Wednesday, May 16, 2018
Weather: Hotter today, high 80s to low 90s, with sunny skies.
Steps: Shaun - n/a, Shannon - 7,573
Wednesday, we woke up at 8am to pack the car and leave Moab. We ate breakfast on the way out of town at Hidden Cuisine, and the oatmeal and eggs benedict were great!
Heading down the road toward the Needles District of Canyonlands, we saw Wilson Arch and then stopped at Newspaper Rock. This is a rock wall that is COVERED in petroglyphs from many cultures through hundreds of years. It’s fascinating to look over and then read what the different symbols might have meant.
Once we reached the Needles District, we immediately stopped at the visitors center (the pattern continues) and watched a movie about the erosional processes that created the rock forms in Canyonlands National Park. From there, we drove to the end of the road and walked among the mushroom-shaped forms we found there for awhile.
On our return trip, we stopped at Pothole Point and hiked .6 miles around the edge of a pockmarked ledge to see long views of the districts. The potholes were empty, but it was still a beautiful area and a nice hike.
We thought there would be a picnic area at the end of the long, unpaved road to Elephant Hill, but there wasn’t, so we drove back to a picnic area we had seen previously and ate a fine spread out in nature. After lunch, we left Canyonlands, and, instead of heading back down the same road we had come in on, we took a side road up and over a mountain into Monticello (pronounced Mon-ti-sello, apparently). We saw some incredible views of the La Sal Mountains and the two national parks along the way, and then began our trek to Monument Valley in earnest.
It was two hours down to Monument Valley, from Utah into the Navajo Nation. We arrived just after 6pm and were barely allowed in, as the gates closed to new visitors at 6:30 and the road had to be emptied entirely by 8pm.
The road was pretty rough, and weenies who didn’t know how to drive made for slow going. However, the scenery was absolutely beautiful, and the raking light from the sun setting made for some interesting light and shadow play.
We finished the circuit and headed to the visitors center (look! We changed it up a bit and went to the visitors center after the attraction!), which was awesome. There was gorgeous art and jewelry by Navajo artists, and, of course, we did our part to support the local economy.
We caught the sunset over the valley and then had dinner in the restaurant there on site. Oh man! The fry bread was amazing! The drive from Monument Valley to Page, Arizona was long, and we were super tired when we arrived, so we immediately went to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment