Southeastern Utah - October 2022 - Part 2

 Continued from Part 1

Johns Canyon Road - Muley Point East - Cedar Point Road

October 12th (continued)

Johns Canyon Road

I first drove on this road back in 2014. I'd been to Muley Point East and I spent the night (and nearly got blown away... or so it felt.) When I was admiring the views I noticed the road far below and wanted to explore it. When I was planning this trip I remembered seeing some amazing views of the San Juan canyon, spectacular sights of Muley Point and the bluffs above the road. I remembered there was a gate (there are two) and I remember a few rough spots, but nothing too bad. At that time I saw a couple of places that I thought might make good camping sites, and I remember the springs where I turned around. But that's about it. So I thought I'd drive it again to camp and explore.

You get to John's Canyon Road from the paved road to Goosenecks State Park from UT-261. It angles off on the north side about a half-mile from the state highway. The initial section is in pretty good shape. 

A short while later I stopped to talk to two women coming out driving a jeep. I wanted to ask them how far they'd gone on the road. Turns out they'd been hiking the Honaker Trail which I'd never heard of (but later found on Google Maps.) They explained the hiking trail leads down to the San Juan River. They told me how to drive there by turning left at the large tank (which is about 2-1/2 miles from the pavement) and mentioned there were two nice campsites. They had stayed at one of those last night, but said many people park before the road drops down. They claimed the road wasn't bad, but it was wise to stop at the rock cairn rather than drive all the way to the trailhead. I took the turn-off, but stopped where the other cars were parked. I wanted to do more research before going farther. 

Johns Canyon Road about 3.5 miles from the turn-off.
Cedar Point on the right; Muley Point ahead to the left.

I returned to Johns Canyon Road and proceeded west. A mile or so after entering the canyon proper I pulled out on a short side road that could be a camp site. I had a snack and looked around. I noticed another vehicle pulled over a few hundred feet farther along the road, so when I started up again I stopped by them to say hello and ask if they had driven the road. They had not. They'd pulled over so he could walk up the road to where it looked like it had been washed out. The road had not washed out, but was hard to see in advance and he had not wanted to have to back out. They didn't know if they wanted to go on or not, but he said the section he examined was certainly drivable. I continued on.

Looking out the truck window toward the San Juan River.

That section was not bad, though it was certainly steep with a drop-off. I came to the first gate. It is below Muley Point East. I opened it, drove through, then closed it. Always leave gates open or closed as you find them. The next section was nasty. There were couple of steep, rocky stretches where I used 4LO to get up. After that the road was in good shape.

You can see the road clinging to the ledge at right. Muley Point ahead.

The road however was much longer than I'd remembered. I kept waiting to find the second gate as I knew there was a big rock just past that and a prospective camp site. I finally came to the gate and the rock. The site was desolate and baren. Much of Utah and the four corners area had seen a good monsoon season. The bench between Cedar Mesa and the San Juan River looked like it hadn't seen rain in years. It was hot, dry, and not the least inviting.

This is the point of Muley Point seen from a prospective campsite.

I continued on aiming for Johns Canyon Spring and hoping it would be more verdant and offer a camping site. Again it was much farther than I'd remembered. Yes, there were trees and greenery in the area of the spring, but there was absolutely no where to camp even if one were willing to ignore the prohibition for camping near a water source. There was barely room to turn around and it wasn't even level.

Johns Canyon Springs.

I walked around a bit, enjoying the scene, and taking a few photos. I then climbed in my truck to make my way out. Somewhere on the long way out I decided I'd quit the canyon and camp somewhere else, maybe Muley Point.

I did spot a big rock right by the road with petroglyphs which was very interesting. Somehow I had not seen it when I drove by the time before.

Petroglyph rock.

Petroglyph rock in situ with Muley Point East in the background.

The dodgy section just west of the first gate was no better on the way out. If anything it was worse and I had to use 4LO in several sections. I think it was much worse than in 2014. I was glad to be out of there. I cannot recommend driving John's Canyon Road past that first spur (37.225291, -109.967893) about a half mile after you pass Cedar Point unless you are experienced and have the proper vehicle.

I returned to the highway and headed up the Moki Dugway. At the top I turned south on Muley Point Road.

Muley Point East

As I was driving up to what Google Maps now calls Muley Point East and what lots of folks mistake for Muley Point proper. (It actually has more spectacular views as it's right on the edge whereas the official vista point is not.) I saw a side road leading east. It's maybe a hundred yards before you get to the vista point. I was curious, but didn't explore at the time. 

By the way, the Muley Point area along the bluffs is actually within the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and their regulations apply. "All human body waste solids shall be contained and carried out using a portable toilet or a specifically engineered bag waste containment system." Which is really the only responsible thing to do everywhere in the backcountry. Some other jurisdictions allow burying human waste, but even those now require you bag your toilet paper and pack it out.

I found a spot to park and set up camp a ways back from the edge of the bluff. I walked the to the edge to look around. It was very hazy across the canyon, not ideal for photos and as I had nice ones from previous trips, I only took one down at John's Canyon Road where I'd just driven. The road sure looks tame from above.

Looking over the edge of Muley Point East down at Johns Canyon Road.
You may notice the profile of Monument Valley on the horizon.

As the afternoon progressed to evening, more and more vehicles were setting up to camp in this area. Their voices easily carried in the quiet. Finally I decided it was just too crowded and rather than sit and fume about the noise, I'd move camp. I stowed my gear and closed the top.

Looking along the edge of Muley Point East.

I drove onward on Muley Point Road. There were a number of nice campsites along the road, but they seemed to be already occupied. (Looking from home I see there is a side road that heads westerly for some ways with a few dispersed sites along it; the satellite view even captured what looks like a pop-up camper about 4000' along the road at a spot with an amazing view. Maybe I'll check that out next time.) I turned around to check out that side road I'd seen earlier in the day.

Cedar Point Road

The road is not labelled in Google Maps, but I'll call it Cedar Point Road as it heads generally in that direction. I drove about a mile down the road to a nice campsite where I set up. It was getting along toward dark, so didn't take any photos that evening.

The fall is the season to camp at Muley Point or any other exposed site in southern Utah; summer is too hot and in spring the winds might keep you up at night as they blast your camp.

October 13

Cedar Point Road (continued)

Dawn at my campsite with the moon still high in the sky.

It was a beautiful dawn as light spread across the landscape. I tried to capture the sunrise, but without any clouds to reflect the light all I got was overexposures. I did much better capturing a view of Monument Valley, Arizona and Muley Point with Navajo Mountain and the San Juan canyon behind it.

Monument Valley, Arizona is across the San Juan River valley.

Last night I had spied a campsite a bit farther along Cedar Point Road where a small white van was parked. It looked like it might have even a better view. I decided if the van left I'd check the site out. It did and I did. I moved my campsite to this higher vantage which was also farther away from any adjacent sites, not that I had been bothered last night.

Muley Point (right) with Navajo Mountain in the background.

I enjoyed the rest of my coffee in my comfortable camp chair. Later in the morning I walked farther along the road to see what was there. I saw a couple other campers, I spotted at least two side roads that led down toward the edge of the bluffs, one looked very rough. 

Cedar Point Road view.

I walked to where I could look east toward Valley of the Gods and took a photo. I was curious if the road stretched all the way to the end of Cedar Point, but in looking at the satellite view from home, it doesn't look like it does. It does appear to go farther north, as double track, but I bet it is not a comfortable surface.

Near the east end of Cedar Point Road with a view of Valley of the Gods.
You can just see Ute Mountain, Colorado on the horizon.

After lunch I wandered around the immediate area and took photos of some of the miniature plants thriving close to the ground. I made a collage of six species. You can judge the comparative size of the plants by the size of the gravel in the photo, as the decomposed sandstone is the same size and consistency in all the images.

Miniature plants seemed to be thriving throughout this area.

I was pretty lazy the rest of the day. Sitting in my chair hypnotized by the view or reading my library book.

My campsite as the sun was going down.

The light was delightfully crimson as the sun went down. There were no clouds to manufacture a full sunset, as had been the case the previous nights, but I caught the last of the sunlight illuminating the side of Navajo Mountain.

The last of the light reflecting on the side of Navajo Mountain.

The wind came up during the evening. It wasn't bad, but after dark something was rattling on the outside of my camper. I stepped out to quiet it and was astonished by the night sky. The first night of my trip the nearly full moon was too bright to see more than a few stars. Tonight they were out in their glory. It was windy, but very mild, so I stood out for a while admiring the diamonds in the sky. The Milky Way was directly overhead, too. Beautiful. In the short time I was outside I saw two falling stars, as well!

October 14

Cedar Point Road (continued)

Navajo Mountain seen in the early morning light from my campsite.

Early morning was amazing. I sat in my chair, drinking my fresh brewed coffee, and watched as the sunlight slowly crept from the tops of the mesas to down across the landscape. I took a number of multiple exposure panoramas. I've processed two of those, but haven't figured out how to share the very wide images on Blogspot.

I packed up and headed out. I drove north on UT-261 up the middle of Cedar Mesa. I stopped at the Kane Gulch Ranger Station. I didn't know if they'd be open, as their hours had been limited in the past, but they have nice vault toilets by the long term parking area. They were open. I talked to a lady inside and apparently with the new permitting requirements they are open every day. According to the Trip Planner I was given they are actually only open mornings during the spring and fall.

Here are some useful links: Cedar Mesa Trip Planner (PDF); Cedar Mesa Permits & Passes

See also: Bears Ears National Monument

End of Part 2; continues in Part 3.

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!