October 2 - Monument Valley and Goosenecks SP

With blue skies all around, ​we finally made it to Monument Valley. 

We drove the loop road twice because we didn’t want to miss anything.

When you start the loop road, the first monuments you see are the East and West Mittens Monuments 

Elephant Butte is one you really need to use your imagination 

Three Sisters Monument 

Camel Monument 

View of the North Window Overlook

There were vendors at a lot of the stops selling jewelry and other items made by the Navajo.

We bought fry bread at John Ford’s Point where several John Wayne movies were shot.

John Ford’s Point.

The next 2 were taken at Navajo Code Talker Outpost. More on that when we get to the Tribal Center. 

The Tribal Center had a museum. The one exhibit that interested us was about the Code Talkers. This exhibit highlighted the legacy of the Din’e Cose Talkers who used their unwritten native language to create an unbreakable military code during World War II. This code was critical to winning the war in the South Pacific.

The exhibit was created in 2001 by students at Wingate High School called “Our Fathers, Our Grandfathers, Our Heroes.”

After lunch at the Tribal Center, we drove to Goosenecks State Park to see the San Juan River meander through tight loops 1,000 ft below the rim. 

It was so hard to capture it all. There were 4 loops  

Back at camp, we had a fire and watched the sky  perfect dark sky spot.

October 1 - Natural Bridge and Valley of the Gods

As we left Cottonwood Campground, the clouds and fog were hanging low. 

As we got closer to Mexican Hat, blue skies started to appear. 

Here’s the famous Mexican Hat rock formation.

We had wanted to boondock in Valley of the Gods but the road was quite rough so we are staying at Sleeping Bear Campground which is a boondocking site near Monument Valley. 

We were hoping to go to Monument Valley today but the road was closed because of the rains they’ve had the last 2 days. 

Decided to drive to Natural Bridges National Monument. 

We took Moki Dugway road which is a gravel road that winds up the mountain with several switchbacks. Yes, that is the road.

Natural Bridges was established in 1908 as Utah’s first national monument to preserve massive, stream-carved sandstone bridges. It’s hard to pick them out unless you know where to look.

From here we drove another dirt road through Valley of the Gods. Glad we didn’t try to bring Belle on these roads.  Too many ditches and rocks but beautiful rock formations.

I call this one Santa Claus with his pack

It is so dark here at the campground that we were able to see the Milky Way and lots of stars

Lenny was with us the whole day and didn’t get any naps. He’s so tired he went to sleep with his chewy ball beside him.

September 29 - Rain, Hovenweep NM and Canyon of the Ancients

​It rained very hard all night. When we woke up we weren’t sure what we should do. But luckily we decided to drive to Hovenweep National Monument. This NM, protects 6 groups of structures built between 1200 and 1300. 

Ancestral Puebloan peoples built their structures on the canyon surface and along canyon walls.

It only drizzled a little bit. We were able to hike on the rim of Little Ruin Canyon to see six ancestral Pueblo structures. 

The above picture was title Cutthroat Castle. Quite different from the castles we saw in Germany and Austria. 

The Ranger suggested we drive to southwestern Colorado (just over the Utah border) to see Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center and Museum. This protected land serves as a sacred, traditional place with deep cultural connections to 26 modern Native American tribes and pueblos. 

This is also the highest density of  archaeological sites in the US. One of the digs found a complete Pueblo. The museum has a replica of the discovery. 

The picture below shows a hole  this is how they entered into the Pueblo. 

So much history. 

When we got back to the RV, the sun was setting over the mesa  

September 28 - Bluff Utah

​We left the UtahRaptor State Park near Moab and drove south to Bluff. We are staying at the Cottonwood RV Campground for a couple days. 

Bluff is a small, historic town with red rock bluffs all around. We walked to the historic site, Fort Bluff. We crossed the San Juan River which was very dark brown.

Fort Bluff commemorates the arduous journey of 70 Morman families who made the famous Hole in The Rock expedition. They spent 6 months making the journey to Bluff. 

September 27 - Arches National Park

​Today we woke up to a cloudy and windy day with a chance of rain.  

Arches NP is our adventure for the day. Lenny stayed back at the RV to rest so we were able to hike quite a lot. 

Even though we both had been here  twice before, once on motorcycles and once with Linda Zubler, and once I came with Shan  we hadn’t hiked the trails in several years.

We first stopped to view Balanced Rock. Yep, it’s still high above us keeping its balance. 

Then came the 3 gossips and the court house rock formation.

Double arches

On to Sandstone Arch with a short walk through tall rocks

Next was a mile hike to broken arch, my fav because it looks like a heart  

We finished up in arches checking out the campground, just in case we come back again!

Back at the campground, we biked to the Dalton Wells Historic Site. In 1933 during the depression, FDR created the CCC camp to provide work for unemployed men. 

In 1942, during World War II, FDR signed an executive order which allowed the War Relocation Authority to force 110,000 Japanese ancestry (which most of them were Americans) from the west coast to inland concentration camps or citizens isolation camps.

Both of these camps were location here.