Exploring Monument Valley is always an exhilarating experience as well as a photography adventure. Perhaps the most recognized sandstone formations in the American Southwest are two that are called the "Mittens". When viewed from the south, they look like two gigantic mittens with their "thumbs" facing inwards like a person's hand. These formations are really big, each rising about 6,200 feet from the desert below.
One has to wonder how these two formations became mirror images of one another. Like most of the formations in Monument Valley, they were formed by thousands of years of erosion. I am guessing that the two mittens are at least a half-mile apart, if not a mile or more. Given that, what were the circumstances of wind and water erosion that would cause them to form almost identically? Obviously, these questions will probably never be answered. In any case, this photo depicts the West Mitten that I thought the old dead tree limbs framed quite well.