Things to do nearWest and East Mitten Buttes

West and East Mitten Buttes sit within Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, a protected landscape straddling the Arizona-Utah border that has been home to the Navajo Nation for centuries. The buttes themselves are composed of De Chelly sandstone, a deep red formation deposited roughly 270 million years ago. Erosion gradually stripped away the surrounding softer rock, leaving these towering monoliths standing roughly 1,000 feet above the valley floor. For the Navajo people, the landscape holds spiritual significance, and the tribal park has been managed by the Navajo Nation since 1958.

The visual power of West and East Mitten Buttes made Monument Valley one of Hollywood's most enduring filming locations. Director John Ford shot several Westerns here from the 1930s onward, and the buttes have appeared in countless films, television commercials, and photographs since. That cinematic familiarity makes the first real-life sighting feel both surprising and deeply familiar at the same time.

Visitors can explore the area along the self-guided Valley Drive, a dirt road that winds past the buttes and other formations including Merrick Butte and the Three Sisters. Guided tours by Navajo operators offer access to areas closed to independent visitors, including ancient cliff dwellings and petroglyphs tucked into canyon walls. The visitor center near the main overlook provides maps, cultural exhibits, and a modest selection of Navajo crafts and food.

The atmosphere around West and East Mitten Buttes is one of genuine stillness and scale. Few landscapes in North America communicate geological time as directly, and the combination of natural grandeur and living Navajo culture makes a visit here something well beyond a standard scenic stop.