Southeastern Utah; Part 2 - May 2019

Part 2 of 3 - Start with Part 1

Thursday, May 2nd (continued)

Remember to click on any photo for a larger version.

Valley of the Gods

Valley of the Gods

I drove south back out of Butler Wash and turned west. Last fall I'd seen a camping spot in the Valley of the Gods along the wash, in the middle part of the north section, that looked interesting. At the time it was occupied. I thought as it was early afternoon, it might be available. It was and I settled in. The winds were quite gusty, so I braced the truck bed with the aluminum jack stands I bring along for this very purpose. I sat in the lee of the truck, read the latest Leaphorn, Chee, & Manuelito novel, The Tale Teller, by Ann Hillerman (quite good), and enjoyed the view.

My campsite.

Fortunately the wind died down by evening and I took a few photos.

Sunset.

And again.

Friday, May 3rd

Valley of the Gods (continued)

It was chilly in the morning, but the sky was clear. I got outside to take photos in that wonderful early light.

Spherical Panorama (click the Full-screen icon [ ] for best view:

Looking up the valley toward the towers.

I took a short walk up the wash below camp.

Primroses were blooming profusely.

Lots of yuccas were also blooming.

I broke camp and returned to the highway the short route, not completing the valley loop this time.

Moki Dugway

It's always fun to drive Moki Dugway (assuming you don't have a fear of narrow roads and sheer drop-offs). If you haven't done it yourself, or missed my earlier posts, this gravel stretch of UT-261 connects US-163 north of Mexican Hat to UT-95, east of Natural Bridges NP. The highway bisects Cedar Mesa after climbing up from the Valley of the Gods elevation.

View of the subway from below. See if you can spot any vehicles.

The view from an overlook. 

I drove north along the highway, admiring views of the Bear's Ears and the snow capped Abajo Mountains.

The Bears Ears and the Abajo Mountains.

The journey continues in Part 3

FOR SOME REASON GOOGLE/BLOGGER IS NOT LETTING ME REPLY TO YOUR COMMENTS ON MY BLOG. Hopefully this will be fixed sometime, but meanwhile, thanks I appreciate you taking the time to comment. If you have specific questions, email me at the address above. - Bill

SE Utah - May 2014 - Part 1

I spent 6 days exploring southeastern Utah. This included two national parks I'd never visited, Canyonlands and Arches. It would also take me back to Muley Point and to discover a few new areas between those destinations. 

I will divide the trip into probably three parts to aid digestion.

Muley Point and Johns Canyon Road

Remember to click on a photo to see a larger version or to view them all in a slideshow.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

From central New Mexico I drove up US-550, through Cuba to US-64 West to Farmington. At Shiprock Garmin tried to route me way north then west then south. Took me a while to figure out what was happening. A default preference I'd never changed was to avoid unpaved roads when calculating a route and Moki Dugway is definitely not paved. Once I reset that, it happily directed me on US-160 toward US-191. Then up across the San Juan River and onto Utah State Route 261.

Moki Dugway

Coming up to the shear cliff, you can't see the road cut. Seems impossible the road goes up there, but it does. This is Moki Dugway - dug right into the side of the bluff. It was almost exactly a year ago when I came down this way.

Seems like the highway runs right into the bluff, but somehow finds its way up to the top.

Here's the photo from last year of Moki Dugway.

Muley Point

Turn left at the top, just before the pavement returns, to head out to Muley Point. When I was there last spring admiring the spectacular view, the fellow I was talking to said "actually this isn't the official point, that's farther down the road, but I like this spot much better." So this time I drove to the end of the road. The point is very cool, but he was right. I returned to the area of that first vista and found a fantastic site to set up. My porch was solid sandstone with a view of the San Juan gorge with Monument Valley on the other side. This area is part of Glen Canyon NRA with rules on dispersed camping very similar to those of the BLM. So camping here is free, no facilities what so ever, so pack out your trash.

Camp set up and my chair on the back porch.

I was concerned about the wind, being so close to the cliff edge, but the breeze was light to moderate so I didn't worry. There had been high clouds all day, so there was only a small patch of sunset and no stars to view.

Piñon silhouette in the sunset.

I settled in for the night. About ten o'clock the wind started up - hard. It was not a gusty wind as I'd experienced in the camper before, but brutal hard staccato bursts. Sailors will understand high rolling waves are not nearly as hard on your boat as a severe chop, and that is what this was. I'd never worried about wind in the camper before, but this was different. At one point I briefly entertained the notion of lowering the roof, but realized if one of the strong gusts caught me in mid-procedure, it could rip the roof right off. Though this went on for hours with me not sleeping, it finally, slowly lessened until it was again only a breeze by dawn. The camper suffered no ill effects from the wind.

Monday, May 5th.

Monument Valley across the San Juan River Canyon

And what a beautiful view to greet me as I arose. Unfortunately, it was still cloudy, so no sharp morning light to illuminate Monument Valley across the canyon. I took photos anyway and have done my best in Photoshop to try to capture a feel of the view.

What an amazing camping spot!

Tiny flowers growing from the rocky soil.

Looking down from the edge of the bluff you can see the Johns Canyon Road along the canyon rim.

I had seen the road below the bluff last year and the same fellow I mentioned above said he'd driven it the previous day. I asked how it was and he replied that it was fairly easy. That planted the bug. Every time I saw, the more I wanted to drive it.

More pretty yellow flowers thriving among the rocks.

Johns Canyon Road

So, I changed my itinerary. Instead of continuing up SR-261 to check out some ancient ruins on SR-95, I drove back down Moki Dugway to the turnoff to Goose Necks State Park. Within a mile Johns Canyon Road peels off across the prairie toward the bluffs upon which I'd camped the night before.

Johns Canyon Road headed toward the bluffs.

Driving up this road really brought home to me the fact that the canyon of the San Juan River and the bluff upon which sits Muley Point are two distinct geological features which happen to coincide. When looking out from the point, you think you are looking across just a canyon, but that is not entirely accurate.

I'll tell the rest of the story of Johns Canyon Road via the captions on the photos.

The road now approaches the bluff with the canyon just to the left.

Looking out of the driver's side window at a branch canyon of the San Juan River.

Wildflowers were blooming all along the road.

Here you can see the road around a bend of the canyon rim.

More flowers with more bluffs across the canyon on the south rim.

This is actually the second gate you pass through. Remember to leave gates as you find them.

To get a feeling of scale: see the rock sitting on the ground, lower center?
That is the same one you can see through the gate in the photo above.
If you look carefully, you can see a full-sized pick-up truck stopped to close the gate in this photo.
Look for it about a quarter of the way from the right edge of the photo.
You may need to enlarge the photo to see the little silver speck.

After driving around several points, the road now turns north into Johns Canyon.

I needed a fast shutter speed to "freeze" these blossoms in the breeze.

This is where I turned around after having lunch and taking a walk down the creek.
The road continues farther up Johns Canyon, then south along the other side - for the adventurous.

Cactus blooming right in the middle of a Mormon Tea shrub.

This is the bluff on which I camped the night before.
Do you see the large square boulder exactly in the center of the photo along the bluff edge?
Keep this in mind as you look at the next photo.

This is that boulder from the previous photo using my telephoto lens. Notice the two people?

I snapped this as I closed the first gate on my way out of the canyon.

Once out of the canyon and back onto the highway, I drove west on US-191 through Bluff, then north through Blanding to stop at the BLM office in Monticello for information on dispersed camping on BLM lands in the Needles District. I also filled the gas tank before leaving town. FYI, if you ever go up this way, gasoline is much less expensive in Blanding than in Montecello or Moab.

Thus ends Part 1.

Across Southern Utah

In the last installment I'd just crossed into Utah following the Great Western Trail, which placed me on US-89 just east of Kanab. My goal for the day was to drive to Bryce Canyon National Park in time to get a campsite at this very popular destination. Lots of folks told me I should have gone to Zion National Park, but I decided to save that for another trip.

Driving north from Kanab the highway winds through and up an interesting canyon with large, vertical rock slabs as its sides. These red rocks look like they've been scoured by a giant grinder, but I supposed it was only the wind. I don't have photos, perhaps because I didn't see a good place to pull off the highway, or perhaps I was too focused on getting up the highway. It has been difficult for me to judge drive times in these areas that I've never visited before.

Bryce Canyon is really a plateau into which a number of canyons have cut. These canyons are filled with the park's iconic Hoodoos. I took nearly 400 digital photos of Bryce which I've yet to process. I'll save those for a later photo gallery post. In the meantime I'll include the requisite campsite shot and a photo of an interesting tree.

There are excellent sites for small campers in the tent area of the campground.

Along the Queen's Garden trail.

Bryce was gorgeous and amazing; a place everyone should visit. The plateau is at 6000 to 8000 feet in elevation, so is much cooler than the other Utah parks, such as Canyonlands and Arches. I had the added benefit of personally knowing one of the interpretive Rangers and we had a great hike the next morning between Bryce Point and Inspiration Point. Gorgeous! I stayed two nights in the park.

From Bryce Canyon I drove east on Highway 12, which is part of the state recognized scenic loop highway. It was interesting and I hadn't realized how much agriculture there is in southern Utah. I stopped at the Federal Interagency Information Station in Escalante to pick up maps and brochures for a future trip - a nice facility with helpful people. I picked up info on the Dixie National Forest and Escalante-Grand Staircase National Monument.

Continuing east from Escalante the scenery at first seemed rather plain, then you drop off the edge!

Looking back west from whence I came. Can you follow the highway all the way to the top?

Soon  you come to the canyon containing the Escalante River.

Highway 12 overlook above the Escalante River.

From there you wind up a canyon and the next thing you know you're on a "hogback" with a steep drop-offs on either side. By the time I found a place to pull off the narrow highway for a photo it wasn't quite as spectacular.

Looking south along a hogback on Highway 12.

Soon thereafter the highway turns and starts heading up into the mountains. There are large stands of Aspen. It is distressing, however, to see many colonies totally dead. My first in person experience with Sudden Aspen Decline. See also this short Smithsonian article: What's Killing the Aspen?

The highway climbs quite high up and around Bluebell Knoll, which is actually a very large mountain, and it got very chilly! Lots of recreation opportunities up here, but quite far from most places, and no specific, spectacular attractions as one comes to expect in this region.

The highway drops thousands of feet within a few miles on the north side and soon you find yourself back in the desert. Here Highway 12 goes north and joins Hwy 24. I turned southeast.

It was hot and very windy as I entered Capitol Reef National Park where I had intended to camp. Unfortunately, even though I got there around noon, hundreds of other folks got there sooner and all the spots in the lovely campground were full to overflowing. The campground doesn't take reservations, but people must have headed out early for Memorial Day.

Looks like an interesting place to return. The campground and valley are noted for the historical orchard and community of Fruita.

I didn't stop for photos, but keep going down the road past more intriguing rock formations, which I also didn't stop to photograph.

I finally stopped for a late lunch in Hanksville near the junction with Hwy 95 where I'd turn south. I stopped at a cafe that was part of an RV park not expecting too much with the name of Duke's Slickrock Grill, but needed a break from driving. Turned out it was a very nice stop, clean and cool inside, with good food - I had a full meal with vegetables, salad, and everything. They also had wireless Internet and was able to check my email after my meal.

Heading down 95 was a long, boring stretch which got slightly more interesting as the highway started down into this branch of Glenn Canyon, but it was still hot and windy.

No sign of a lake at the crossing, only a trickle of river, and I didn't bother taking the turn-off to Hite.

I did stop at Natural Bridges National Monument, the first national park in Utah, created by Teddy Roosevelt. It was getting on toward 4pm and I didn't expect to camp at the small campground here. The ranger gave me half a sheet of paper they'd prepared to assist folks in finding a nearby dispersed camp on BLM land.

I drove the loop road, stopping at each of the three overlooks. To get a good look at the rock bridges would actually take a little time to walk down the steep trail to the canyon bottom, which I elected to do on another occasion.

I did find a good camp spot on Deer Flat Road with a large juniper to help shield me from the winds.

Campsite along the road, sheltered by the junipers.

After I setup I watched the full moon rise over the red hills.

Moonrise over my campsite.

The next morning I returned to the highway and soon thereafter turned south on Utah 291. I had been wanting to visit Muley Point for some years since seeing a wonderful photograph of Monument Valley viewed from there. I had originally planned to camp along the canyon edge, but it had been just too windy for such an exposed location the night before and this morning I felt like there were just too many places to go in my journey to pause there for a whole day.

On my way down 291 I stopped at the BLM Kane Gulch Ranger Station to learn what I could about the area. Turns out this particular patch is fairly interesting. The nearby finger canyon coming up from Glenn Canyon is called Grand Gulch. There are a number of hiking trails and archeological sites to explore. Site visitation requires a permit as the number of visitors is limited each day to mitigate the impact of visitation on these fragile sites. Permits are required for all hiking here, so plan to stop at the station. Another area for a return visit, perhaps in early spring or late fall.

Muley Point lived up to my expectations. You turn west just where the pavement ends (or begins depending upon which direction you're driving) and take a very good dirt road to the point. All except the last 50 yards is suitable for a 2WD sedan. I didn't actually follow the road all the way to the official point as the initial overlook is so spectacular. I'm looking forward to a return visit with camping. I'm sure the dusk and dawn looking over the canyon is inspiring. My photos don't really give you even a hit at how amazing the canyon view is from here; you'll have to see it for yourself.

A gigantic rock perched at the canyon edge.

Monument Valley in the distance.

The drive down Moki Dugway was super scenic and fun. The road is dug into the cliff as it drops hundreds of feet just about straight down.

View from partway down Moki Dugway.

I didn't know what exactly to expect from Utah's Valley of the Gods. People said it was worth a visit; said it was like a miniature Monument Valley; but frankly it didn't look like much when I made the turn onto the unmarked road near the bottom of Moki Dugway.

A short ways in there was an informational board from the BLM to reassure me I was in the right place. The first part of the drive was fun, the road looks wicked, but is actually pretty tame, though I did drag my steps in a couple of places. I was thinking it was a charming area and pulled off in one of the dispersed camping spots for a spot of lunch with a view.

Having lunch at a turn-out along the Valley of the Gods road.

A little farther on the road and the scenery took a turn for the more spectacular. No, not as grand as Monument Valley, but wonderful nonetheless and there are lots and lots of free dispersed camping spots with fabulous views of the rock formations. This will be a great place to come back on a moonless night to try star trail photography with the interesting rock formations creating a foreground to contrast against the sky... though not when the wind is strong, as you are totally in the open.

Valley of the Gods, BLM, Utah

A fellow voyager from Albuquerque, who I meet at Muley Point, recommended a coffee house just as you arrive at the town of Bluff. I forgot the name (Bluebird Cafe?), but it is on the north side of Main Street, US 191. I had a non-coffee, iced drink with an unpronounceable name. It had chocolate, mint, and creme and was super delicious! They serve hot breakfasts in the morning and sandwiches for lunch.

I didn't know if I should bail on my trip and head for home or what. My preconceived schedule had been shot and I had planned to head home from here, but by not stopping at Capitol Reef I was a day ahead of my plans. I decided to instead head north from Bluff. I saw on the map that there was a national forest just west of Monticello, UT, then the next morning I thought I'd poke my head into Colorado with my "extra" day, maybe head toward Telluride.

I stopped for directions at the Forest Service office in Monticello. There's only one road out of town west toward the mountain, but it is not well marked. Lots of dispersed camping spots, mostly taken by folks with trailers or tent colonies and ATVs. I found an isolated spot and crossed my fingers.

My verdant campsite. A closeup of the mountain and valley in the following photo.

The La Sal Mountains east of Moab and Canyonlands as seen from my campsite.

Turns out I was't bothered by ATVs and the lovely little meadow had a great view of the La Sal Mountains to the northeast with interesting canyon formations in the middle distance. It got cold that night.

The next morning fortunately I was up early enough that I wasn't awakened by baying hounds. Apparently this area is a popular spot for running hunting hounds. The three trucks driven by rustic Americans had special kennels in back and were driven around with the hounds perched on top of the kennels, baying at the wind. I packed up and hit the road eastward.

My next, much shorter post will cover my brief trip into Colorado.

Thanks for visiting!