Attractions and other places we visit.
We visited the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum in Utah.
This museum focuses on Puebloan peoples and artifacts from AD 825 to 1225, and has a 1,000-year-old underground kiva that can be entered.
The exterior of the museum:
Museum exhibits:
The Puebloan great house:
Info sign:
Great house:
An info sign:
Enter with caution; yes, people are encouraged to climb down into the kiva:
Inside:
A twofer: we visited Bears Ears and Natural Bridges National Monuments.
Bears Ears National Monument is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). It is a large area of 1.36 million acres of forests and such.
It is named for the distinctive mountains:
We visited a ranger station:
But the main focus of this trip was to visit the Natural Bridges National Monument, administered by the National Park Service (NPS). it is entirely surrounded by Bears Ears NM:
Its visitor center:
This monument features three natural bridges, basically holes in rocks much like arches. What’s the difference? Basically a natural bridge spans an erosion valley, and an arch doesn’t. Or put another way, a natural bridge is caused by running water, and an arch by seeping moisture.
The first bridge viewpoint:
An info sign:
The bridge is a little difficult to spot:
A closer view:
We then stopped for a picnic lunch at a nice shelter:
On to the second bridge:
And the last one:
On a road trip to Bears Ears and Natural Bridges National Monuments (a post about them tomorrow), we drove our truck up Utah State Route 261, which includes the Moki Dugway dirt switchback road carved into the cliff face of Cedar Mesa in Utah.
Here’s a map:
The mesa from the bottom:
A warning sign:
Heading up the road:
Twisty GPS route:
Monuments:
Don’t look down:
A road at the top and bottom:
Monuments again:
View from near the top:
Stay tuned for a timelapse video of this drive.
We drove around the Monument Valley Tribal Park in our truck.
The Navajo seal and statue outside the entrance:
Looking down at some of the monument rocks and road from the visitor center:
It’s a fairly rough dirt road:
Our truck at one of the viewpoints:
At John Ford’s Point, the man on a horse; he sits out there for people to take photos, or people can sit on his horse as a photo op:
Another horse; they seemed to be training it:
Our truck:
While staying at the Monument Valley KOA, we had a one hour horseback ride from D/D MTA Horse Tours, with a Navajo guide, and horses corralled next to the KOA.
The experience was a bit marred by unreliable operators; the booking said to turn up half an hour before our reservation, which we did, but they never turned up, so we gave up in disgust. We contacted them, and arranged again for a couple of days later. Again, they didn’t turn up on time; they eventually arrived half an hour late, after we prompted them via text. Apparently Navajo time is like Hawaii time, very casual. Not impressed.
The Trip Advisor site has some reviews from others who also experienced their unreliability, which ruined their plans. Fortunately, we were there for a week, so could afford to be flexible.
Once they did turn up, the actual horseback ride was a memorable experience. This was our first (and so far only) time riding horses, so we weren’t entirely sure what to expect, or whether or not we’d like it. But we did. We’ll probably try it again in the future.
Here’s part of the horse corral, with monument rocks in the background:
Our guide chose four horses; one for each of us, for himself, and for his young daughter, who also joined us on the ride:
The two horses in the middle were the ones we rode. The left of those two was named Four Socks (if I recall correctly), and was ridden by Jenn. The black one to the right was named Miles, and was ridden by me:
Here’s me mounting the horse, helped by our guide:
Jenn on a horse:
And off we go:
Our Navajo guide talking about the monuments etc:
Sunset:
Some pictures of us taken by our guide:
Onward:
The guide’s daughter led on the way back:
Overall, a great experience. It would have been better if the operators were more reliable, but the ride itself was fun and memorable.
We visited Goosenecks State Park in Utah:
This is a smallish park, overlooking where the San Juan River makes a series of tight turns:
Look closely; what do you see in the water?
Rafting boats:
There are some no-hookup campsites with great views:
On the way back to our coach, we did a quick side trip to the fascinating Mexican Hat rock:
And stopped at Forrest Gump point, an iconic location from the movie:
Standing in the road for a selfie is a popular pastime; we saw lots of people there every time we went past:
We did a Monument Valley tribal tour; a Navajo guided tour in an open truck through Monument Valley tribal park, including parts that are only available via such tours.
Here’s the brochure with the map and description:
Lots of iconic rocks:
Our tour vehicle:
Other tour vehicles:
Our Navajo tour guide:
One of the stops was a hogan:
Navajo hair tie:
Driving over sand:
Big Hogan:
Vertical panorama:
Ear of the Wind:
Suns Eye:
I don’t post about food very often, as I feel it isn’t that interesting. But I make an exception for notable places. One such is Goulding’s Monument Valley Stagecoach Restaurant. It is the dining room of the famous Goulding’s lodge, a historic area of Monument Valley. Harry Goulding and his trading post and lodge were instrumental in popularizing Monument Valley, including bringing it to the attention of Hollywood for many Western films.
Here’s the monumental view from the parking lot:
Goulding’s trading post, now a museum:
Goulding’s restaurant:
The restaurant menu, with some history on the cover:
A very simple menu:
The view from a window booth:
Jenn had Navajo fry bread and beef stew:
And I had a Rez Bah sandwich, also on fry bread:
The Navajo fry bread was super tasty; highly recommended.
A few days later we went back there again. On the way, we encountered some wild dogs running down the road:
The view out the window again:
A different angle, showing the gift shop (which we checked out before dinner):
Since we enjoyed the Navajo fry bread so much the first time, we ordered some as an appetizer:
Best enjoyed with honey and powdered sugar:
Jenn had Salmon (which wasn’t great, apparently):
I had the burger:
Mostly good food, and an excellent view.
Another very nice Utah state park is Goblin Valley State Park. It features thousands of uniquely-shaped “goblins” of eroded sandstone.
The entrance sign, with Wild Horse Butte in the background:
A small visitor center as part of the entrance station:
A relief map of the area:
A paper map. A nice feature of this park is that the Valley of the Goblins is free-range; there are no designated paths, and you are allowed to walk anywhere (but no climbing on the goblins, of course):
Wild Horse Butte:
The Three Sisters:
Part of Valley of the Goblins; some people for scale:
People suck, exhibit #1: naughty people climbing on goblins:
People suck, exhibit #2: we picked up some garbage:
We enjoy visiting state parks in addition to national parks; they are often just as nice, and less busy.
One such was Dead Horse Point State Park near Moab, Utah.
On how the park got its name, quoting from the website:
Dead Horse Point is a peninsula of rock atop sheer sandstone cliffs. The peninsula is connected to the mesa by a narrow strip of land called the neck. There are many stories about how this high promontory of land received its name.
According to one legend, around the turn of the century, the point was used as a corral for wild mustangs roaming the mesa top. Cowboys rounded up these horses, herded them across the narrow neck of land and onto the point. The neck, which is only 30-yards-wide, was then fenced off with branches and brush. This created a natural corral surrounded by precipitous cliffs straight down on all sides, affording no escape. Cowboys then chose the horses they wanted and let the culls or broomtails go free. One time, for some unknown reason, horses were left corralled on the waterless point where they died of thirst within view of the Colorado River, 2,000 feet below.
A cow by a sign on the way to the park:
More cows:
The Dead Horse Point State Park sign:
A little lending library by the visitor center:
Visitor center:
View:
Info sign:
Ponds:
Colorado River:
