Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly

Keep in mind what I wrote below under "Indian Friendly" when you read this, since both sites are within the Navajo Nation.

Monument Valley, who doesn't see images of old Westerns before his eyes when he hears this two words. In fact quite a few Westerns especially in the 30's and 40's were really shot here. But as everything in the movies reality is different. My high expectations didn't meet the real landscape. Don't get me wrong the buttes and cliffs and canyons were spectacular, I just had expected them to more isolated from each other in a more outstretched landscape.

Since the valley is on Indian territory, we of course had to pay $ 15,00 for fuzzy map and the use of a crappy unpaved dirt loop road through the valley.

Canyon de Chelly National Monument on the other hand was very spectacular even though it also is Navajo land, that is maintained by the National Park Service. There is no entrance fee and camping is free as well. Accessible without a Navajo guide, on the other hand, are only the two roads that lead along the rim of the canyon(s) and one hike into the canyon to an ancient ruin. Of course we did the hike: it was very nice. We regretted the fact that we were not able to explore the canyon bottoms on our own.