Monument Valley was an wilderness-like desert location granted to the Navajo Indians, unknown and unloved. And then came Director John Ford and actor John Wayne. Suddenly Monument Valley was the face of the epic West.
Located on the Utah Arizona border, the property does a thriving business giving guided tours, horseback tours, and charging everyone who enters $20 per car just for the privilege of driving a rough, totally unimproved 17-mile trip through the desert.
Then, while you have them there, you sell them lunch, souvenirs, and hotel stays.
Why do they come? Scenery. Is it worth it? Judge for yourself.
Yeah, it’s worth $20 for sure.
You should write for Tour Books!!!!
I would definitely enter Monument Park once I read your introduction …. and I would say, from looking thru your photos, that YES it is worth the $20 and road conditions 🙂
Dawn —
The first part of the drive is a 2 way road. As we started down it, we were amazed and displeased at how fast people were coming the opposite direction, raising dust like crazy. Then we hit the one way loop road, which was drivable if you were careful. By the time we made it back to the two-way road, we realized why everyone was driving so fast. They had seen the scenery the first time and just wanted to get off the road and out of the place. Sort of the “last helicopter out of Viet Nam” mentality takes over.
Ken