# Where's that stereotypical "desert highway" photo? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 5, 2004, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-that-stereotypical-desert-highway-photo/267709 "2004-10-05T19:25:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-that-stereotypical-desert-highway-photo/267709/1 "2004-10-05T19:25:04Z")
You must know the photo I mean. A dead straight highway stretches off almost to the horizon, then jinks off to the right (or is it left?) and away over a rise. Behind are great big sandstone buttes, to either side is just desert. I assume it is Arizona or Nevada. Unfortunately I can’t track it down on Google Images - there are lots of “desert highway” pics, but not this one. I’ll recognise it when I see it. Anyway, the question is, which highway is it, and where is this scene? (And can you find a photo anywhere online?) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-that-stereotypical-desert-highway-photo/267709/2 "2004-10-05T19:26:51Z")
Ah… I’ve managed to find the pic I mean, but I still don’t know where it is. [http://spotted-dog-design.com/pocketpc/graphics/DesertRoad.jpg](http://spotted-dog-design.com/pocketpc/graphics/DesertRoad.jpg) Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-that-stereotypical-desert-highway-photo/267709/3 "2004-10-05T19:33:52Z")
Monument Valley, Utah ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-that-stereotypical-desert-highway-photo/267709/4 "2004-10-05T19:36:02Z")
Is Monument Valley in Utah? I thought it was in Arizona, but I’m an ignorant Brit 😉 Any chance you know what number the highway would be? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-that-stereotypical-desert-highway-photo/267709/5 "2004-10-05T19:39:30Z")
Off of Highway 163. I _think_ the shot is of Valley of the Gods Road. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-that-stereotypical-desert-highway-photo/267709/6 "2004-10-05T19:42:00Z")
[Link](http://www.americansouthwest.net/utah/monument_valley/mvalroad2_l.html) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-that-stereotypical-desert-highway-photo/267709/7 "2004-10-05T19:57:03Z")
Thanks! I was just behind you finding that page with the info you gave me. Just had a look at the topo maps for that area. I guess the photo was taken about [here](http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=12&n=4106048&e=588833&s=250&size=l&datum=nad83&layer=DRG100), looking southwest, so those mesas are the Stagecoach (far right) and the Saddleback (straight ahead). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-that-stereotypical-desert-highway-photo/267709/8 "2004-10-05T19:59:04Z")
Yep…that would be the shot. Thanks for asking the question. I just added another piece of obscure SouthWest trivia to my store, with which to torment my friends and passing strangers. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-that-stereotypical-desert-highway-photo/267709/9 "2004-10-05T20:00:39Z")
> [@](#): > > so those mesas are the Stagecoach (far right) and the Saddleback (straight ahead). Actually, checking the map, the Saddleback would be to the right and the Stagecoach ahead. Strange how the Stagecoach has more of a saddleback though :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-that-stereotypical-desert-highway-photo/267709/10 "2004-10-05T21:39:28Z")
This place is truely in the middle of nowhere. Monument Valley crosses over the Arizona/Utah border. The closest town is probably Gallup New Mexico and thats well over 4 hours away. Closest major city would be Albuquerque. The only place near this picture is a hotel/gas station/restaurant adjacent to a small cabin where John Wayne stayed while filming The Searchers. Monument Valley is mostly a Navajo Indian reserve. I had the opportunity to camp there for a week and take 8 hour horseback tours deep into the valley where no roads exsist. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheres-that-stereotypical-desert-highway-photo/267709/11 "2004-10-05T23:04:35Z")
Did a road trip there myself, and it’s awesome. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of film at the previous stop in Monument Valley proper and I didn’t have a new roll to load. It gave me an amazing sense of deja vu, given how often I’d seen that in pictures and in car commercials. The closest hotel that we found (circa 1994) in that region is in Farmington, NM, which is a little closer than Gallup. There also might be hotels in Kayenta, AZ (I know there are fast food places there). Much to our surprise given the how “big” Shiprock looks on a map, there were no hotels. Luckily, Farmington isn’t that far down the road from there, unlike Gallup.