Located north of Monument Valley across the San Juan River near Mexican Hat in San Juan County, southeastern Utah, Valley of the Gods has similar rock formations as Monument Valley with tall, reddish brown mesas, buttes, towers and mushroom rocks —remnants of an ancient landscape—standing above the level valley floor.
Whereas Monument Valley is located on Navajo Nation tribal lands, requiring a Navajo guide to venture anywhere off a central scenic road, Valley of the Gods is on public land managed by the BLM with no fees or major restrictions. Because of its similarity to Monument Valley, it’s also been a filming location for movies and TV shows.
Also, similar to Monument Valley, there is a 17-mile gravel road that winds around the formations. While the road was steep and bumpy in parts it was very passable and very dusty.
There’s definitely a consistent color pallet out here! :-)
The Location:
Some fine images, Brooks. So you’ve noticed that there’s a dominant color in places out there, huh? Did you go down into Monument Valley? Lots of that red rock down there, too. By the way, we didn’t have great luck at White Sands. Sunset the one night we were there was kind of blah. We had fun, though. Then the wind started to kick up and we left (white sand or not, it’s still not good for cameras!). Heading back east (yuck) at the moment……
Paul, thanks! We’re staying in part of Monument Valley and have seen some of the formations, although we haven’t taken a tour of the valley. It’s all red rock around here but we found that if you travel about 60 miles northeast it all changes to smooth tan sandstone. Glad you had fun at White Sands but sorry the sunset didn’t cooperate for your visit. We’ll be heading to the Leeds/St. George area of southwest Utah tomorrow. We’ll be there until the end of April, so we’ll have time to explore. Safe journey!
This looks like a really amazing place to explore. I think I have heard of the name before, but couldn’t bring to mind what it looked like. Classic western vistas for sure.
It pretty awe inspiring, for sure!