Mystery Valley

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Mystery Valley is to the south of the main Monument Valley. It's got it's own formations and many other attractions. You need a Navajo guide to travel through Mystery Valley. When I first heard about this valley, I thought it would be something to fill up a day, something not quite as nice as the "real thing", but was I wrong. It's a wonderful place that one could spend days in all by itself. The late afternoon of this day was the first time we had sunlight for more than a few moments.

Click on images below for enlarged view.

Canon EOS 1Ds, Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L @ 52mm, ISO 100

Mystery Valley

This was my variation on this area. We had a flowering bush in the foreground, and interesting tree in the middle, and the great formations in the distance.

Canon EOS 1Ds, Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L @ 35mm, ISO 100

Mystery Valley Garden

It seemed almost like someone had planted this garden. It's nicely set off by the clouds and formations in the distance.

Canon EOS 1Ds, Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L @ 200mm, ISO 100

Petrified Dunes

These looked much more like petrified sand dunes to me than the area named that in Arches National Park. You expect to see a stagecoach or a wagon train coming through any minute.

Canon EOS 1Ds, Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L @ 34mm, ISO 100

Mystery Valley Reflection

Another advantage of all the rain we had was lots of puddles to use for reflections.