The next day we took a more southern route through Aneth,
Montezuma, Mexican Hat and along the San Juan River. This was totally different
from the day before. This area is pretty and much more prosperous as the area
is rich with oil. Martin had said the Valley of the Gods (BLM land) was not to be missed so this was our
destination. This area is a miniature version of Monument Valley with a 17 mile
loop over unpaved roads. The brochure said that the road was fine for 2 WD
vehicles (unless there was a recent storm) with some sharp turns and several
washes. A wash is a dry creek bed or gulch that temporarily fills with water
after a heavy rain. They dip down steeply and come back up the other side. The
problem is that our clearance is about 6.5” with an inflexible length of 19”. Harry
and I had had previous discussions about the definition of “several “.
A couple is 2 and several 3 or more, so I thought. By the time we hit 12 going
on 20 washes, I googled “several” to clear the air. Several is more than 3 but
not “many”! Clearly the brochure needs to be updated! I was clearing rocks out of the way when
possible so we wouldn’t ground out.
We had hoped to disperse camp along the loop and break up
the trip but there just wasn’t a place that jumped out and seemed warm and
cuddly. It was a bit spooky to so we continued on and ended up at Gooseneck
State Park instead. This was an odd but nice spot on a Mesa looking down on the
San Juan River. We parked right on the lip of a very steep drop off! The
camping was primitive w/pit toilets. There were meteorite showers that night
which made it a perfect spot for a night sky.
Onward to Canyon de Chelly the next day. Chinle, the town
outside the park took a bit of getting used to. There were many stray dogs
everywhere with several (actually 4) who had been hit and killed along the road
as well as one horse. We secured a campsite first and then drove the scenic
drive returning to find someone in our campsite who admitted their mistake but
also refused to move! We had picked the site for shade (for Nina) leaving the
option open to go down into the canyon with a guide the next day. Goat head
thorns were everywhere getting Nina and tracking into the van. Nothing felt
right this time around so we decided to move on the next day.
We went down to the Hubbell Trading Post in Ganado, a great
spot for art, jewelry, history and learning how to prepare and eat pine nuts
the native way! We ended up at Red Rock State Park in Gallop, NM for the night.
It was a great spot.
Click for photos
