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Mystery Valley lies southwest of Monument Valley. The valley is only accessible with the
help of a Navajo Guide, so it is far less-visited than Monument Valley. This page displays
sunset images of the Saucers and Petrified Dunes of Mystery Valley and several Arches,
including Honeymoon Arch and Ruins in Mystery Valley, Teardrop ‘Arch’ (an enlarged
vertical crack in Horseshoe Canyon), and two well-known Monument Valley Arches:
Ear of the Wind and Eye of the Sun (and one of the Eye of the Sun petroglyphs).
Click an image to open a larger version.
Use your back button to return to this page.
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Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection where a Gallery can be selected.
There are 14 Sections in the Photoshelter Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection
Direct Links to the Monument Valley images:
Monument Valley Scenics
Monument Valley: Hogans and Petroglyphs
Susie Yazzie Monument Valley
Indian Lands Select (150 Selected images)
Anasazi and Fremont Petroglyphs
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Monument Valley Ear of the Wind X1367
A dead Juniper still guards Ear of the Wind Arch in Monument Valley.
Ear of the Wind is a pothole arch eroded in the De Chelley Sandstone
south of the Loop Road in an area accessible only with a Navajo Guide.
Pothole natural arches are formed by chemical weathering. Water standing in
a depression on top of the formation gradually eats through to the layers below.
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Monument Valley Ear of the Wind X1379
Ear of the Wind stands atop a steep sand dune.
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Monument Valley Ear of the Wind X1381
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Monument Valley Ear of the Wind X1385
A close detail shot of Ear of the Wind Arch,
the most well-known arch in Monument Valley.
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Monument Valley Eye of the Sun X1546
Eye of the Sun is a cave-type natural arch famous for
its Anasazi Bighorn Sheep Petroglyphs (see below).
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Monument Valley Eye of the Sun Petroglyphs X1521
In a niche below the Eye of the Sun Arch in Monument Valley are a group of Bighorn Sheep.
Unlike most Bighorn petroglyphs which are depicted static or with limited motion, the top right
petroglyph shows the Bighorn leaping, its motion accentuated by the static sheep below.
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Mystery Valley Honeymoon Arch X1460
Honeymoon Arch is a pothole natural arch located in Mystery Valley,
south and west of the icon of the Southwest that is Monument Valley.
A less well-known area because it requires a Navajo Guide to enter,
Mystery Valley has several Arches, Anasazi ruins, and wide open spaces.
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Mystery Valley Honeymoon Arch X1458
Honeymoon Arch stands atop a steep slick rock incline.
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Mystery Valley Honeymoon Arch 1060
A view of Mystery Valley from within Honeymoon Arch.
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Mystery Valley Honeymoon Ruins X1442
In a cleft under Honeymoon Arch is Honeymoon House Ruin,
the remains of an Anasazi granary built over 1000 years ago.
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Mystery Valley Honeymoon Ruins X1442c
Detail of Honeymoon Ruins, reprocessed to bring out detail in the ruins (rather than for the scene as in the image above).
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Mystery Valley Honeymoon Ruins X1454
The Type I masonry style seen in this 1/20 sec. detail shot makes the likely date in the period between 800-1000 AD.
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Mystery Valley Honeymoon Arch and Ruins X1445
Honeymoon Arch and Ruins, shot while laying on my back below the arch.
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Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection where a Gallery can be selected.
There are 14 Sections in the Photoshelter Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection
Direct Links to the Monument Valley images:
Monument Valley Scenics
Monument Valley: Hogans and Petroglyphs
Susie Yazzie Monument Valley
Indian Lands Select (150 Selected images)
Anasazi and Fremont Petroglyphs
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Monument Valley Tear Drop Arch X1609
Teardrop Arch in Horseshoe Canyon frames a view of
some of the Northern Buttes: Brigham’s Tomb, King on
his Throne, Stagecoach and Bear and Rabbit Buttes.
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Monument Valley Tear Drop Arch X1647
Teardrop Arch is not really a natural arch... it is an
enlarged vertical crack located in the cliffs southeast of
Goulding’s across Hwy 163 (seen in the image above).
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Dancing on a Saucer Mystery Valley X1471
Providing elegant scale, a young lady strikes a pose atop one of the Saucer Rocks
which caps a petrified dune in Mystery Valley. Beyond her are (from left to right):
Eagle Mesa, Mitchell Butte, Setting Hen, Brigham’s Tomb and Gray Whiskers.
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Mystery Valley Saucers X1468
The Saucers and the Petrified Dunes in Mystery Valley.
This image gives you a good feel for the vast open space.
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Mystery Valley Saucers X1474
This is the same scene as the image shown above,
without the elegantly posed young lady providing scale.
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Mystery Valley Saucers X1482
The view across Mystery Valley past the Saucer Rocks and Petrified Dunes
towards the Northern Buttes and Mesas of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.
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Mystery Valley Petrified Dunes
and Mitchell Butte X1500
Petrified Dunes, Eagle Mesa and Mitchell Butte at Sunset.
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Mystery Valley Petrified Dunes at Sunset X1499
As sunset approaches, the golden light washes over
a Juniper tree and the Petrified Dunes in Mystery Valley.
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Mystery Valley Petrified Dunes at Sunset X1495
The scene to the west of the Saucer Rocks, with the Juniper Tree in the foreground,
Petrified Dunes and Mystery Valley in the mid-field, and in the distant background,
the Northern Mesas and Buttes of Monument Valley in the golden light of Sunset.
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Mystery Valley Petrified Dunes at Sunset X1501
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Mystery Valley Petrified Dunes at Sunset X1508
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Mystery Valley Saucers at Sunset X1512
One last look at the Saucers, the Petrified Dunes and Mystery Valley as Dusk approaches.
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Images in this section are in a number of different Galleries on the Photoshelter website.
The Banner below leads to the Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection where a Gallery can be selected.
There are 14 Sections in the Photoshelter Indian Lands & Anasazi Sites Collection
Direct Links to the Monument Valley images:
Monument Valley Scenics
Monument Valley: Hogans and Petroglyphs
Susie Yazzie Monument Valley
Indian Lands Select (150 Selected images)
Anasazi and Fremont Petroglyphs
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Click the Display Composite above to visit the Monument Valley Scenics page.
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Click the Display Composite above to visit the Mesas and Buttes page.
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Click the Display Composite above to visit the Hogans and Petroglyphs page.
Susie Yazzie
The display composite above links to
the Hogans and Petroglyphs page, where
images of Susie Yazzie are displayed.
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Click the Display Composite above to return to the Indian Lands and Anasazi Sites Index page.
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