Monument Valley in Navajo Nation on the Arizona-Utah border is iconic as any location in the Southwest U.S. From early Westerns to Forrest Gump to car commercials today, the buttes serve as classic backgrounds of the West. I'd never been to this remote area, but several years ago, I got a shot from a plane window.
Monument Valley at 30,000 feet
Sentinel Mesa in the top right is in Utah. Immediately below that in the right center, in Arizona, is West Mitten, Merrick Butte and East Mitten.
West Mitten Butte, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
East Mitten Butte
The Tribal Park visitor center provides a terrace on John Wayne's Viewpoint of West Mitten, East Mitten and Merrick Butte. In the aerial shot above, the white visitor center building is in the upper center next to the large mesa. Two years ago, I ran into a man in a wheelchair in Chicago who said he was an extra in several John Wayne movies. He sure looked as though he could've been.
John Wayne's Point, Monument Valley
Unlike the red sandstone of the buttes, Algathla Peak is a volcanic plug--the eroded igneous rock that's left from an ancient volcano. It is easy to feel why it is sacred to the Navajos.
Algathla Peak, El Capitan, Navajo Nation, Arizona
Just north of Monument Valley is Bears Ears National Monument, protected by President Obama. For the first time ever, it is expected that on Monday a president will remove the protections of National Monument land reducing the size of Bears Ears Monument by 85%. This will place thousands of ancient archaeologic sites at risk, make native holy sites vulnerable and open the land to mineral exploitation. http://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2017/11/30/report-trump-to-cut-crucial-landscapes-out-of-grand-staircase-and-bears-ears/