Monument Valley

I'm trying to avoid posting the obvious and familiar postcard shots as I travel through southwest USA, but today all the pictures I took were of those instantly recognisable iconic rocks, so I'm having to break my own rule. And here is another even more postcardy one, of John Ford's Point.

We stayed a Gouldings Lodge, a few miles out of the valley but with a great view. The museum here gave us the fascinating history of how the valley came to be used as a film location. Harry and Mike Goulding ran a trading post to trade with the Navajo indians who live there and in the 30s they were aware that the locals were suffering from the depression. Harry saw the potential of the site as a film location and saw that this could bring opportunities to the locals. He went to LA to persuade up-and-coming film director John Ford to visit Monument Valley and Ford was persuaded to make his first western there. He sed the Navajo people as extras in his films and the partnership still continues. The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp was filmed there last year.

This is the Left Mitten - its partner the Right Mitten is off camera on the right. Each sandstone butte (as they are known) is approx 1,000 ft high.