After a wonderful stay in Monument Valley, we moved on to Southeast Utah to explore. I just had to document some of the drive...it was magnificent. The scenery in southern Utah is topnotch. Its very remote though! You really need to make sure you have enough gas and water for your trip. Cell service is spotty as well. (I guess I'm not in Jersey anymore)! And you really need to pay attention to the road....curves and hills are pretty intense!
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| driving through Monument Valley to Utah |
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| stunning scenery |
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| not fun in an RV! |
The many rock formations are just beautiful. I know...who would think rocks could be so magnificent? Check out some of these colors and patterns though. Its like a work of art.
Many of the formations are cool-looking as well, and many have names. Of course, there is the famous Mexican Hat, which a town is named after:)
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| the rocks were gorgeous (I know, sounds crazy?) |
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| Mexican Hat...see it in the background? The "big" hotel is straight ahead in the rocks |
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| Mexican Hat |
As we headed further into Utah, we began to see snow-capped mountain peaks. Some of the peaks are the Rockies in Colorado. We passed a few cowboys, and a few cows, but that was about it as far as mammals go. Again, its pretty remote out here.
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| Amazing views in this remote area of the country! |
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| one of the few jobs here? |
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| the Rockies are coming into view in the distance |
We arrived in Bluff early in the afternoon and took a walk around the small campground after dinner. There is a fishing pond right in front of us...the view out of our front window...with a nice walking path around the pond. There are also pet goats here, and we enjoyed watching them for a bit. I know...but after a few hours of driving....it was good to take a bit of a walk!
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| a tiny historic town (and our home for a few days) |
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| view out our front window |
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| all set up in out new home |
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| time for a little walk to check out the campground |
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| our neighbors |
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| the pet goats belong to the campground owners...they are really cute:) |
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| heading back after a short walk through the 'hood |
There is so much to see and do in the area, but some of it is very remote and can only be accessed via dirt road on 4WD high clearance vehicles. There is still plenty that is accessible by the likes of us though!
We headed out to Goosenecks State Park, which is not too far from our campground. For more information, click
here. On the way, we admired the beautiful rock view. Looks like art, doesn't it? Goosenecks has an incredible view of the meandering San Juan River. Besides the view, or camping, there is not much to do but admire the view, which is breathtaking. After a few minutes, and once other people started coming, we moved on to Valley of the Gods.
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| is this considered rock art? |
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| awesome! |
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| what a view |
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| amazing landscape |
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| our first stop of the morning (we are doing a circle tour) |
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| half of the view |
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| the other half...hard to get a good picture...you need a helicopter (ahahha) |
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| the view is impressive...Monument Valley in the back right of the picture..very small |
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| at the lookout |
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| this is it...there is nothing here but that amazing lookout and some camping spots...and a few picnic tables |
Friends we met in Phoenix (Charlie and Sue) told us about their hair-raising ride down the Moki Dugway, and the wonderful B&B at the bottom of it. After much hemming and hawing, we decided not to go on the Dugway (I am way too chicken for that) but, we did go through the Valley of the Gods. For more information, click
here. This is a miniature monument valley, with a 17-mile rough dirt road. Though all of the tourist information states clearly that you need a high-clearance vehicle, our campground host assured us we could do it with the car. So....off we went.
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| (Charlie and Sue) its still here! Right at the entrance to Valley of the Gods |
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| VOG (Valley of the Gods) |
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| the roads were not too bad in some spots! |
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| the monuments are much smaller than Monument Valley, but just as cool |
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| VOG |
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| doesn't look too intimidating, but trust me....you could not see over the edge |
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| VOG |
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| VOG |
We were a little surprised about the roads. There were several "blind spots" where you go straight up a short hill and can't see what's in front of you. We really needed to see the road to make sure we didn't get swallowed up by a pothole! There were some tight twists and turns as well, but the views were great. There were not many cars or 4-wheelers when we were driving through, so that made it a bit easier on our nerves.
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| trying to be on the lookout for potholes! you are on your own out here!! |
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| doesn't look too bad in the photos...but it was a little unnerving |
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| VOG |
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| what's over the hill? Can't even see which way the road turns...yikes! |
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| VOG |
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| VOG |
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| VOG |
Because it was fairly deserted, we stopped our car every once in a while to get out, stretch our legs and take some pics. We were lucky we had such a gorgeous day....oh, and you wouldn't want to do THIS road in the rain. Its impassable when wet!
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| nice to get out and stretch too! |
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| the advantage of being so remote...you can just stop and get out for a bit |
There were several folks boondocking (camping with no hookups to water, electric or sewer) in the Valley of the Gods and they had quite nice campsites. Talk about a private site with a great view! Wow! Most of the people camping were in tents or truck campers, as it would be pretty difficult to get a larger rig in there. We did see some big rigs though! We also saw a biker...coming up over the hill when we were about half way through the park. The guy didn't even break a sweat....impressive! I'll tell ya, these folks in Utah are tough!!
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| a little monument valley |
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| oh hello! |
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| VOG |
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| we are going up! |
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| VOG |
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| VOG |
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| VOG |
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| VOG |
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| Monument Valley in the distance |
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| this was an amazing drive through VOG |
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| VOG |
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| a boondocker out there....we passed a couple of campers |
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| a couple of cars stopped for pics |
On the way back home, we stopped in Sand Island to view some petroglyphs we had read about in our research of the area. Though there was some graffiti, there were impressive petroglyphs to view as well. It must have been quite a discovery. Very exciting to view. It was worth the stop to view the petroglyphs! It was difficult to get good photos, but trust me, it was impressive!
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| part of the wall...some graffiti too (sigh) |
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| the petroglyph wall is fenced off to deter graffiti-makers |
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| look closely...hard to photograph in the sun |
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| it is awesome |
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| can you see some of the Petroglyphs? |
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| this area photographed well |
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| and this too...amazing rock art |
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| what are they trying to say? |
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| very cool!! |
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| the path along the petroglyph wall |
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| these are from a different time period |
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| end of the path |
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| we loved that big warrior guy...see it? sort of in the middle |
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| amazing! |
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| another view of part of the wall |
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| close up of part of the wall |
