Are you a fan of movie westerns? If so, why not pack up the dog and get out to explore the “movie sets” where many of those classic sagas were filmed on location...
Monument Valley (Monument Valley, Utah)
It will not take long after pulling onto the 17-mile auto tour in Monument Valley for movie buffs to recognize the isolated butes and exquisitely carved rock formations scattered across the high plateau. Legendary director John Ford was the first to film in the valley, making the iconic Stagecoach in 1939. Stagecoach made a star of John Wayne and elevated the Western from B-movie status into the most popular form of American cinema. The Stagecoach scenes were shot in open desert country known today as Stagecoach Wash. Ford and Wayne returned many times to Monument Valley for The Searchers, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon and others.
Today Monument Valley is a tribal park of the Navajo Nation. There are no formal hiking trails along the auto tour but there are plenty of opportunities to stop and wander with your dog about such familiar movie backdrops as the Mitten Buttes in Fort Apache (1948) where Wayne and Hnery Fonda clashed over the administration of Army power and the North Window where the body of Chris Hubble is discovered in Sergeant Rutledge (1960).
Spearfish Canyon (Black Hills National Forest, South Dakota)
In 1990 star/director Kevin Costner reinvigorated the movie western with his sprawling Dances With Wolves and won a Best Picture Oscar. He replicated the Kansas plains in South Dakota and the opening sequence, where Costner receives his orders at Fort Hays to travel to Fort Sedgewick, was filmed on a private ranch east of Rapid City. Several of the set pieces, including the major's house and the blacksmith shop have been moved to a free tourist spot known as the Fort Hays Dances With Wolves Film Set (four miles south of Rapid City) where you can get out and poke around with your dog.
The Indian winter camp at the center of the movie was set up in Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills National Forest, said to be six times more ancient that the Grand Canyon. The exact spot of the final scene where Costner and Mary MacDonnell leave the tribe was once marked by signs but have long since succumbed to souvenir-hunters. Even if you don’t find it while hiking with your dog the gorgeous limestone cliffs in the heavily vegetated canyon will be more than a consolation. There is easy access to Spearfish Creek for some joyous dog-paddling and in the northeast section of the canyon, across the road from the main park, is Indian Springs where early settlers speared fish in a small spring-fed pond and you can guess the rest.
Fisher Towers (Moab, Utah)
Restless John Ford introduced the movie world to another western landscape in 1949 he went searching for a new desert location for his upcoming Wagon Master to star Ben Johnson and Ward Bond. He arrived in Moab where he was shown the Professor Valley and the Fisher Towers that rise over 900 feet above the neighboring Colorado River. Ford indeed made Wagon Master here and more than 50 feature films would be shot on location around Moab in the next 50 years. To John Wayne, this area always defined the West.
Your dog won’t be able to draw a full conclusion to agree or disagree with the Duke - the canine hike at Fisher Towers, part of the Colorado Riverway Recreation Area, ends when a ladder climb scales an awkward rock before reaching the end of the trail. But there is more than enough exploring on these multi-hued sedimentary rock formations to satisfy and canine adventurer.
Just west of Fisher Towers along Route 191 on the opposite side of Moab you can visit a half-mile spur on the western side of the Dead Horse Point mesa that leads to an overlook of Shafer Canyon. Across the canyon you can see an open plain that was used to film the famous final scene in the movie Thelma & Louise when Susan Sarandon drives a Thunderbird convertible over a cliff. Although there are wrecked automobiles in Shafer Canyon, they were placed there by the Bureau of Land Management to shore up the river bank. The wreckage from the movie was airlifted out of the canyon by helicopter.
Alabama Hills (Lone Pine, California)
If you have ever watched a western or the opening to the Lone Ranger you will know this place as you arrive with your dog. The Alabama Hills consist of rounded, weathered granite boulders piled across a desert flatlands that form a vibrant contrast with the sharply sculptured ridges of the nearby Sierra mountains. These majestic backdrops and rugged rock formations began attracting the attention of Hollywood, 212 miles to the west, in the 1920s.
You can hike with your dog along Movie Flat Road, a wide, dusty dirt road that runs through the Alabama Hills and is one of the most recognizable movie sets in Hollywood history. Beginning with Tom Mix in the silent era, every major Western star galloped down the road on horseback at one time or another. Roy Rogers appeared here in his first starring role in Under Western Stars and Bill Boyd, known on the screen as Hopalong Cassidy, filmed so many roles in Lone Pine that he moved here.
The Alabama Hills hosted one of the largest location shoots in history when 1200 extras staged the climactic battle scene in Gunga Din. Other notable westerns among the more than 100 films shot here include The Lone Ranger, How The West Was Won, and The Gunfighter. Although the golden age for Lone Pine has gone the way of the Hollywood western, film crews occasionally still appear. Bad Day at Black Rock (Spencer Tracy/Robert Ryan) used the area to build an entire town along the railroad tracks in 1955 and, more recently, Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon battled giant earthworms in the Alabama Hills in Tremors. You won't find any canine swimming holes so make sure to bring plenty of drinking water, especially in hot weather (you are less than a two-hour drive from Death Valley).
Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park (Agua Dulce, California)
No tour of movie Western filming locations with your dog would be complete without a stop at Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park, just north of Los Angeles. Both Rin Tin Tin and Lassie, the two biggest canine action heroes in cinematic history, mugged for the camera in these rock formations shaped by the San Andreas Fault over which they rest. The rocks are named for Tiburcio Vásquez, one of California’s most notrious stage coach robbers of the 18oos who used the sloping rocks as a hideout.
The Vasquez Rocks are now a Los Angeles County park and popular with climbers and hikers. Your dog is welcome to join in the fun but if you choose to investigate the rocks off the trails make sure to bring a good map. And keep an eye out for movie crews. Your dog may be the next big star.
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