Muley Point in Goosenecks State Park, Utah overlooks Monument Valley

One of the best views of Monument Valley is from Muley Point in the Goosenecks State Park in Utah. To get to Muley Point, you drive north from Monument Valley on State Highway 163. Past the village of Mexican Hat, you take Highway 261.

Climbing up the Moki Dugway.

Highway 261 soon climbs over a thousand feet mesa. The road, known as Moki Dugway, is steep. Its a three mile gravel road stretch with over 10% grade at places. On a clear sunny day, like we were fortunate to have, its not an issue to drive the road, but I guess you will need to be extra careful in bad weather. On top of the mesa, you take left onto the Muley Point road, which soon takes you to the amazing Muley viewpoint that overlooks the San Juan river and the Monument Valley in the distance.

View from Muley Point. San Juan river down below, and Monument Valley in the distance.

Muley Point has awe-inspiring vista. It is a place for reflection.

The view from Muley Point is stunning, to say the least. You look couple of thousand feet down into the San Juan river. And there, in the distance, are the iconic buttes of the Monument Valley. It does not get better than this as far as landscape is concerned. By the time we got to Muley Point, the clouds had gathered, and the visibility in the distance was not that great. I am certain its a great place to be with clear skies, and the distance buttes the color of gold. But for now, the road was calling, and we needed to move on towards the "Valley of the Gods".