Monument Valley KOA

Monument Valley KOA, Monument Valley UT/AZ

Desolate…..  probably the best way to describe this area of the Utah / Arizona high desert. It’s pretty mind blowing seeing the huge monument rock structures towering out of the ground, but what’s even more impressive is that people live among the rocks with no running water, no electricity (other than a generator), unpaved roads and limited options for gas and groceries.  It truly is like going back in time when exploring this part of the country.

There are really only two must see spots in this area – Monument Valley Overlook aka Forrest Gump Point and the Monument Valley Visitors Center.  Monument Valley Overlook was certainly made famous by the movie and even more so by Instagram.  We visited a few times during our stay and no matter what time of day we went, it is very crowded.  People line both sides of the highway waiting their turn to dodge cars and jump into the middle of the road to snap their special moment in time.  We even saw a girl dressed in a Forrest Gump running outfit for her shot. She certainly thought ahead when planning out her visit.

The other must-see location is the Monument Valley Visitor Center / The View Hotel where The Mittens and Merrick Butte line up for a symmetrical picturesque trio.  The photos can be incredibly spectacular at this spot, especially when there are colorful clouds at sunrise and sunset.  We had clear skies for our stay, so I opted for a long exposure shot to capture the light trails of the cars driving down the dirt road as well as stars over the West Mitten Butte.

We also spent an entire morning driving through along the Monument Valley Scenic Drive.  We opted to do the drive ourselves versus taking a tour as we could go at our own pace and stop at as may viewpoints as we wanted along the way.  We learned that starting early was the best way to go as when we were finishing up our self-guided tour there were several tour jeeps with 15-20 people on each. For most of our drive, we only ran into a few other cars and people, so we really felt like we had the entire place to ourselves.

After we finished up the drive through Monument Valley, we hiked the Wildcat Trail which is an easy flat hike circling the West Mitten Butte. It was a hot day and there is very little shade on this trail but we pressed on and made it all the way around pretty quickly.  It’s a great hike and one of the few where you don’t need a Navajo guide.

As a photographer, I’d love to return to get better shots of these spots. Many photographers skilled at photoshop will just drop in an amazing sky they took at a different time and different location to enhance the look of the photo. I’m a bit more of a purist so I just accept the conditions that are present and make the most of it.

There is so much more to see in this world and we both decided that it’s better for us to move forward that to go back and I have come to accept that not all of my photos will be national geographic worthy but maybe I will get lucky with some of the locations and produce a few keepers along the way.

Lastly a few notes about the KOA. The campground does have full hook ups but there is no shade which isn’t so great for hot spring and summer months.   Most campers just stay for a night or two as they are passing through so this spot seems to be mostly one of convenience rather than luxury.  We stayed for 4 nights which was longer than most and for us was probably one day longer than we needed.  We liked the location as it was a close drive to gas, groceries and the two main attractions in the area.  The overall consensus is that if you are visiting the area and camping, it’s not a bad place to stay.

If you have any additional tips or suggestions for our readers, please drop them in the moment section.

Cheers,

– Tiny Trailer Trips Crew