Road Trip USA 2022

Monument Valley

After a classic hotel breakfast with waffles, bagels and filter coffee, we make our way to Monument Valley, which can be reached from Page in about 2 hours.

Far in front of the visitor center you can see the typical rock formations, which for me represent the classic western backdrop.

$8 per person will be charged at the entrance to the park. The "American the Beautiful Pass" is not valid here as this park is part of Navajo County. Thus, the revenue stays with the Navajos who run the park.

Park Information: Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park

Since we are traveling in an SUV, we drive the 17-mile (27 km) loop in our own vehicle. I would only do this to a limited extent with a car/limousine, since the path is already heavily used and you can certainly touch down quickly in some places. In this case, you can also book guided tours, where stories of the Navajos will certainly be told.

We refrain from longer hikes again, because you can guess, the thermometer shows well over 86°F (30°C) again. So we always stop and stay in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle. With some rock formations, we wonder how long they will stay like this.

All in all, we need a little more than two hours for the loop and leave Monument Valley in a northeasterly direction in the early afternoon. With that we leave the desert-like landscapes of Arizona and soon the forest-covered Rocky Mountains in Colorado should be waiting for us.

Well, it's not going that fast. Our next hotel awaits us in the small town of Parachute. But until then there are still 310 mi (500 km) and therefore five hours to drive. We are at the hotel around 8 p.m. and there is actually a Mexican restaurant within walking distance, where we naturally treat ourselves to a large margarita first. The food is delicious and, as always, more than enough.

Tomorrow it's off to Aspen.