It was hard to leave such a beautiful place as Monument Valley. However, we had lots more to see and do, so onward we went up scenic Route 163 for more exploration into the canyon country of southeast Utah. Driving in this area brought new and different scenery with almost every mile.
First was a stop at Mile Post 13 for a look back into the valley. I was afraid the Frog would make me run up the hill for the shot, but fortunately he did not since my runnin' days are already over. I will leave the running here to Forrest Gump. Run, Forrest, run.
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| Forrest Gump Highway, Highway 163 - Mile Post 13 |
In canyon country directions are not just north, south, east and west (or perhaps forwards, backwards, left and right), but also up and down. We first ran into that as we approached the town of Mexican Hat. We started to see frequent signs about a right hand turn ahead, but could not understand why they were posted miles in advance.
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| Picture of the sign I found on the web--northbound towards Mexican Hat |
How bad could it be? Why would they post these like this? The town of Mexican Hat is on the San Juan River. The road drops precipitously (10% grade) down to the bridge and then suddenly dead ends (actually a right hand turn) into a 300 foot high solid rock wall immediately on the far side of the river. If you don't make the turn you crash into the wall. I could see someone not paying attention when driving a large truck or RV might get into trouble here, but fortunately we had no problems.
We quickly made our way through Mexican Hat. There did not seem much to see, but we did stop at the rock formation outside of town that gave the place its name.
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| Along the road north of Mexican Hat |
Our first major destination for the day was Goosenecks State Park. This is a scenic overlook 1000 feet above the entrenched meanders of the San Juan River. It was a very neat place. Although only one loop of the river is visible in the picture below, there are actually multiple loops here. Undergoing these 180 degree bends, the river flows over 5 miles through its meandering channel while only covering 1.3 miles as the crow flies.
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| Meandering San Juan River 1000 feet below |
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| Overlook at Goosenecks State Park |
Further down the same road to Goosenecks State Park was the road to Moki Dugway. A dugway is a road cut into the side of a steep hill. This particular road is quite famous, but we did not know much about it other than it is a very steep 3 mile long gravel road. Then we began to see multiple warning signs. This one was one of the more mild ones.
Even at the bottom of the climb we quickly lost sight of a car in front of us and could not see where the road went as it climbed up the side of the mesa. We finally chickened out since we did not know enough about the road and we knew if we started up we would probably have to go all the way to the top before we could turn around and begin the return trip. In retrospect, now knowing more about the road, we could probably have made it even with my fear of heights. It will be one more thing for the list for next time.
The scenery continued to be outstanding as we wove up, down and through the hills, most notably up and through Comb Ridge, an 80 mile long ridge of high, funny looking peaks which we had seen ahead of time on Google Earth but did not understand.
We finally made our way into Bluff, Utah, our destination for the night. Bluff is an interesting place with lots of history, especially given that it has a population of only about 300 people. It was a center of prehistoric life. There are apparently many rock art sites in the area. Below parts of the present town of Bluff is an ancient village site dating to AD 750-900. Dating from AD 1050-1250 are several other features partially visible above ground in the area including a great house, great kiva, and remnants of a prehistoric road. Current inhabitants recognize some of those early inhabitants on the sign at the entrance to town.
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| Note the date Bluff was established. This is the sign on the north (actually east) end of town looking southwestward. The bluffs in the background are on the far side of the San Juan River. |
Current Bluff was founded by Mormon settlers as part of what is now known as the Hole in the Rock Expedition after the trail they blazed across southern Utah in the winter of 1879-1880. The Hole in the Rock was a crevice they used to gain access to the Colorado River gorge. The trail was so bad that it was only used for about a year, but the Hole in the Rock and part of the cuts in the rock used to lower the wagons and livestock is still evident. I found this to be an incredible story, but it was totally new to me. There is lots about it on the web, including some semi-official sites, but this site has some of the most detail and best pictures.
The Mormon pioneers were originally to settle further north, but after their multi-month ordeal they chose the current site of Bluff. The original fort they created has been partially restored as Bluff Fort Historic Site and is available for viewing. There are also a number of Victorian era homes in an historic part of town. Although we drove around the Victorian homes and took a look at the cemetery on the hill above town, it was too hot after dinner (the car said 102) to do much exploring of the fort. That is on the list for next time.
However, I am getting ahead of myself. As we arrived in town it was not yet noon. There are no fast food restaurants in this tiny town, but we were glad we stumbled upon the Twin Rocks Cafe.
It is next to a signature rock feature of the area, the Navajo twin peaks. The restaurant was very pleasant, including many hummingbird feeders along their long front porch. We were impressed with the service despite the fact that the tour bus that we had seen earlier at the The View Hotel and at Goosenecks State Park arrived at about the same time as we did for lunch.
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| This is a picture I stole from the restaurant's website. Notice the Navajo Twins in the background. |
After lunch we decided to check out some of the prehistoric remains at Hovenweep National Monument. Hovenweep includes six prehistoric Puebloan-era villages spread over a twenty-mile expanse that were built between A.D. 1200 and 1300 and were home to more than 2500 people. The visitor's center and the unit we visited, the Square Tower Group, were about an hour's drive northeast of Bluff.
We stopped in the visitor's center for directions. The ranger indicated the first ruins were 300 yards down the hill behind the center. We were not sure exactly what we were going to see, but with the monument's map and brochure in hand we set off down the trail.
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| Stronghold House |
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| Twin Towers from across the canyon |
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| Eroded Boulder House in the center and Rim Rock House in the background |
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| Eroded Boulder House and one of the Twin Towers from Tower Point |
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| Hovenweep Castle from the side |
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| Hovenweep Castle from the front |
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| Still standing after all of these years |
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| Square Tower and Hovenweep House at the head of the canyon |
It was very interesting, but very hot. After collapsing for a few minutes at the visitor's center, it was nice to return to the air conditioning of the car on the drive back to Bluff. We checked into the very interesting Desert Rose Inn and had dinner at the Cottonwood Steakhouse. The latter was good but could have been even more interesting due to all of the outdoor seating under the cottonwood trees where they grilled the steaks. However tonight it was too hot (at least for us) to sit outside and it was almost too hot inside when the power and air-conditioning went out temporarily...all part of the adventure!
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