Saturday – October 18, 2014
Valley Of The Gods
Monument Valley
Mexican Hat, Utah
We are favored with continuing delightful weather; sunny, warm with temperatures in the mid-seventies. Time to go exploring!
Valley Of The Gods
Here the visitor will find sculpted formations including red rock spires,
fins, and pinnacles. The entrance road is about 10 miles from Goosenecks State
Park. This is a 17-mile gravel road that runs east of Utah highway 262 to U.S.
highway 163. It is a very rough, washboard type, road with large rocks in the
roadway. Some sections of the road are quite steep… and did I mention rough! Our
maximum speed throughout the 17-mile trip was 5 mph!
The scenery was breathtaking… when I stopped our vehicle to view it. While driving my eyes were focused like a laser beam on the road, creeping through rock-strewn sections, then through washboard sections that threatened to jerk the steering wheel out of my hands.
There are no warning signs posted at the entrance about the condition of the road, other than a warning not to travel during rain due to flash flooding areas being present on this road. My personal opinion is high-clearance, four-wheel drive vehicles should be required to travel on this road. Fortunately for us, our high-clearance, E150 Ford Cargo Van, with two-wheel drive, made it through without a problem.
Monument Valley
The visitor is treated to a mile-high, sandstone-monument-studded area.
Erosion, uplifting crust and sporadic volcanic activity combined to form immense
buttes, mesas and canyons over millions of years. This is a popular on-location
site for the film industry. The monument is located in Arizona on the Navajo Indian Reservation. A fee
is required to enter the area.
Tomorrow another adventure begins.
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