Monument Valley Tribal Park, Arizona (with Map & Photos)

Monument Valley NP is located on the border between the states of Utah and Arizona. Its unique landscape has made this place one of the national symbols of America. Since ancient times, the Navajo Indian tribes lived in these places, which currently own the valley and the surrounding national park of the same name.

Monument Valley NP Arizona
Monument Valley NP Arizona

As in the old days, Indian women prefer traditional clothing, which consists of a long wide skirt, a wide blouse, a waistcoat, moccasins and numerous silver jewelry. Men, especially young ones, wear long hair.

Monument Valley NP is located on a hill that is part of the Colorado Plateau. The upper layer of the plateau is composed of soft sedimentary rocks. Over time, it was almost completely destroyed and over a flat desert surface, bizarrely shaped remnant rocks, 12 to 30 m high, remained standing. They are composed of harder sandstone that did not succumb to weathering. These remains are called monuments. Many of them have their own names.

Monument Valley NP Arizona
Monument Valley NP Arizona

The most famous are Mittens - two blocks with thin formations, similar to columns, separated from the main rock mass. They look like the thumbs of mittens. Praeris Rock (Abbess) resembles a kneeling figure in a long robe with a hood. The hands of the figure are prayerfully folded at the chest. Other notable monuments are the Three Sisters, the Totem Pole and the famous Wind's Ear Arch.

Long before the arrival of Europeans in North America, there was a unique civilization that managed to preserve its traditions, faith and way of life to this day. The Navajo reservation is quite comparable in size to the average American state. It occupies the entire northwestern part of Arizona, as well as parts of the states of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.

The Indians of this tribe, captured in the history of America through art, literature and cinema, call their land "Navajo Country", emphasizing its administrative independence. This peculiar state has its own government and capital - the city of Window Rock. The Navajo retained a native language so complex that the US military used it as a cipher code during World War II.

Monument Valley Tribal Park Visitor Center Map