Monument Valley (in Navajo: Tsé Bii Ndzisgaii, meaning "valley of the rocks") is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of vast sandstone buttes, the largest reaching 1,000 ft (300 m) above the valley floor. It is located on the Arizona-Utah states, near the Four Corners area. The valley lies within the range of the Navajo Nation Reservation, and is accessible from U.S. Highway 163.

Director John Ford used the location for a number of his best known films, and thus, in the words of critic Keith Phipps, "its five square miles have defined what decades of moviegoers think of when they imagine the american wild west.

The area is part of the Colorado Plateau. The elevation of the valley floor ranges from 5,000 to 6,000 feet (1,500 to 1,800 m) above sea level. The floor is largely siltstone of the Cutler Group, or sand derived from it, deposited by the meandering rivers that carved the valley. The valley's vivid red color comes from iron oxide exposed in the weathered siltstone. The darker, blue-gray rocks in the valley get their color from manganese oxide.

The buttes are clearly stratified, with three principal layers. The lowest layer is the Organ Rock Shale, the middle is de Chelly Sandstone, and the top layer is the Moenkopi Formation capped by Shinarump Conglomerate. The valley includes large stone structures including the famed Eye of the Sun. Monument Valley is officially a large area that includes much of the area surrounding Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, a Navajo Nation equivalent to a national park.

Visitors may pay an access fee and drive through the park on a 17-mile (27 km) dirt road (a 2-3 hour trip). Tours are also available, and the fee varies between about $50 and $120 per person depending on the services provided and route. Parts of Monument Valley are accessible only by guided tour, such as Mystery Valley and Hunts Mesa.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Between the 13th of May and the 3rd of June 2013 we spent 3 wonderful weeks in the west part of USA. It was our first trip in this part of USA, and each day was full of surprises, with countless breathtaking landscapes.
After 3 days in San Francisco, and a flight to Las Vegas, we began our long road trip (3.000 miles i.e. 4.800 km and more than 70 hours driving on the wonderful scenic roads from one park to another). We had the pleasure to discover the following sites :

- Grand Canyon National Park, (the south rim part only)
- the Colorado canyon at Lees Ferry, the Vermillion Cliffs on the road to Cliff Dwellers
- the area of the city of Page (with the visit of the 2 Antelope Canyons Navajo Tribal Parks, the Lake Powell, and Horseshoe Bend,
- Monument valley NP (with an afternoon spent in the Mystery Valley trails with a Navajo guide driving a Jeep Wrangler)
- Arches NP
- Canyonlands NP
- Bryce canyon NP
- Zion NP
- Death Valley NP
- Bodie State Historic Park
- Mono Lake
- Yosemite NP and Maropisa Grove NP near Wawona
- the Napa valley with a visit of the Newton winery (LVMH group)
- we did a balloon flight over the vineyards
- and we stayed 2 mores days in San Francisco before leaving this great city to go back to France.

Si vous appréciez mes photos, merci de me laisser un message et/ou de voter pour ces galeries ou pour des clichés particuliers. Si vous êtes intéressés par une ou plusieurs photos n'hésitez pas à me laisser un message avec vos coordonnées, je ne manquerai pas de reprendre contact avec vous. Mon adresse e-mail : patrick.debetencourt@hotmail.fr

Please don't hesitate to leave a message concerning these galleries, or pictures, (a vote would be also appreciated !) If you're interested by my pictures, please leave me a message, I'll contact you. My e-mail address : patrick.debetencourt@hotmail.fr