Lake Powell & Monument Valley

Utah's southeastern corner holds some of the most recognisable desert scenery in America: Monument Valley on the Navajo Nation, the canyons of Lake Powell, Natural Bridges and the ancient cliff dwellings of the Bears Ears region.

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park straddles the Utah–Arizona border on the Navajo Nation. Its sandstone buttes appear in countless films, and the 17-mile Valley Drive can be driven in a high-clearance car, while other parts of the valley are reached only with a Navajo guide. The stretch of US-163 north of the valley, with the buttes on the horizon, is one of the most photographed roads in the West. Lake Powell, created by Glen Canyon Dam, fills a maze of red-rock side canyons in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Most visitors explore by houseboat or tour boat, and on the Utah side the marinas at Bullfrog and Halls Crossing serve the lake's central section. Rainbow Bridge National Monument, one of the largest natural bridges in the world, is reached by boat. Further north, the small town of Bluff is a base for the San Juan River and the Bears Ears region, which holds thousands of Ancestral Puebloan sites. Natural Bridges National Monument has three large stone bridges and a short loop road, Goosenecks State Park overlooks deep meanders of the San Juan River, and the dirt road through the Valley of the Gods passes isolated sandstone towers. In Blanding, Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum displays one of the largest collections of Ancestral Puebloan pottery in the region.