July 17, 2012. After we left Natural Bridges National Monument we headed back to the campground at Monument Valley. As I had freaked out a bit on the Way up Moki Dugway, we decided not to return the same route, so we headed east toward Blanding on US 95 then south on US 191. Although as you can see from the photo that we did have some steep and windy roads.We stopped in the town of Bluff at the Twin Rocks Cafe to have some lunch. The food was great, we each had a sandwich on Navajo Fry bread which was great!!
We then headed back toward our campground at Gouldings Lodge at Monument Valley. The main road US 191 joins UT 261 so we decided to take the off road that runs between these two and head through the Valley of the Gods.
The Valley of the Gods is a smaller scale version of Monument Valley, containing tall, red, isolated sandstone mesas and cliffs standing high above the level desert floor, remnants of some ancient landscape. The area may be toured via a 17 mile dirt road (FR242) that winds amongst the eerie formations; this can be rather steep and bumpy in a few places but most of the surface is firm and level.
There are many places to stop along the route, and plenty of locations for free (dry) camping, as the valley lies on BLM (bureau of land management) land and is completely undeveloped. There are no restrictions here on hiking or camping as there are in
Monument Valley.Many of the of the prominent peaks in the valley do have fanciful names. We did not have a map with us so I am not sure of all the names...
The road was pretty good and the scenery was great!!
From here we are heading to Bryce Canyon National Park. More later.
Until then..... Candy and Johnny
