Monument Valley - Day 1

We left the Zion campground and drove back down route 89 through Kanab, and took the other 89 back past Lake Powell, the Glen Canyon Dam and Page, Arizona.  We picked up route 98 out of Page till it hit route 160, and then through Kayenta onto 163 back into Utah.  We're camping at the Goulding Trading Post and Lodge campground, which is in Monument Valley.

We're still seeing red rocks everywhere, but these are different, with flat land and huge rocks scattered out among the sagebrush.  This campsite has great views!

After we got set up, we drove north to Mexican Hat, UT, which is not much of a town, but has a bridge over the San Juan River and a rock shaped like a hat.  Behind the "hat" are multi-colored walls that have a zig-zag pattern and look like a Navajo blanket.  Just past Mexican Hat is a road that goes into Gooseneck State Park, which has an amazing view of two bends in the San Juan River.  It was too wide to get into one picture, and I couldn't play around with a panoroma since the wind was so fierce I could hardly stand up!  We could see a huge cloud of red dust coming toward us, so we made a fast getaway!

We drove north a little further to the Valley of the Gods, but the pavement ended there and we're not going to go up a gravel road with hairpin turns and a 10% grade!  It was so deserted I let the dogs out off-leash for a little bit.

We've signed up for a guided tour of the Navajo private part of Monument Valley in the morning.

This little fellow was sitting on his mound where we pulled over to eat our lunch.

Starting into Monument Valley

Our campsite at Gouldings

The Mexican Hat

Zig zag stripes on the hills

Part of the "gooseneck"

The rest of the gooseneck

Sandstorm approaching.  It was weird watching it coming!

Peeing in the Valley of the Gods!

Zig zags again