Let me start off by saying that Monument Valley is in no way part of the United States National Park system.  They want to make that explicitly clear so that people don’t assume they can use their Golden Eagle or other discounted pass to gain entrance.

Monument Valley only has one maintained hiking trail.  We were planning on doing the hike after the scenic drive but we didn’t have the energy to do a long hike.

Besides the one hiking trail there is only one 17 mile dirt road which you may drive on.  There are additional side trails which are only available through a guide service and these cost extra.  The main scenic drive is called the Valley Drive and it winds around below all the towering cliffs and “monuments”.  It is of course the best way to experience the valley.

Having not knowing anything beforehand about how the tribal park was set up we were surprised to find gift stands and shops located along the drive through the valley.  Just about every pull-out had some tables set up with jewelry on them.

Another thing to be aware of is that some people live in the valley and all around the area.  Please be respectful of this place.

The scenic drive which is called the Valley Drive, begins right at the visitor center.  We went inside first to check out the restaurant, displays, and buy some gifts at the gift shop.  The displays were interesting but we found that the large gift shop seemed to be the main focus of the visitor center.  There is of course a hotel here too which overlooks the Mittens and Merrick butte.  The hotel has an incredible vantage point of the valley! We would have loved to stay here but we had some other adventures planned for the Bluff area back in Utah.

Just about any vehicle can make it through the Valley Drive.  We saw sports cars, other low clearance vehicles and lots of trucks and Jeeps.   The dirt road was graded and smooth for the most part and you are free to stop and take pictures at any point along the road.   I recommend you get a map and a paper guide from the Visitor Center or from the Fee Station before you start so you can see all the names of the landmarks and the history of the tribal park.

There are pullouts along the way.  We stopped at almost all of these to get pictures of the scenery.

The first major pull out was right in front of Merrick Butte which also had an incredible view of the Mittens.

We got back in our car and slowly made our way to the next pull out where you can pay to sit on a horse and get an awesome picture of you looking out over Monument Valley.   This pull out also had a snack stand with fry bread and Navajo tacos.  It wasn’t open when we were visiting but the horse stalls were and if you wanted to you could rent a horse for a few hours and go on a tour.

After this the road does a big loop around several mesas and then meets back at the same point. The next really cool stop is at the Totem Pole.

We found a random cat hiding under this rock…

I thought the Totem Pole and the Yei Bi Chei were one of the more enjoyable stops.   The Totem Pole seems to be perfectly straight as it shoots straight up into the sky.  You can only view it from far away but it is easily over 200ft high.

The road then heads north to the next major overlook.  This stop faces back towards the Visitor Center and the Mittens giving you a 180 degree view of the Mittens and Merrick Butte.

After this we drove to another area called the North Window which also offered an amazing spot to view the valley below.

We came back around to the visitor center and then headed out to Bluff Utah.   We pulled over and had to take a picture of the road cutting down into the valley.