a niche below the Eye of the Sun Arch in Monument Valley are a group of Bighorn Sheep. Notice the deeply rounded bellies of these Anasazi petroglyphs.

Monument Valley Eye of the Sun Petroglyphs X1531
(629 KB)

Unlike most Bighorn petroglyphs which are depicted static or with limited motion, the top right petroglyph shows the Bighorn leaping, its motion accentuated by the static sheep below.

Susie Yazzie
(image links to the Hogans and Petroglyphs page,
where the images of Susie Yazzie are displayed)

Susie Yazzie, Matriarch of the Navajo Todicheenie Clan, is a famous
 Navajo weaver, author and Tribal spokeswoman who just turned 100.

She weaves superb rugs, and appeared in nearly every film and documentary
photo book and newspaper or magazine story about the Navajo made for generations,
including a number of the John Ford/John Wayne films which made Monument Valley famous.

Susie Yazzie HS8331

Susie Yazzie HS8376

Susie Yazzie Hands HS8443

For more images like those shown above, click the
Display Composite below to visit the Hogans and Petroglyphs 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

Click the Display Composite above to visit the Monument Valley Scenics page.

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.

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