After Moab, it was time to drive southwest into Arizona and through Monument Valley which was another spectacular landscape. Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is situated within the Navajo Native American Reservation, home of the nation's largest Native American tribe. Monument valley was used as a backdrop for many wild western films but is sacred land for its residents.
The Navajo National Monument is an incredible site; well preserved cliff and cave dwellings dating from around 1250 to 1300 AD and built by Ancestral Puebloans. It takes a day to walk to the remote cliffs and hikers need a special permit, but visitors can walk to an overlook to see the dwellings across the canyon, framed in a sandstone arch.
After that it was a couple of hours drive on to the Grand Canyon where we entered the South Rim from the east and got our first glimpse of the canyon from the Desert View Watchtower.
The Navajo National Monument is an incredible site; well preserved cliff and cave dwellings dating from around 1250 to 1300 AD and built by Ancestral Puebloans. It takes a day to walk to the remote cliffs and hikers need a special permit, but visitors can walk to an overlook to see the dwellings across the canyon, framed in a sandstone arch.
After that it was a couple of hours drive on to the Grand Canyon where we entered the South Rim from the east and got our first glimpse of the canyon from the Desert View Watchtower.