driving Monument Valley - how best to incorporate when visiting other parks? (Kayenta: fit in, 2014)

[bloom]

What would be the best closest other park site in Utah or AZ to then drive the Monument Valley loop? How best to incorporate when visiting other parks in AZ or Utah etc?

[jamies]

Grand Canyon, then spend the night in Kayenta on the Navajo reservation I forgot the name but there's a nice hotel on the western end of the small town area with an excellent restaurant. Stayed there during a snow storm once. Dining by the fireplace with big flakes wafting down was memorable. Some rooms have fireplaces too iirc. I'm thinking it might be a Hampton Inn. Arrive early in the day and see MV at Sunset and again in the morning for different lighting. Then drive north up to Moab, Arches and Canyonlands parks. Then up to I70 then south to Bryce, Capitol Reef and Zion. Or reverse it.

There's a "secret" road from a bit north of Medicine Hat over through Fry Canyon toward the Cap Reef/Bryce area. Be aware this is extremely isolated, you should not take it without complete survival gear and preferably a second vehicle. There is no cell service for over 100 miles and help or even another car may be hours in coming.

If you can somehow fit in the North Rim and have lunch at the Lodge. It is right on the cliff, not like the Tovar Lodge at the main canyon which sets back about 100 feet and only a couple of tables have views. The north lodge you look straight down and every table is incredible! Order their home made Prickly Pear Cactus cole slaw!

Take more water!

[motormaker]

^^^ jamies did you mean Mexican Hat instead of Medicine Hat?

That cool secret road I'm guessing is Moki Dugway.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/arizona/

Good trip routing and great country.

[Caladan]

If you are talking about National Parks, then the closest to M.V. is the south rim of Grand Canyon N.P., accessed via the eastern entrance. Leaving GCNP, once you get to Cameron, it's only about 90 minutes to Kayenta. From Kayenta, the 2nd closest parks would be Zion to the west, and Canyonlands to the north-east.

Regarding the information above - motormaker is correct, in there is no Medicine Hat near Kayenta. The town is actually called Mexican Hat, which sits on the San Juan River. This river is also the border to the Navajo Reservation. There is a nice little hotel and restaurant right on the river. There are also a few more restaurants a few blocks down the road. All are serviceable, none are great.

Research the Moki Dugway *a lot* before you attempt it.

Dining on the North Rim is a great idea. Just be aware that you will need reservations to eat in the actual restaurant, and you will need to make them 1-2 months in advance. However, there is a fast-food counter at the Rim, and you can eat their food in the restaurant area when the actual restaurant is not serving.

It would be easier to answer you second question if you give us some idea as to the direction(s) you will be traveling, and what types of parks you want to visit. There are around a dozen National Parks and National Monuments within a days drive of Kayenta, and it would be a waste of time to type up a suggestion for a park located in a direction that you have no intention of traveling.

[NW Crow]

Ideally time visit to Monument Valley to sunset, sunrise or both. That will take some effort.

[bloom]

Thanks. Any good food stops nearby Monument Valley loop?

[teddyearp]

Originally Posted by jamies

Grand Canyon, then spend the night in Kayenta on the Navajo reservation I forgot the name but there's a nice hotel on the western end of the small town area with an excellent restaurant. <snip>

Don't think even I can top that one, LOL! Bloom, that's just a thing here on this forum, hehe. But yes, jamies' given about the best there is, unless of course you want to cut cross country from Moab to say near Bryce canyon? Lot's of trails, so little time . . . .

[teddyearp]

Originally Posted by bloom

Thanks. Any good food stops nearby Monument Valley loop?

I believe you're going to have to check out the local fare. There's a Navajo Market nearby on the main highway, but you could probably check out a Navajo Taco at one of the stands on the way into the park.

[motormaker]

I found at Goulding's Stagecoach Dining Room at Goulding Lodge off 163 to be pretty good.

Need to sta and try the hotel or cabins at The View.

https://www.nationalparkreservations...he-view-hotel/

[Ex New Yorker]

Monument Valley is on the Navajo Indian Reservation. It's the Navajo Nation, they make their own rules. You don't want to get caught target shooting or even carrying on their lands. In general you really have to mind your p's and q's while on their lands. Myself I try and avoid the reservations altogether. Before we moved we visited Monument Valley but now that we live here we've never gone back. Indian Reservations are notorious for their violent crime rate. You certainly don't want to break down there for any reason.

Fortunately there are many other places throughout Arizona where you can legally go out and target shoot as long as you don't leave anything left behind you except for foot prints. Littering and trashing the place is still illegal and rightly so.

As gun owners one of the best things we can do is join the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AZCDL). They were instrumental in getting Constitutional Carry passed in Arizona. At one time permit less open carry was the only legal way to carry in Arizona. Until concealed carry became legal only with a permit, then Constitutional Carry where no permit is required for both methods of carry. Permits are optional for reciprocity reasons with other states and for permit holders to be in compliance with the "Gun Free School Zones Act of 1990". Which makes it a federal crime to carry a loaded firearm within 1000 ft. of a school zone without a state issued permit. Just think of how many streets, highways and public thoroughfares pass within that distance.

Firearm carry on Indian reservations is a gray area. Reservations can make their own laws regarding possession and carry of firearms. Laws and attitudes vary dramatically from reservation to reservation in Arizona. Tribes cannot enforce tribal law on non-tribal members, though they can enforce state and federal law. You may be trespassed from the reservation and have your firearm confiscated.
https://www.frontiercarry.org/arizona.html

Is it illegal to carry a gun in the Navajo Nation?
Navajo Nation: According to HandgunLaw.us, the Navajo Nation makes it illegal to carry a deadly weapon including a gun. Tohono O’odham Nation: The Tohono O’odham Nation prohibits the carry of a concealed weapon on a person or in a vehicle. It is illegal within the reservation to fire a gun within a quarter mile of an occupied home.
Arizona Gun Laws: On Native American Reservations, How Do State L…
http://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/.../21/id/610707/

https://indiancountrytoday.com/archi...a-reservations special-report Special Report: Violent crime increasing on Arizona reservations
May 30, 2003 · Forty percent of all violent crime which occurs on the nation's reservations happens in the northern half of Arizona, Lodge said. The violent-crime rate on the Navajo Nation

www.fbi.gov › investigate › violent-crime Indian Country Crime — FBI - Federal Bureau of Investigation
Case Types. Approximately 75% of the crimes the FBI investigates in Indian Country are: Death investigations. Physical abuse of a child. Sexual abuse of a child. Violent felony assaults. Rape.