4-5-2007 
Monument Valley to Canyon Lands

I was cruising along through this wonderful open desert with scattered home sites in the distance when I came across this ‘housing development’ right along the highway. It was so bazaar to see this piece of a city subdivision so out of place. They houses seemed to be completely finished with roads and curbs in but totally deserted. For some reason no one has been allowed to move in. it was like a twilight zone.

I stopped in Monument Valley and took the tour along the 14 mile dirt road. They charge $5 per person.

This angora goat had just kidded it appears as she was way off from the other sheep and goats.

This group of goats were another ten miles away and were being guarded by three little dogs.

An old Hogan structure. They just piled up logs and sticks and covered that with little sticks and mud. Simple construction and I suppose warm in winter and cool in summer. Could be muddy if it rains.

It seems like there are these Indian vendors every place you stop. I don’t even go look at the stuff anymore. Very little is actually Indian made and after looking at what is being imported form china it is hard to deal with these Indians selling made in china stuff as though it was Indian made.

This is the road through the Valley of the Gods. It is finally off the Rez and I am now into Utah. This road is just a road and is free if you want to make the loop. The road was in great shape and well graded. It is actually a lot nicer than the Monument Valley in my assessment.

This is the little 3 mile stretch of hwy 261 over near the end of the Valley of the Gods road. They warn you plenty about how dangerous it is on the road map and I thought I would take a look.

It turned out to be not that chanllenging a road even though it is gravel. Some of the really tight switchbacks are even paved and I don’t think there would be a problem dragging my little train up and down it. There were some spots of washboard but for the most part is was a good road.

At the top there is a place to put your sticker if you are so inclined. I was…..

I liked the one about the ‘C’ student.

This is a really nice area called the ‘Goosenecks’ that show the meandering river has cut down through many layers of rock. Evidently it was just a meandering river but then the land was pushed up and it had to cut through the rock but it kept its original shape.

There is a really nice center called the ‘Edge of the Cedars’ in Blanding, UT. It has some of the nicest displays of artifacts of all the Indians that have lived in this area.

I was amazed to see these knives. I have never seen anything like these knives with wood handles before. I thought it was interesting that they had holes in the haft so they could attach a cord that evidently kept them from loosing them or a way to hang them up when not in use. They were thin and I am sure were sharper than many knives that are carried today.

These were their plates made from cotton wood.

they had an interesting computer display that when you clicked on a picture of the pot, it would give you the full details about it. You could see the pot on the shelf ahead. It was very nicely done.

there was a little ruin outside that they had partially restored.

The old ones made really nice finally woven sandals and the latter Indians made really crude simple ones.

They had this ‘sundial’ outside.

During the solstice the sun makes a line across the swirl.

I really like this cowboy camp kitchen.

My camp last night. It was a little rough getting down there but nice and quiet. A couple of guys driving a new Land Rover came down and tried to buy the Pod from me. They were from Germany and thought that would be perfect for their trip. It is just perfect for MINE!!!!

The little visitors centers have little museums and some of the articles are really different and I have never seen some of these things.

The government had a uranium mine near here and this is a display to try to get the damn government to fess up to the fact that they really hurt the population with that activity. Same ol, same ol over and over with the government eh?

I really liked that they bronzed this cowboys had and boots. Yeah, the Mayor, I wonder if we will have to do that to Joe’s hat and boots? Joe is the Mayor of Miles City and he fell down in the shower and circled the damn drain for a couple of hours until the cops came over and drug him out. It is good that the drain was too small for his head to go down. He is feeling better now after the friendly nurses administered to his needs. This will teach him to not shower alone we hope.

This is News Paper Rock. Lots of local news in the old days here. Sheep, hunting, ride the horse, lots of fun going on.

This is a nice purple field of mustard along the road to Canyon lands Needles area.

The visitors center had these crappers for sale. The cardboard one is $15 and the plastic bucket is $50. I still just hide my turds under rocks for free. 

Hey Bob, this raven just kept growling at me……he didn’t like it a bit that I was stopped there.

the gravel road was really too nice and I had to watch for fast moving jeeps coming at me.

When I got to the Elephant Butte road it got a lot tougher.

I had my panniers on and half loaded so I didn’t try it. It was getting late and it is just as well as I got back to camp late as it was.

Here ya go flower people!! Indian paint brush was hiding just over the bank so I went down and got a picture of it for ya. Your welcome.

I took the Spring Creek road back over the mountains to Montecello. I had to stop up there and put on another layer and wished I had brought my heavy gloves along.