tmartenst
06-07-2010, 12:33 AM
The trip report should say Bluff, San Juan River, Comb Ridge, Valley of the Gods, Muley Point, Mexican Hat, Monument Valley, Cedar Mesa or I suppose just Four Corners Memorial Day Weekend.
Arrived in Bluff on Friday at around 11:30pm. Plan was to stay at a friend's home away from home. Grad students of architecture (which our friend was) at the U of Utah spend a semester down in Bluff building houses for Navajo families in need. On the first part of this trip we spent a bit of time hanging with a few different semester's worth of these people so had good fun at night and spent the days exploring.
Day 1, Saturday: Hiked from the house to a sweet swimming hole, explored the area for some petroglyphs and went decently far up a canyon that ended at an alcove. Didn't see petroglyphs until I got back down near the swimming hole but couldn't scramble up due to time constraints.
Around 5pm, we got out on the San Juan River. We did not have a permit so we just rafted from West of Bluff to Sand Island takeout. We rafted to the other side of the river to check out Seventeen Room House which took a good hour of hiking. After that, we only stopped one time on a rock island to hang out and made it to Sand Island takeout around sunset. The river was very mellow above Sand Island.
Day 2, Sunday: Long day of driving/hiking. I went back to the local petroglyphs to get a better look and spent about an hour and half hiking up and around. They were mainly recent Native American and cowboy petroglyphs but still cool. We left Bluff around noon and immediately went to Comb Ridge. We did about an hour hike up to the top of Comb Ridge where the no-see-ums were maddening but the view was good. Back down, we headed out on a random road South of 163 to an overlook of the San Juan River. Then we headed back on 226 and drove most of the roads of Valley of the Gods. I wasn't really impressed, is that bad?
From there we drove up Moki Dugway and checked out Muley Point which was a sweet vantage point. Then back down to Mexican Hat where we hiked up to just underneath it. My friend was trying to check out how to climb it but it didn't look like the accessories he needed to be there were there anymore. Then to Monument Valley for sunset where we hung out with the hoards for a few minutes then wised up and went down on the road for some solitude. After sundown and dinner we headed back up the Moki Dugway for our Road Canyon destination. I actually took the Lime Creek road which was pretty adventurous and definitely slower than the normal Road Canyon road would have been.
As I was setting up my sleeping arrangements in the back of the truck, I found that the caps had come off of 5 bottles of beers (none broken though) due to the off road pounding & elevation I guess. Needless to say, my sleeping bag was covered in beer so I had a pretty uncomfortable night with makeshift blankets, etc.
Day 3, Monday: We got up early and left camp/TH by 9:00am for a Road Canyon ruin destination that was on my list. We made it down the canyon and up the other side, then back in 4 hours with a solid hour of photography and lunch. Back home in Salt Lake by 8:00pm with an extra hour of sitting in Hwy 6 traffic near the road to Diamond Fork Hot Springs. Great trip, good to get out in the desert.
Seventeen Room House:
345173451534513
Bluff Petroglyphs:
3450634508
Comb Ridge:
3451234503
Muley Point:
34505
Mexican Hat:
345103450734514
Monument Valley:
3450934516
Cedar Mesa:
3450434511
Arrived in Bluff on Friday at around 11:30pm. Plan was to stay at a friend's home away from home. Grad students of architecture (which our friend was) at the U of Utah spend a semester down in Bluff building houses for Navajo families in need. On the first part of this trip we spent a bit of time hanging with a few different semester's worth of these people so had good fun at night and spent the days exploring.
Day 1, Saturday: Hiked from the house to a sweet swimming hole, explored the area for some petroglyphs and went decently far up a canyon that ended at an alcove. Didn't see petroglyphs until I got back down near the swimming hole but couldn't scramble up due to time constraints.
Around 5pm, we got out on the San Juan River. We did not have a permit so we just rafted from West of Bluff to Sand Island takeout. We rafted to the other side of the river to check out Seventeen Room House which took a good hour of hiking. After that, we only stopped one time on a rock island to hang out and made it to Sand Island takeout around sunset. The river was very mellow above Sand Island.
Day 2, Sunday: Long day of driving/hiking. I went back to the local petroglyphs to get a better look and spent about an hour and half hiking up and around. They were mainly recent Native American and cowboy petroglyphs but still cool. We left Bluff around noon and immediately went to Comb Ridge. We did about an hour hike up to the top of Comb Ridge where the no-see-ums were maddening but the view was good. Back down, we headed out on a random road South of 163 to an overlook of the San Juan River. Then we headed back on 226 and drove most of the roads of Valley of the Gods. I wasn't really impressed, is that bad?
From there we drove up Moki Dugway and checked out Muley Point which was a sweet vantage point. Then back down to Mexican Hat where we hiked up to just underneath it. My friend was trying to check out how to climb it but it didn't look like the accessories he needed to be there were there anymore. Then to Monument Valley for sunset where we hung out with the hoards for a few minutes then wised up and went down on the road for some solitude. After sundown and dinner we headed back up the Moki Dugway for our Road Canyon destination. I actually took the Lime Creek road which was pretty adventurous and definitely slower than the normal Road Canyon road would have been.
As I was setting up my sleeping arrangements in the back of the truck, I found that the caps had come off of 5 bottles of beers (none broken though) due to the off road pounding & elevation I guess. Needless to say, my sleeping bag was covered in beer so I had a pretty uncomfortable night with makeshift blankets, etc.
Day 3, Monday: We got up early and left camp/TH by 9:00am for a Road Canyon ruin destination that was on my list. We made it down the canyon and up the other side, then back in 4 hours with a solid hour of photography and lunch. Back home in Salt Lake by 8:00pm with an extra hour of sitting in Hwy 6 traffic near the road to Diamond Fork Hot Springs. Great trip, good to get out in the desert.
Seventeen Room House:
345173451534513
Bluff Petroglyphs:
3450634508
Comb Ridge:
3451234503
Muley Point:
34505
Mexican Hat:
345103450734514
Monument Valley:
3450934516
Cedar Mesa:
3450434511