Ridgerunners and Redrocks…a Utah Run Sept 2023.

[Haggis]

Getting out of Bullfrog we headed north on Notom where we found an interesting dirt road that pulled us off into the desert. This was Spring Creek Road and it led to an old homestead and a pretty nice BLM campground…

Further along the road we took a turn on to Black Canyon Trail, a more rugged but by no means technical road, that offered some sweet vistas and a few light switchbacks…

Soon we merged back onto the blacktop and set our way finder towards Bears Ears National Monument.

 

[Haggis]

On the way to Bears Ears we crossed back through Glen Canyon. Checked out the Hite Overlook and took a few side trips down dirt roads just to see what was what…

As the afternoon got longer we arrived in the Bears Ears National Monument and began to go on the lookout for a campsite. We turned up Elk Mountain Road and at the base of the Ears found a bunch of great campsites at the top of the mesa. A bit of a tight fit to get back on there but it was situated next to the cliff walls and ravens soared in the breezes.

The evening past with some lazy lounging about in the GFC, dinner prep and a real shower. We were utterly alone and the night offered up a great sleep. On to the next days wanderings…

 

[Haggis]

The day started warm and windy. Breakfast was a quick couple bowls of instant oatmeal followed by a rapid truck tidy. Soon we were working our way back off Elk Mountain and heading towards the Natural Bridges area. We would spend a couple hours here hiking trails and gawking at stone geology because geology is cool.

 

[Haggis]

After Natural Bridges we started making our way to Valley of the Gods via the Moki Dugway. At an overlook on the Moki, Michelle bought some crafted necklaces from a local, I ate lunch.

Down off the Dugway we stopped to check out Goosenecks State Park..

And then ripped down to Mexican Hat to get some gas. On a bunch of the YouTube videos I watched about this area prior to coming here there were food vendors in the Mexican Hat vicinity selling Navajo Fry Bread. But not today. Sooo, of the the Valley of the Gods we went.

 

[Haggis]

The dirt road through the Valley of the Gods provided epic scenery and a fun drive. We took our time touring this route, getting out of the truck to check out some of the campsites or to poke around an interesting rock or three. We weren’t in any hurry and knowing our time in Utah was closing faster than we would like why rush it.

From here we knew we needed to start positioning ourselves for the drive back home so after checking out the maps we decided to head towards Hovenweep for the night. We’d poke around there tomorrow and then spend just a bit of time touring Colorado. But first, let’s see what we can find along the way.

 

[Haggis]

On the road towards Hovenweep, in town of Bluff, we were passing by what looked to be some touristy, history museum. We were gonna pass it by but curiosity got the better of us and we stopped to check it out…

What we found, while definitively a bit touristy was a re-creation of an old Mormon Fort, Fort Bluff. There was one original structure and many modern version. Each of the modern cabins were built by the relatives of the original settlers and were furnished with family heirlooms from the time period. Each cabin had an auditory story of the families lives at Fort Bluff and it kind of drew you in. The biggest piece of history coming from Fort Bluff was that these were the settlers who scouted out and built the Hole in the Rock Road. If your a history buff, it’s worth a stop.

As afternoon passed into evening we pulled into Hovenweep National Park. Though there was some BLM land to the east we elected to just post up in the Hovenweep campground. It was just about empty and frankly we were tired of driving. Nice campground though.

After supper we took a walk down the the holler that the ruins are found in and just sat and watched the sunset for the evening. Than it was back to the Mouser and some comfy quilts for the night.

 

[Haggis]

This morning we took our time getting up and around as we were at our destination for the morning. Closing up camp, we headed over to the trail head for the Hovenweep Ruins. It is always amazing to see what people could build with what was available to them and some applied ingenuity.

 

[Haggis]

Leaving Hovenweep we turned northwest and soon crossed the border into Colorado. We stopped in Cortez to pick up a few groceries for the drive home. Seeing that the Mesa Verde National Park wasn’t that far away we figure we go check it out. Here at Mesa Verde we found ancient ruins of the Pueblo people. We started off with checking out the earlier kiva, below ground dwellings. Really an amazing example of architecture.

As we hiking the last trail around the Kiva area we were looking forward to continuing further into the park to check out the later cliff dwellings but Mother Nature had other plans for us. Heading back to the truck, the wind suddenly picked up and the sky turned black. Lightning started to crash from the sky and we could see a wall of rain bearing down on us from the west. It turned nasty fast. Time to get off this mesa. All too soon we were in monsoon like conditions and it looked like there would be no relief. We both did not like the idea of setting up camp in this so we headed off to Durango and got a motel for the night. The storm would continue into the morning.

 

[Haggis]

Up and around before dawn, we drove out of Durango with an accompanying stucco of rain. Soon after the sun rose the rain stopped and we were tooling along Route 160 heading east. Time to go home, though we would still poke into anything that looked interesting along the way.

Our first stop of the day was at the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The largest sand dunes in North America. We hung out fir a bit, trudged through some sand and watched more intrepid folks slide down the dunes…

Outside of the Park we came across a hike to a waterfall and so we had to do that. About a 3 miler out and back with a bit of a crick walk to see a waterfall tucked up in a tight chasm. Pretty cool spot and worth the hike.

Than it it was back on the road where after heading south we hit back on Route 160 again. This would take us through the San Juan Mountains and National Forest. The San Juan’s did their best to lure us in and we almost succumbed but our sights were on home and we only made brief stops along the path.

We stayed on secondary roads through Colorado and for half of Kansas where we holed up in a motel just off from I-70 for the night.

The next morning we hit the interstate and churned asphalt until we finally arrived home.

 

[Haggis]

All in all it was an awesome trip. Total miles travelled for this trip was 5843. We visited 11 national parks and monuments, 6 state parks and 4 national forests. We saw things we never had seen before, met some right decent folks and enjoyed every minute of the trip. We didn’t see it all, missed some things, didn’t get to do all the stuff we were hoping to but that’s just a great excuse to explore Utah again someday.

The Mouser, the GFC and all the gear were solid all trip long. We had the gear and processes dialed. I was astonished how light the amount of people were with this trip being right after Labor Day as well as how easy it was to find a campsite. Now to start thinking about our next western trip…

 

[Haggis]

Thought I’d share the souvenirs from the trip that got added to the headliner. Running out of room up there…