0.7 miles away
Merrick Butte
A butte in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, south of the Mitten Buttes and named for the miner Jack Merrick.
West and East Mitten Buttes
Two buttes in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, rising above 6,100 feet and named for their resemblance to a pair of mittens.
- Rank in Arizona
- #83of 727 ranked
- Overall score
- Score 52.6 out of 100medium confidence
- Category
- Natural Landmark
The West and East Mitten Buttes, also known as the Mittens, are two buttes in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, in north-eastern Navajo County. Viewed from the south they resemble two giant mittens with their thumbs facing inwards. They stand about 0.6 miles from the Arizona-Utah state line, and West Mitten Butte lies 1.1 miles north-east of the park headquarters. The summit of West Mitten Butte is 6,176 feet and that of East Mitten Butte 6,226 feet. With Merrick Butte, about two-thirds of a mile to the south, the Mittens form a triangle, and Sentinel Mesa, a more extensive plateau, lies to the north-west. At the end of March and in mid-September, for a few days only, the shadow of the West Mitten falls across the East Mitten at sunset, an effect known as the Mitten Shadow. The buttes are made of three principal rock layers: Organ Rock Shale at the base, de Chelly Sandstone in the middle and the Moenkopi Formation above, capped by Shinarump Conglomerate.
Where it is
West and East Mitten Buttes is a natural landmark near Monument Valley, in Navajo County. It is one of the natural landmarks in this database, and appears in the statewide ranking of Arizona attractions.
How this ranking was reached
No official visitor count is published for West and East Mitten Buttes, so its score rests on public interest and tourism significance, and is capped below the level a measured attraction can reach. That is why the medium confidence above is not higher. The weighting is explained in full on the methodology page, and every axis is broken out under Facts and sources at the foot of this page.
Note on the data: No official visitor count is published for this attraction.
Sources
- Public interest: Wikimedia pageviews (en.wikipedia, human traffic), 2024
- Coordinates and designations: Wikidata(opens in a new tab)
- County: U.S. Census geography via FCC Area API, resolved from coordinates
Record last verified 2026-08-12.
More photographs
Public domain · source(opens in a new tab) 
Andrew Kearns from Mill Valley, United States, CC BY 2.0 · licence(opens in a new tab) · source(opens in a new tab)
Nearby attractions
1.0 miles away
Monument Valley
A cluster of sandstone buttes on the Navajo Nation, the largest rising 1,000 feet above the valley floor.1.7 miles away
John Wayne's Point
John Wayne's Point, a Monument Valley overlook named for the actor, lies near Lookout Point but faces east-southeast rather than its direction.
2.1 miles away
Elephant Butte
A 5,981-foot Monument Valley butte, appearing as the largest formation visible north-east of John Ford's Point.
2.3 miles away
North Window Overlook
North Window Overlook, in Monument Valley, Navajo County, Arizona, looks onto the North Window rock formation and the desert beyond it.
2.4 miles away
Mitchell Mesa
A 6,586-foot summit in Navajo County, named after a miner who died working the area alongside a partner named Merrick.
Facts and sources
Place
- Category
- Natural Landmark
- Destination
- Monument Valley
- County
- Navajo County
- State
- Arizona
Visitation
- Annual visits
- Not published
Ranking
- Overall score
- 52.6 / 100
- Visitation score
- No published count
- Popularity score
- 46.2
- Significance score
- 58.0
- Confidence
- medium
Visiting
- Coordinates
- 36.9900, -110.0830
- Last verified
- 2026-08-12