Our first morning in southeast Utah began early with a departure from our rental house in Blanding. We rolled south with our main places to explore today being Monument Valley on the Navajo Reservation, Valley of the Gods and a hike in South Mule Canyon to see see some ruins. One of my main goals for this trip was to see ruins.
Morning moon
We made a spontaneous stop as soon as we got out of Blanding, hitting up the Sand Island Petroglyphs. I read about these online before the trip and they didn't sound major so I had planned to drive on by, but we both had the urge to stop as we passed by. I turned the car around and we drove back. It was a great decision. The petroglyphs at Sand Island are amazing! They are of a variety of things and there are a bunch of them, more than I have ever seen in one place. These were the best petroglyphs either of us had seen up to that point. We took tons of pictures because there were just so many cool drawings. This is just a fraction of what we photographed while there. This place blew my mind.
Flute player
Apparently, deer play flutes too.
Cowboy
Our Farmington Rocks find.
The next thing we came to was Valley of the Gods. This is simply a large area full of giant rock formations and cliffs. You can drive a dirt road through the main part of the valley and camping is allowed anywhere, which we did not know before we got here or we would have camped there rather than rented the house in Blanding. We had wanted to camp, but there' are few reservable sites in this part of Utah that we could afford. I'm not paying $45 a night to tent camp. No way.
Starting down the Valley of the Gods dirt road
Valley of the Gods
Valley of the Gods is known as "Little Monument Valley." Monument Valley is located on the Navajo Reservation a few miles to the south. It costs $20 per car to get into the Tribal Park to see the rock formations in that area. Valley of the Gods is free. Some people say there is little difference between the views and that the free Valley of the Gods is the way to go. We chose to see both.
More Valley of the Gods dirt roads.
Wishing I was on a bike about now
The dirt road dumped us out very near Goosenecks State Park, which was another site on our list of things to try to see today. Our list was longer than the hours of the day, so we had to prioritize and this one was definitely on the upper end of the list. It was like the Capitol Reef goosenecks on steroids. This tiny state park features some killer views of the twisting San Juan River along with a few campsites and a picnic area. Other than the views, it was the most boring park I have ever seen. It's just a big rock. But that rock packs unbelievable views down to the river. Here, the San Juan River is 1,000 feet below the desert surface. The rivers twists over six miles in a distance of 1.5 miles. It costs $5 to get in which is kind of high for a quick view, but in this case it was worth it. We took our time and hiked around for some different angles which helped us feel more like we got our money's worth out of the stop.
Goosenecks State Park
San Juan River has carved a long way down
Lizard
The campground is boring, but that view though! Right out the front door...
Video: Panning around at Goosenecks
After Goosenecks, we drove through the tiny town of Mexican Hat, UT. It is named after a rock formation that looks like an upside down sombrero.
The rock formation that lends the town its name
The Mexican Hat
Bridge in Mexican Hat
We continued south on Hwy 163 toward Monument Valley. You may recognize the next viewpoint. It has become known as "Forrest Gump Point" after being featured in the movie "Forrest Gump." It was shown in the movie when Forrest decides to turn around after running across the country.
Hwy 163
The scene from "Forrest Gump"
Photo from ojocritico.com
The stop sign at the first viewpoint parking lot.
Looking across the desert at the rock formations named Stagecoach and Brigham's Tomb.
Setting Hen rock formation
It was only a couple more miles to the Navajo Reservation, where we entered into the Navajo Tribal Park at Monument Valley. This Tribal Park straddles the Utah-Arizona border, with most of it actually being in Arizona, though state lines mean nothing in Native American reservations. They operate like their own state with their own government and leaders.
Awesome view from the Monument Valley Visitor's Center
Navajo Code Talkers were critical to the U.S. campaign in World War II. There are several displays in the Visitor's Center that shows how these Marines helped us win the war.
The Monument Valley has spectacular with massive red rock formations everywhere you look. The area has been used in many western movies and TV shows, beginning in 1938 with "Stagecoach," which featured John Wayne. I don't watch westerns, but I did recognize this point where John Wayne rode out upon his horse. There is a Scenic Drive that you can go through. It's a dirt road and really rough in places. There is an extra loop you can do to see more mesas and buttes, but you have to take one of the tribal park tours tours, which were outrageously priced. We decided to drive ourselves around the main loop. Shannon's white car was rusty red by the time we finished.
Starting in on the Scenic Drive.
Elephant Butte
John Ford's Point where John Wayne sat upon his horse in "Stagecoach," which was directed by John Ford. For a little cash, you could get your picture taken sitting on that horse. And yes, it's a real horse.
The Three Sisters Rock Formation. It looks like a Catholic nun facing her two pupils.
We had lunch at the shadiest-looking permanent food truck I have ever seen. It was actually and RV made permanent. It was rough on the outside, but the inside was all updated and clean. I had read about Indian Fry Bread and Navajo Tacos on the drive over and wanted to try some authentic ones. What better way to get some good local grub than to get it from a food truck run by locals who grew up on the reservation?! It was great food and we were happy we gave the little RV a chance.
Food truck? Nope, it's a food RV. Indian Fry Bread is worth the risk.
Camel Butte
Rain God Mesa
At one of the overlooks we made some dog friends. Three dogs wandered up and hung out with us for a few minutes. We finished up our drive around the dusty loop, then headed off the reservation. On the way out we saw some earth homes. You could rent some of them, but again, out of our price range. It would have been interesting to have stayed in one, especially since we also stayed in a tipi for several nights on this trip.
Our Navajo dog friends
Earth home
That ends out time on the Navajo Reservation and my first time to set foot in Arizona. Our day was not done yet though. We left Monument Valley and headed back to the north through Mexican Hat and then up Hwy 261 to the Moki Dugway. More on that coming in the next post!
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