Life on the rim

Todays post is about living on the edge.

Of the canyon that is.

From Monument Valley we traveled north about 40 miles to Goosenecks

State Park in Utah.

The park is so named because here the San Juan River cuts a back and forth

pattern (Goosenecks) dozens of times as it carves its way westward to its meeting with the

Colorado River at lake Powell.

In the park the river travels over 6 miles while it only makes 1.5 miles westward progress.

We camped right on the edge of the canyon.

You can see one of the Goosenecks behind us in the photo below.

Saturday Morning we took a drive up the nearby Moki Dugway.

The dugway is an unpaved old mine road that ascends about 1,200 feet in

3 miles of tight switchbacks to Muley Point.

While the road is safe - it is certainly not for those afraid of heights.
You can see the road on the valley floor to the left as it approaches the Dugway.

Moki Dugway

Once at the top, a drive down the well graded dirt road (Muley Point Road)

brings you to Muley Point and a million dollar view of the Goosenecks, The Valley of

the Gods, and the Monument Valley 40 miles to the south.

There are numerous side roads and boondocking sites.
I did not explore all of them but what I saw was not suitable for a
very large rig.

Monument Valley in the far distance.

Back at camp we had steaks over the wood fire and a beautiful starlit night in the

dark Utah skies.   A perfect end to a fantastic day.

The next morning a firey red sunrise painted the canyon walls.

You can see our rigs on the canyon edge.

A closer view - we had 2 neighbors.

Marcel is far left and I'm far right.

Headed to our next stop at Grand Canyon, we backtracked thru the

Monument Valley and stopped to take this iconic photo of US 163 and Monument Valley.

It was this scene that was shown in Forest Gump as he walked about the country.

Our rigs on the side of the road. 

Our first night in Grand Canyon Francesca cooked us all dinner.

Chicken with Asparagus, and Risotto with cheese.

It was a delicious meal that took her several hours to prepare.

Isabella made the desert - artistically sliced watermelon.

In the afternoon we hiked several miles along the South Rim Trail.

Around every turn a new vista awaited our cameras.

Its hard to believe it but the photos below were taken with my iPhone.

We had a beautiful clear day and the colors were vibrant.

It was a great day - one that we will all remember forever.

After 3 days we said goodbye to Grand Canyon and turned our sights Southward,

but that is the subject for another day.

Till then.

Monument Valley

Our visit to Page was slowly drawing to a close but there were still a few

more things to enjoy before we hit the road.

Our next stop was a visit to horseshoe bend.

A short 3/4 mile hike over a hill south of Page on US89  brings you to this

wonderful view of the Colorado River making a 270 degree bend about 1000' below.

Horseshoe Bend

Kate and I posed for this self portrait with the bend behind us. 

Back at Wahweep Campground, a picture of our site (in left center)

Behind the Cedar Trees (R Center) is Jim & Kristis Rig and

Marcel & family is just to the left out of the photo.

Our final night with Jim & Kristi (they were starting the long trip home) was

shaping up to be a very pretty evening.

Some interesting cloud forms were drifting across the mesa's to the east.

Later the setting sun set those clouds on fire.

(absolutely zero photo processing was done on the colors)

We had a farewell dinner and then the following morning said adios to J&K.

Monument Valley

Later that morning we too hit the road northbound to our next stop

at Gouldings Trading Post in Monument Valley.

Kate and I have traveled thru Monument Valley but never stopped to explore it more

deeply so this trip with our friends was a perfect opportunity to do just that.

Gouldings is located in the Valley and the campground is in a scenic canyon 

with a slot view of some of the mesas.    

We positioned our chairs to take advantage of both

the afternoon sun and the view.

As the evening sun got lower in the sky we took the short drive into the 

Navajo Tribal Park to view the mittens.

The Mittens - Monument Valley

Saturday morning we decided to take the Navajo guided tour of the valley.

You can take your own vehicle on some of the roads but with the Navajo guide

you have greater access.

The photo below is called The North Window.

North Window - Monument Valley

If you've watched a few John Wayne Western Movies, then

chances are you have seen some of Momument Valley, and quite possibly the 

view below.

John Ford, the famous movie director, fell in love with Monument

Valley due to its typically western look.

The view below is taken from the site called John Ford Point

 Often an indian on a horse would stand on the end of the point in center to

add to the photo.   No such luck for us.

John Ford Point - Monument Valley

The view taken from out on the point.

John Ford Point - Monument Valley

Other directors loved the Valley as well.

A short list of some of the movies shot here:

Stagecoach

My Darling Clementine

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

How the West was Won

The Searchers

And some non-western titles:

Easy Rider

2001 A Space Oddysey

Forest Gump

National Lampoon Vacation

Remember the scene where Chevy Chase drives the "Wagon Queen Family Truckster"

thru the "Road Closed" sign and has to walk thru the desert looking for help?

It was shot in Monument Valley.

Below is a picture of the vehicle that we rode in on the tour.

I was the only American out of about 12 people.

In retrospect we all thought that the tour was an expensive waste of money.

We were rushed thru many of the photo spots, we had people from our tour walking in

front of our shots, and our tour guide was over an hour late when we had signed up for

a sunrise tour to take advantage of the light.

Next time I will drive myself!

Below is a shot of Goudlings Campground taken from a nice hiking trail that departs

from the campground.

Gouldings Trading Post Campground

You can see the trail winding along in the background.

Kate and I took another photo op.

Today we are driving a short 40 miles north to Goosenecks State Park.

Goosenecks is an undeveloped campground on the edge of

the canyon over the San Juan River.

Some great photos should be in our next post.

Thanks to everyone who sends an email or leaves a comment.

We get them all and I can't always answer every one of them, but we do

love to hear from all of you.

It's nice to know that people are reading the blog and enjoying it

or finding it useful for planning.

So thanks again!