Touring the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park involves driving on a ring road that winds through the valley. The road is unpaved and quite uneven in some areas. Even at the 15 mph speed limit, we were bounced around quite a bit. There are a couple of steep sections that require four-wheel drive to navigate through the loose sand.
This shot captures Totem Pole and Yei Bi Chei, with surrounding mesas in the background.
Totem Pole is a slender, 400-foot-tall sandstone spire, a remnant of a larger butte carved by erosion.
Yei Bi Chei is a collection of taller, aligned spires beside the Totem Pole, resembling figures in a traditional Navajo ceremony. The “Maternal Grandfathers of the Holy People” are central figures in the sacred nine-day Navajo Night Way (Yei Bi Chei) healing ceremony, where dancers portray these Holy People as intermediaries between humans and the divine.
