October 16th
After breaking camp, I headed down the road to Dead Horse State Park and waited for Clayton's arrival. Found a couple of good vantage points, and even saw one of the local boat tours going down river on an early morning trip.
We headed south on US-191 re-fueled in Monticello, and veered west at Blanding on UT-95 towards the Natural Bridges Nat'l Monument. At the intersection with UT-261, we had to decide if we wanted to dedicate the time to the monument, or head south to the gooseneck overlook area of the San Juan River. After consulting Clayton's photography guide book we decided to leave the monument for another day when a day could be spent, and go south. As is the case with a trip like this, sacrificing one location to allow for more time at another was a common decision.
Just before UT-261 takes a small "dip", Mule Point Road goes west for a few miles. By no means does the road provide a smooth ride, but it's worth a bit of jostling to view the goosenecks of the San Juan River.
Getting back to that "dip" in the road I mentioned where Mule Point Road turns off of UT-261, the road we took is an impressive switchback road that decends down the Moki Dugway and trails off to the Mexican Hat area at US-163.
We got down to just north of the Arizona state line and got a sandy campsite at Gouldings, west of the highway. Went back across the highway and entered the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park for a 17 mile drive at sunset. We left the park just after darkness settled and had another headlamp dinner.
While exploring the radio dial trying to find something to listen to, came across a frequency with The Fan 960 broadcasting the Flames-Canucks game that night, much to Clayton's enjoyment!
No comments:
Post a Comment