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Published: June 18th 2013
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A great day seeing all the Monuments, taking lots of pictures. It’s really interesting to see all the shapes and forms they are. The Thumb, Elephant, Three Sisters, The Mittens, Artist’s Point, The Window; lots of fun titles for each Monument. And there was a “Mitchell Mesa”. Of course, after the dirt road trip we had to head to the car wash, lots of red dirt all over the truck. Looks great now though.
Had a scary few minutes this afternoon, discovering that our credit card was compromised. We quickly got it taken care of and a new one on it’s way to our next stop. USAA is a great company to deal with, especially in this instance. They caught it because they saw all the usage we had in so many different states, out West and this person tried to charge something in NC.
Monument Valley is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of vast sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 1,000 ft above the valley floor. It is located on the Arizona-Utah state line, near the Four Corners area.
While many incredible formations can be seen from the main roads, the best views
can be had from the 17-mile loop road that runs through the valley. The loop is not paved and can be quite rough and dusty, but the RAM had no issues. You are not permitted to deviate from the loop drive without a native guide present. The loop drive took about 3 hours to enjoy the scenery.
The valley has wide a assortment of vegetation including, Juniper trees, yucca, Russian thistle (Tumbleweed) and Navajo Tea to name just a few. Much of the vegetation is still used by the Navajos for medicinal purposes, and as dyes for their world famous hand-woven rugs.
Below are the movies that have been filmed here, I thought it was very interesting.
Director
John Ford's
1939 film
Stagecoach, starring
John Wayne, has had an enduring influence in making the Valley famous. After that first experience, Ford returned nine times to shoot Westerns — even when the films were not set in Arizona or Utah (see
The Searchers, set in Texas, but filmed here). A popular lookout point is named in his honor as "John Ford's Point". It was used by Ford in a scene from
The Searchers where an American Indian village is attacked.
The
Stanley Kubrick film
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) features footage of Monument Valley. This footage is used as the surface of an alien planet to which protagonist
Dave Bowman travels through a
stargate.
Sergio Leone's
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), although shot for the most part in
Spain and
Italy, features two scenes shot on location in Monument Valley.
1969's counter-culture classic
Easy Rider includes some footage of Monument Valley towards its beginning.
Electra Glide in Blue (1973), starring Robert Blake as a motorcycle cop in Arizona, was filmed in Monument Valley.
Clint Eastwood's movie
The Eiger Sanction (1975) was partly filmed in Monument Valley and both Clint Eastwood and George Kennedy were filmed on top of the "Totem Pole", which has been off-bounds to climbers since the movie was filmed here.
Godfrey Reggio's
documentary Koyaanisqatsi (1982) features footage of Monument Valley.
Harold Ramis's film
National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) features footage of Monument Valley.
Ron Fricke's IMAX film
Chronos (1985) features several scenes of the Monument Valley landscape.
In
Back to the Future III (1990), Marty McFly drives from 1955 to 1885 from a drive-in theatre set at the Valley's base.
Ridley Scott's 1991 film
Thelma & Louise features some shots of Monument Valley, as well as
Canyonlands National Park, in its latter half.
In
Forrest Gump (1994), Forrest ends
his cross-country run here. He is running north on
U.S. Route 163 before he stops running.
Paramount Pictures 1994 film
Pontiac Moon featured this location as part of the roadtrip.
The opening shots of
Mission: Impossible II (2000) feature
Tom Cruise climbing in Monument Valley.
The Return of Navajo Boy (2000), a documentary about uranium contamination of Navajo lands, was shot largely in Monument Valley where its central characters live. Additionally, the film deconstructs historical media depictions of Navajos and the land where they live (including Monument Valley).
The opening scene of
Vertical Limit (2000) features several rock climbers in Monument Valley.
Takkari Donga Opening song,
Telugu Film, 2002
In
Windtalkers (2002), the opening and closing scenes are filmed in Monument Valley.
During the 'Sorter shoot-out' scene in
Guy Ritchie's 2005 film,
Revolver, there is a picture of Monument Valley on the wall behind where Dorothy Macha's henchmen have parked their cars outside the house of Jake Green's elder brother.
In
Cars (2006), a spoof of Monument Valley called "Ornament Valley" (as labeled on the map in the film) is in the surroundings of Radiator Springs (name coming from the fact that the peaks are shaped like the hood ornaments of cars).
Alex Cox's film
Searchers 2.0 (2007) is about a road trip to Monument Valley. The final scenes feature a rare depiction of the area covered in snow.
Location sequences for the documentary
Reel Injun (2009), on the history of Native Americans in the movies.
The rugged desert scenery for the
Coyote and Road Runner cartoons clearly takes much of its inspiration from Monument Valley.
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Glenda
non-member comment
Awesome!
Beautiful pics!! Especially liked the KnitWits!!!