Another day of the same, in a way: mostly a drive, with a bit of hiking at the end. We’re moving on to Mexican Hat tonight, about halfway to Moab. We’ll be here two nights, so be patient - maybe we’ll get to see some biking tomorrow on the layover day.
First the drive though. Like yesterday’s, it’s another 200 miles of nonstop knockout views that leave you wanting to stop at every turnout along the way. It begins by crossing the Navaho Bridge and entering the Navaho Reservation, which we’ll remain on for the entire day’s drive. We won’t leave the huge reservation until the very end of the drive when we cross the San Juan River at Medicine Hat.
For the first 15 miles we continue on 89A as it follows the base of the Echo Cliffs, the dramatic formation that mirrors the Vermillion Cliffs - the two join together at Marble Canyon like two halves of a giant hairpin. At Bitter Springs we double back and angle steeply up the face of the cliffs, enjoying enormous views across the plateau. at the top the road cuts through an improbably deep V to emerge at on the high plateau on the other side. A fantastic bit of road that would be incredible to bicycle down.
Looking across the plateau from a viewpoint near the top of the Echo Cliffs. To the right are the Vermillion Cliffs, and in the distance is the snowy high plateau north of the Grand Canyon that we crossed yesterday. Down there in the shadows somewhere is the beginning of the Grand Canyon.
Highway 89 cuts a dramatic cleft through the top of the Echo Cliffs as it drops to the Colorado River. This is another stretch of road I’d love to bicycle some day.
From here we cross a high, sparsely populated plateau - we’re up around 6,000’ here, the dry, open landscape broken by scattered junipers, lonely cattle and isolated homesteads. We pull off when we come to Page, intending to stop at a grocery store for an essential purchase - a couple more six packs of craft IPA to help tide me over while we’re in Utah, the land of session beer.
Passing through Page, we pull off at another scenic viewpoint - an obvious one that we hadn’t thought of, the overlook of Glen Canyon Dam. I’ve never thought kindly of Lake Powell and this dam, which went up while I was a young man. Opposition to its completion was an environmental cause at the time, and I still resent its presence. I’d love to have seen Glen Canyon before it was flooded. There’s no doubt that it’s a dramatic viewpoint though, and the deep canyon below the dam is a reminder of what’s been lost - for now, at least.
Today, it’s cold and very windy. We take care scrambling across the stairs and exposed sandstone at the viewpoint and don’t get too close to the edge.
From Page it’s another 150 miles to Mexican Hat. More vast, open land across the high plateau, gradually rising and falling at an elevation between five and seven thousand feet. Toward the end we drive through famous Monument Valley without stopping - partly because we’re just ready to get there, partly because it’s overcast, and partly because we’re thinking we’ll be back on the bicycles tomorrow.
The view across Tsegi Canyon from behind the ruins of the Anasazi Inn, a well known resort that burned to the ground five years ago.
Not in Monument Valley, but just south of it. For the next twenty miles we pass improbable spikes and cathedral-like formations rising up in isolation.
Amazing. Such a distinctive landscape. Note the cloud cover coming in. By the time we get to Monument Valley itself it’s fully overcast and all of the famous monuments are in the shadows.
We arrive at our motel at two, hoping to check in; but the office and restaurant are closed. They won’t reopen until 3, so we head to the gas station to fill-er-up and empty-er-out and then go for a walk around the small town’s namesake, Mexican Hat Rock. For the next two hours we walk around the base of the formation on dusty, rocky trails and ATV scars, stunned by the beauty of the place. Beneath the famous formation snakes the San Juan River, and across the canyon, on Navaho land, is the Navaho Rug - an amazing patchwork of eroded sandstone that has to be seen to be believed.
Looking north across the San Juan basin. Twenty miles off is an unbroken line of steep cliffs; and beyond that is the high White Plateau, and Natural Bridges National Monument.
Notice anything odd about this spot? So does Rocky. She suddenly realizes her pack is missing, along with her purse. They’re hopeful still back up on that balcony where she took it off and set it on the ground after getting the phone out to take a panorama. Fortunately it was still there when she returned to retrieve it.
Scott AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonThanks, Suzanne. I’m honored. Coming from my favorite photographer, that’s very flattering. Reply to this comment 3 years ago
