Blog Archive

Jul 11, 2013

The Maze District. Canyonlands Utah. Day I

It was high time we went back. That's what we've been saying for a while as life got busier and time/money got slimmer. Any time we had some time we headed for somewhere else out of convenience or because the San Juans of Colorado constantly rank as our favorite place in the US. That being said, we knew we loved Utah. It was out first big trip exploring many years ago. It's a magical place and we missed it! Sure, it's not the right time of year to go to the high desert of Utah, but it's still 2 or 3 time the elevation of Phoenix. Since I still go running and biking in the 110-115 degree heat were having, it "should" feel just fine. Off we headed after work on Wednesday. I knew that on the Navajo reservation there are some dinosaur tracks encased in stone where a dinosaur walked many many millions of years ago. So, we HAD to check it out!  photo IMG_2611.jpg Now, the "guides" are local kids who tell you that every track is from a velociraptor or T-Rex since those are what tourists want to hear. Sadly, no, they aren't. These tracks were made 65 MILLION years before they existed.  photo IMG_2612.jpg Pretty neat! Touristy, but neat! Time to keep cruising.  photo IMG_2613.jpg When you can catch a site of this out your driver window while cruising along the highway you KNOW you're headed to an amazing part of this planet.  photo IMG_2616.jpg It got a little better still.  photo IMG_2620.jpg And better still.  photo IMG_2622.jpg The problems with Monument Valley are that it's crowded, busy and you can never get a second alone to enjoy and feel what early peoples may have felt at seeing them towering above. Because of that, I'm thankfully that there are equally or even more amazing things in this world. You just have to work a little for them! Negatives aside, THIS is a great view in a car and an epic view on a motorcycle.  photo IMG_2630.jpg Just crusing along on tarmac still enjoying seeing some sites we hadn't in a quite a few years.  photo IMG_2634.jpg Ahhh, the great pueblo of Mexican Hat. Oddly we saw larger "hat" rocks in the Maze District, but this one was near a highway!  photo IMG_2636.jpg Camp for night 1. Goosenecks state park.  photo IMG_2637.jpg  photo IMG_2638.jpg No, not at the parking lot! We had to go out the dirt road to the furthest point!  photo IMG_2640.jpg Good campsite.  photo IMG_2649.jpg With friends.  photo IMG_2648.jpg Just another night roughing it.  photo IMG_2655.jpg photo IMG_2656.jpg

1 comment:

John North said...

That's crazy how much the river zig zags. Seems like it would make navigation a chore.

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