Golden Drive - Agathla Peak, Kayenta, Arizona

A couple of months ago, I headed out to Moab to join my friend Jeff Clow on his Spring Photo Tour there. Every time I head west, I try to add some days to the trip to visit some new places or revisit some great places. This year, it was to revisit Monument Valley, which should be on everybody's list to visit. I convinced Jeff and Jaki Good Miller to join me there before the tour. I normally would fly in and out of Grand Junction when I visit Moab, but due to the timing of flights, I was forced to fly into Albuquerque. Jaki met me there and we headed out on the five hour drive. It was great catching up with Jaki during our drive, but as we got nearer to Monument Valley, I wanted to speed up and maybe catch the sunset at the Mile Marker 13 that was made famous in Forest Gump. That was not to be. I had never visited Monument Valley from the south and, as we past the town of Kayenta, we saw this very unique rock formation. We both immediately agreed to stop and shoot this. Turns out that this 1,500 foot formation is actually a volcanic plug that has blocked a vent of a volcano. As you can see, it really sticks out because of all of the flat land that surrounds it.