Heading southeast of Hanksville the land starkly contrasts with the Grand Staircase west of Capitol Reef National Park. This is the harsh, unforgiving high desert known as the Colorado Plateau. Reminding me of how remote nature of this area is a sign at the edge of Hanksville telling travelers that there are no services for the next 125 miles. In addition a temporary sign flashes the news that the highway is closed at Milepost 115 due to a bridge being washed out in a flash flood. I stop at the gas station to get more information since I don’t want to drive 115 miles only to have to turn around. The gas station attendant assures that my turn-off to Mexican Hat is before the closure. A premonition prompts me to ask if the detour is paved and she assures me that it is “all except the two miles of road at Moki Dugway and it’s good.” I did NOT have the sense to ask what “Moki Dugway” is and so in my blissful ignorance head off…
From Hanksville I can see that the desert is punctuated by an island mountain range running north/south for about 30 miles, soaring up from the desert floor to the peak of Mt. Ellen at 11,522 feet. The Henry Mountains were the last mountain range in the United States to be added to the official map of the US when they were named by explorer Almon Thompson in honor of Joseph Henry, first secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, in 1872. The Henry’s are home to the only free roaming herd of buffalo in the US, starting from a group of 18 buffalo transplanted in 1941 from Yellowstone National Park. Hemmed in by arid desert on all sides, the herd has grown to about 200 and wander the benches of the Henry Mountains.
Hwy 95 continues begins to descend into the North Wash on its path towards the Colorado River. The North Wash has been carved by water over millions of years. The stream in the wash does not flow year round but only after thunderstorms and the spring snow melt. The torrential rains that I experienced a couple of days early have made their impact here as well. As I drive along the wash there are still occasional puddles of water in the creek bed. The initial drop from the desert into the wash is somewhat gradual before narrowing to a dramatic rock canyon as we get closer to the Colorado River.
We continue our descent towards the Colorado as the wash widens and towering walls reach into the morning sky.
Hwy 95 crosses the Colorado River Canyon near the historic location of Hite City, a small town founded in 1883 on the Colorado near its confluence with the Dirty Devil River. Cass Hite found gold in the area and a small town grew up to serve the needs of the miners. The gold panned out quickly and the remote area slumbered until a small boom occurred after Word War II when uranium was found in the area. That didn’t last long either and when the Glen Canyon Dam was built in the 1960’s the rising waters of Lake Powell swallowed up the little town. The impact of the current drought is dramatic in the view from atop a cliff on the west side of the Colorado River. This view should be of Lake Powell but instead the lake is essentially gone. The river runs in a channel directly below the cliff that I am standing on and the Hite Marina boat ramp sits high and dry across the canyon.
Turning and facing northeast the river flows between multicolored cliffs.
The descent to the river hugs cliffs on the west side. The bridge across the Colorado hides in the distance.
There is zero traffic this morning so I actually stop on the bridge and take a picture looking up the river and then down the river. Note that the river denotes a dramatic shift in the color of the rock. To the west the rocks are shades of red, on the east hues range from white to sand.
Once over the river the highway climbs up White Canyon for nearly 50 miles before reaching the Colorado Plateau.
As the canyon widens a “white” slash in the rock snakes across the plateau, thus the name.
Once out of the canyon we are on the area of the Colorado Plateau known as Cedar Mesa. Cedar Mesa is an enormous relatively flat plateau that stretches for nearly a million acres southeast of the Colorado River. The horizon to the northeast is dominated by two mesas known as the “Bear’s Ears” and the area is encompassed in the Bears Ears National Monument.
Bear’s Ears National Monument is a relatively new creation but within its arms is a much older national monument, Natural Bridges Natural Monument. Cass Hite wandered up the White Canyon and discovered the natural bridges in 1883. The bridges were featured in an article in the National Geographic Magazine in 1904 and President Theodore Roosevelt declared the area a national monument in 1908. Here, in the upper reaches of the White Canyon network, are three natural bridges. A short loop road gives access to all three bridges. The first, Sipapu Bridge, is the largest. The arch is 220 feet high and 268 feet long. The actual arch is 31 feet wide and 53 feet thick. A bit hard to distinguish in the picture, it is in the center.
A small community of Ancestral Puebloans lived in the canyon between 1050 AD and 1300 AD. Hard to see from the overlook, ruins are found in the lower canyon wall.
Further along is Kachina Bridge, 210 feet long, 204 feet high, 44 feet wide and 93 feet thick.
A close-up shows the wet creek bed under the arch as well as a couple of hikers headed down into the canyon. All three of the bridges can be accessed via hikes down the canyon walls. This old man could get down to the canyon floor but I’m not sure I could make it back up so I am content to take pictures from the viewpoints!
The third bridge, Owachomo, is no longer being actively carved by a stream underneath. 106 feet tall, 180 feet long, 27 feeet wide and 9 feet thick, Owachomo is the oldest and thinnest of the three main arches.
Just past Natural Bridges National Monument is where Hwy 95 is closed and I have to turn south on Hwy 261 to continue crossing Cedar Mesa. The road is pretty good so I relax a bit…
The trees blanketing Cedar Mesa are not cedar, cedar is the local name for juniper trees. I cruise along until all of a sudden the world drops off and I finally discover what Moki Duway is all about. Cedar Mesa just stops at sharp edge where cliffs plummet over a thousand feet to the desert floor beyond. Standing at the top I look over the edge at my highway continuing on below.
To the northeast is a stunning view of the Valley of the Gods, so named because of the many rock formations dotting the desert floor.
To get own there from here turns out to be one of the most tense moments I have ever had in the Lunch Box. As I was warned (unknowingly at the time!), the highway turns to gravel as it weaves back and forth on switchbacks down the face of the cliff. This two mile descent is known as “Moki Dugway”, “Moki” from the tribe in the region, “Dugway” because the road was dug from the sheer cliff. The road, built in 1958 to transport minerals from mines on Cedar Mesa to a processing plant down in Mexican Hat, was literally carved from the cliff wall at 11% grade. It takes 2 miles of switchbacks to drop the 1,200 feet. I have no choice, not enough gas to turn around and go back to Hanksville, so I put on my big boy panties and head off the cliff! Crawling down the cliff on the narrow road I am just thankful I am heading down, there are no guard rails for those coming up. On my right is a sheer wall of rock so I can’t get over to let any vehicle of any size to pass. Small cars can pass but when a large pickup and camper approach I am fortunate enough to find a wide spot to sit and wait until he reaches me. While waiting I get a picture of a small portion of my future path…
No more opportunities for picture taking until I finally get to the bottom, I’m too busy praying and clinging to the steering wheel! At the bottom there is a parking area where I can get out and marvel at what I have just survived. Little white “dots” are vehicles climbing up the lower portion of the cliff in the first picture, in the second they are a bit higher.
The view along the desert floor is into the Valley of the Gods.
Another winter storm is approaching so I take a short detour to Monument Valley and hunker down for the night. Temperatures in the 20’s, high winds, and a chance of snow are in the forecast. It’s the high winds that are the problem, keeping the boxy Lunch Box on the road in crosswinds is quite the struggle. There are worse places to find refuge! Monument Valley is actually in the Navajo Tribal Reservation and the visitor center is closed so I am content with views from the numerous pull-outs along the highway.
The campground is on the other side of the formations so I have much better light for picture-taking once settled in the campground. Stepping outside of the Lunch Box, the rock pillars glow in the afternoon sun.
Turning around and looking west into the sun, the view is blurred by the blowing sand. It’s much colder and the wind is howling across the desert.
The storm passed during the night, lots of wind and very cold but no snow! The next morning while walking Joey for his morning “constitutional” I have a dramatic view of the sunrise.
I now turn around and head back north up Hwy 191 past Moki Dugway. The morning sun reveals the edge of the Colorado Plateau.
The San Juan River is the major southern tributary of the Colorado, rising in the mountains of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico and flowing west. We cross it at the small town of Mexican Hat, so named because of a rock feature just north of the town.
Rising up from the San Juan River Canyon we emerge onto the western side of the Sage Grass Plains. We explored the eastern area around Cortez, CO, about a month ago.
The Edge of the Cedars State Park in Blanding, UT, contains a museum adjacent to pueblo ruins. The small museum contains an excellent collection of Ancestral Puebloan relics found around the area.
One kind of expects to find examples of pottery, wood, etc. that can be excavated but a surprise is the number of items made out of plant material that have survived nearly 1000 years or more. The arid desert has preserved a number of items. Here a case is filled with sandals woven from reeds and grass with small details like toe rings still intact.
Outside of the museum is a small pueblo consisting of two villages, one built on the ruins of the other. The first pueblo dates from around the late 800s AD and later abandoned. Two hundred years later people returned and rebuilt the pueblo. However, like all of the pueblos of the Ancestral Puebloans, the site was abandoned around 1250 AD.
North of Blanding our path crosses another island mountain range that looms above the mesa. The Abajos Mountains rise on the horizon, topping out at 11,360 feet on Abajo Peak. Hwy 191 crosses to the east of the mountains hidden in the clouds over a low ridge cloaked in remnants of last night’s snow.
Once over the saddle the highway quickly drops to a high desert plain marked by a unique “bell” rock feature.
At the bell we are going to turn off the highway and explore the southern part of Canyonlands National Park.
Canyonlands National Park
Canyonlands National Park encompasses the land were the Green and Colorado Rivers join before heading southwest. There are three distinct areas: The Maze, The Needles and Islands in the Sky. There is virtually no access to The Maze except for limited four-wheel drive vehicles. The Needles and Islands in the Sky do have limited paved road access. Here is a picture of the excellent map provided by the national park, we are going to visit The Needles and Islands in the Sky.
Once off Hwy 191 the road skirts the northern base of the Abajo Mountains before passing through Indian Creek Canyon.
This is not in the national park proper but rather is Bureau of Land Management land. A unique feature is found along the road, Newspaper Rock. From prehistoric times people passing through the canyon have etched graphics on the rock wall.
Indian Creek Canyon continues for a couple of miles before opening to a wide valley.
Once in the national park the distinctive rock formations that give this area of the park its name, The Needles, come into view.
Perhaps the most memorable rock formation is the Wooden Shoe, a natural shape on the horizon that bears a remarkable resemblance to a wooden shoe.
The ridge of columns continues.
The colors of the rock change as we approach the end of the road.
And the road ends!
Turning around we backtrack, enjoying a different perspective on the surrounding views. Here we are looking due north up the Colorado River Canyon towards the Island in the Sky section of the national park. Just beyond the gap in the cliffs is the confluence of the Green and Colorado Rivers.
The Abajo Mountains peek above the serrated line of rock.
Ten miles further we are at the western entrance to Indian Creek Canyon.
Once back on Hwy 191 we continue north, rising and falling with the La Sal Mountains dominating the eastern sky under brooding clouds.
Finally we reach the town of Moab, largest town in eastern Utah. Moab sits at the juncture of a capital “T” where the Colorado River crosses the northern end of a small valley running perpendicular from the south. Frankly, 10 years ago Moab was more fun to visit, but these days it and the surrounding country have become such a popular destination that the city is crowded, expensive, and one long traffic jam. But still we come because it does sit in the middle of such spectacular country!
Driving through Moab the red rock canyon walls hem in the town on three sides.
Passing through town we climb up from the Colorado River and out onto the plateau above.
About ten miles north of Moab Hwy 191divides two national parks. To the east is Arches National Park, to the west is the Island in the Sky portion of Canyonlands National Park. Here I experience a major disappointment that was not a surprise. Arches National Park has become so popular that it is virtually impossible to get in. I am here at nine o’clock in the morning and the entrance is already closed with a sign telling visitors that there is a 3-5 hour wait to get in the park! Again, I expected it, plenty of notice of the crowds is given on the website. I have been to Arches before so here are some pictures from back in 2012 so we are reminded of what we are missing!
Obviously I am not going to wait in line for five hours so instead I head west towards the Island in the Sky portion of Canyonlands National Park. The road climbs up onto the plateau which forms an “arrowhead” pointing down between the Green and Colorado Rivers.
The line at the entrance to the national park is long, I wait 45 minutes to get in. I’m not the only one who came here after Arches was closed! I anticipate that most of the pull-outs will be full as I begin to drive into the park. The plateau is carved by the side canyons of the Green and Colorado
This view of Shaeffer Canyon looks east across the main Colorado Canyon, across the Moab Valley and to the La Sal Mountains on the horizon.
Grand View Point Overlook at the “tip” of the arrowhead is the prime destination in the park so I initially bypass it and travel farther west to skirt the Green River Canyon. This area is not as crowded and I am able to find parking at two different pull-outs. The canyons around the confluence of the two rivers are a great example of “step” canyons. The much faster rivers erode the land more quickly and thus they flow in a narrow canyon below a much broader plateau that itself is a thousand feet below the main plateau. Thus means that most of the time one cannot see the actual rivers.
This view looks southwest down the Green River towards the area of the confluence. Note the sharp edges of the inner canyon, the Green River can be seen in the upper right. The mesa edge on the upper left is near the Grand View Point Overlook and the Colorado River Canyon on the other side.
I turn around and head to the Grand View Point Overlook where, as anticipated, I can’t find a parking spot.
But, about a half mile away is a different viewpoint and I am able to park there. It’s brisk outside and my cheeks are red as I gaze out across the maze of canyons where the two rivers meet. Neither river is actual visible, we’re looking across what’s known as the White Rim, which in turn is sliced by the actual river. The views are in order to the east, south, and west.
Just spectacular! I do want to get down to the river bottom so I turn around and head northeast across the mesa (if you didn’t know better you would have no idea about the stunning canyons on either side.)
I pass by Shaeffer Canyon again.
It’s now past noon and as I leave the line to get in stretches quite a ways.
Near Hwy 191 the view is across the highway to the east and some of the rock formations of Arches National Park.
Back down in the valley at the Colorado River I turn west and travel along a road originally built to reach a potash mine about 15 miles west in the Colorado River Canyon. Shadows make it hard to see but Moab is directly out of the picture on the left as the river heads into a narrow cleft in the rock.
The canyon contains the river and the road, pretty much all there is room for.
Around I bend I come upon one of the major attractions in the Moab area, rock climbing. The shoulder of the road is crammed with rock climbers and their vehicles.
Farther down the canyon it widens a bit and hikers are roaming the hillsides.
I turn around and retrace my steps with spectacular canyon views.
I cross the Colorado Bridge at the north end of Moab and immediately turn east to explore the eastern canyon. I am stopped at the traffic light on Hwy 191 when I take this picture of the eastern canyon entrance. Keep in mind the “T” configuration of the area. I just explored the left side of the top, now I’m headed up the east side of the top.
Once into the canyon the views are stunning.
It’s about 60 miles from Moab through the canyon to Cisco, UT, where the canyon merges into the Utah desert. Roughly in the middle the canyon spreads out into the Castle Valley.
The river enters from the north through another narrow slash of rock.
Finally we emerge out into the deserts of Central Utah. At this point in time we are only about 60 miles west of Grand Junction, CO, where our adventures began six weeks ago.
Despite the shimmering clear blue skies another storm system is forecasted to rip through the area with cold, snow and wind so I wrap up this trip and head for home. This area of the US is one of my favorite places to visit and it did not disappoint!
Next up: Who Knows?
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