Merrick Butte from the road.
Here I am standing infornt of The Left Mitten. If
you cvan imaagine the thick part is the fingers of a mitten and the thin
part on the right is the tumb.
Making my way around the park I arrived at John Ford's
Point. This is a spot that movie director John Ford would work into
many of his western movies. John Wayne would often stand on the edge
of this point and look for outlaws and indians. The first move that
used this location was Stagecoach in 1939 directed by John Ford.
Other movied filed here are My Darling Clementine(1946),
How the West was Won(1942), The Legend of the Lone Ranger(1980),
and Back to the Future III(1988) with Michael J. Fox.
So here I am on top of John Ford's Point awaiting my monent
of fame. That is Merrick Bute behind me.
This formation is called Three sisters. These formations
grow or are rather etched down by the forces of erosion on the soft sandstone
that makes up the valley.
This formation is called the Sleeping Dragon. In
the center left is his snout, a small dip to his eye and forehead.
His neck dips down and his large body fill the right side. It looks
a lot better when you are there.
These are cave drawings. Probably drawn by Anasazi
people more that 1300 years ago. The valley is now populated and
run by the Navajo indians. The Navajo Reservation is nearly 16 million
acres and Monument Valley is one of 7 public attractions and parks in the
reservation.
The De Chelly (de-sha'y) sandstone makes up most of the
rock seen in the valley. This soft stone is easily weathers away
by the forces of wind and water. Atop the buttes and mesas the harder
Shinarump rock protects the formation from erosion.
This is the amazing view from Artist's Point.
My new friend Keiko is from Japan. Touring the USA.
She was here with her huaband and the three of us rode in a "jeep" to tour
the Valley.
This is our tour guide Cathy. As you can see our
comfortable 4x4 jeep is a converted Chevy Silverado 3500. The back
is taken off and thoes are school bus seats. This truck/jeep can
cary up to 15 people if you cram them all in. It was not bad with
only 3 of us.
This is a Rainbow. I took this picture just north
of Phoenix around Beardsley AZ. It is not in Monument valey but I
like the picture.