Time for a new view of Monument Valley.
When you think of Monument Valley you may remember your short ride around the main visitor loop. To see Monument Valley as it's meant to be seen, you need to secure the services of 
Navajo guides. We use the very best, Monument Valley Safari. We take photographers to the best sites at the best times for the best photo opportunities.
For 2024 we’ve updated and upgraded our annual Monument Valley photography adventure. Yes, you still get great photo opps and intimate closeup scenes of Monument Valley available only to Navajo-guided visitors. We’ve added new experiences outside the confines of Monument Valley including slot canyon photography at Corkscrew Canyon and photography at the area’s largest petroglyph panel. Add to that exciting photo opps of fast-riding horsemen and scenes featuring Travis Mose donning authentic Navajo headdresses and regalia against incomparable Monument Valley backgrounds. Join us, won’t you?
Wednesday, October 23rd: Arrive at Monument Valley. Check into
your lodging at Goulding's Lodge Hillside Villa. Settle in and prepare for our 7:30 PM meeting to include our itinerary updates and briefing. We’ll meet at Neil’s Villa, discuss procedures, timing, and locations then break for the evening in preparation for the next morning’s photo activities.
Thursday, October 24th: Meet at The View Hotel at 6:30 AM for transfer to our Monument Valley Safari vehicles. Our sunrise shoot will include iconic Monument Valley scenes. Possible locations include Totem Pole, Artists Point, and North Window among others. Our guides will help us determine the best locations based on weather and desert environment conditions.
Once we’re finished with our sunrise shoot, we’ll tour additional Monument Valley locations best suited for weather and other local conditions. We’ll finish up our morning shoot then return to our rooms to prepare ourselves for our Peter McDonald Navajo Code Talker lunch.
11:30 AM: Meet at Monument Valley Safari offices for transfer to Kayenta and lunch with Navajo Code Talker Peter McDonald. One of only 3 remaining World War II Code Talkers, Peter describes the thrilling and heroic story of Navajo Code Talkers and their key role in supporting America's war against Japan. We’ll each purchase lunch at the restaurant while listening to Peter McDonald’s exciting Code Talker history.
1:30 PM: After our delicious lunch, we’ll return to Monument Valley Safari’s offices packing up for our hair-raising ride through the desert to Hunt’s Mesa. Climbing nearly vertical sandstone faces and traversing twin-track “roads,” through old uranium mining territory makes for a ride you’ll never forget. We’ll stay atop the 600-foot vertical cliffs looking down on Monument 
Valley with a view spanning miles and miles. After catching the sunset from our spectacular viewpoint we’ll make our way down to Monument Valley Safari’s offices, pick up our vehicles, and head back to our lodging to prep for our Friday shooting.
Friday, October 25th: Meet at Monument Valley Safari, 6:30 AM,
offices for transfer to our vehicles taking us to our morning shoot. This morning we’ll go to another iconic Monument Valley sunrise location to catch the sun illuminating this fabulous western landscape. Locations can include The Mittens, Totem Pole, and other potential sites. Once complete we’ll join our horse riders and Travis Mose for our riding action and Navajo character posed shots against Monument Valley backgrounds. Following our shoot, we’ll visit more Monument Valley locations such as Eye of the Sun, Ear of the Wind, and Big Hogan Arch, returning to our rooms for breakfast and preparation for our afternoon photography.
1:00 PM: Meet at Monument Valley Safari office for transfer to our vehicles for our Oljato photo sites. Corkscrew Canyon is a small seldom visited slot canyon featuring wind and water-worn sandstone formations making fabulous photo opportunities. The Oljato petroglyph panel is another seldom-visited location offering superb photography opportunities. Figures resulting from Native American artists centuries ago depict life and stories we can only imagine. To provide our photographers with the best opportunities, we’ll split 
our group, so we have less interference in making great images. After each group finishes photographing their sites, we’ll switch locations so everyone shoots each site.
4:00 PM: We depart the Oljato area and head toward Mystery Valley to photograph sites such as House of Many Hands and Honeymoon Arch.
5:30 PM: We make our way back to Monument Valley Safari
Offices to pick up our cars. We’ll drive to the View Hotel parking lot for our Mittens sunset photography. Sunset occurs at 6:33 PM so we’ll be finished by 7:00 PM. Returning to our rooms for dinner, we’ll prep for our astrophotography trip back into the park. Our guides will find a
good location with stars against a clear dark western sky. Shooting until approximately 11:00 PM will conclude our Monument Valley Safari.
Do you need to be a professional photographer on any Neil’s Great Photography Adventures trip? Absolutely not! You’ll receive excellent guidance from Neil & his team resulting from over 50 years of experience buying and selling advanced photographic equipment in addition to his over 20 years of experience teaching photography at the University of Utah’s Continuing Ed department and on international photo safaris to the world’s most exotic locations with people just like you. If you’re looking for your perfect picture, we’ll help you get it!
We’d love to have you join us. We have a few slots left on our 2024 safari and hope you can take one. Please call or e-mail us with any questions. 801-949-1001 neil@ngpadventures.com.