Alrighty then… Time for another amazing desert adventure.
Historically. We have always taken an adventure on my birthday. But this year, due to my surgery and recovery time, we decided to put it off a couple of weeks.
This year would again take us on a four day adventure to southern Utah. We had set our sights on a couple of locations that I have never been before. The Valley of the Gods in the Four Corners region and Cathedral Valley In Capitol Reef National Park. We would be dispersed camping and off roading into very remote areas.
Day 1
We packed up the truck and headed out on a Thursday morning for the five hour drive to the Four Corners region. We stopped in Bluff, UT to refuel. This would be the last civilization we would see for a couple hundred miles before reaching Hanksville the following day.
The first stop was to visit some Ancestral Puebloan ruins called River House Ruins next to the San Juan River. This required navigating an exciting and very tight 4 wheel drive trail. The truck did very well, but received some right of passage pinstriping from scraping through the bushes.
About a mile and 1/2 from the ruins, we were stopped by a gnarly steep and rocky section that I was not willing to put the truck through. So we continued on foot the rest of the way to the ruins.
The site was very well preserved. It contained a two story living structure with a couple of other rooms and what appeared to be granary and small kiva.
From the ruins, we made our way to a spot I have been wanting to go to for many years. The Valley of the Gods. This is a popular area for dispersed camping/boondocking as the road only requires two wheel drive and RV’s can make through.
We had no trouble finding a great campsite with amazing views of the towering monoliths in the valley. With camp set up, we settled in and grilled up some Bratwurst for dinner. When darkness came, I tried my hand at some astrophotography.
Day 2
I had set my alarm to be up by sunrise. The morning golden hour light was beautiful as it fell upon the scene before me. I worked the landscape with my 100-400mm lens for various compositions. And setup a 5 image panorama that I would later stitch together in post-processing. It felt good to be out in the wild photographing the dawn of a new day in such an incredible place. I could feel it filling my soul and recharging my batteries.
After the best of the morning light had turned harsh, it was time for a quick breakfast of coffee and oatmeal, pack up camp and get back on the road. After all we had + or – 200 miles to go… Much of which would be offroad.
Back on the road, we finished the Valley of the Gods loop and continued up the Moki Dugway, which offers expansive views across the desert towards Mexican Hat and Monument Valley.
We traveled north across Cedar Mesa, west to Glen Canyon and back north to Hanksville. The changing landscapes on this stretch were incredible! It was a joy to see this as we had never driven this part of Utah. Just another location to add to the bucket list for further exploration.
In Hanksville, we grabbed lunch to go at Stan’s Burger Shak and fueled up for the adventure into Cathedral Valley.
25 miles west of Hanksville begins the 70 mile offroad Cathedral Valley Loop. This starts with crossing through the Freemont River (impassable at higher water). I had been watching the weather for the area for weeks keeping an eye on precipitation. There were two days of rain a couple of days prior, so I was anxious whether we would be able to get across. But as it would turn out, it was 9-12″ deep and no problem for the truck to ford. Whew!
The first stop on the trail was to check out an old abandoned water drilling truck. Covered with graffiti and bullet holes, it obviously been there a long time because the desert sands were beginning to bury it.
Then the trail travels through the otherworldly landscape of Bentonite Hills. Great fun winding up, down and around through the roller-coaster road with blind corners and hills.
Another 20 miles or so brought us to the Cathedral Valley Overlook. Impressive expansive views of the north valley with huge pyramid shaped monoliths and eroded cliffs. A glimpse of what was to come on our adventure…
A couple of very slow going rocky miles and we were at our intended camp for the night, the Cathedral Valley Campground. Only 6 sites, all of which are first come first serve. Unfortunately all were taken. This actually turned out to be a good thing as time would tell.
So we continued on not knowing where we would find ourselves for the night. In my research I had set waypoints on my GPS navigation app for potential campsites, but who knows what we’d find.
We ended up having to go about 15 miles further before finding a good spot I had marked next to a wash. This we aptly named it the camp at Dead Cow Wash. It wasn’t until after having camp set up and a delicious NY Strip steak dinner, that Harmony walked over the nearby berm and found the remains of a decomposing cow in the wash! Guess that explains the odd smell here…
After our nightly routine of several rounds of Yahtzee, we set the alarm for a pre-dawn start. This was the benefit of not getting a spot at the campground, now we were very close to the location of my next sunrise photo shoot… The Temples of the Sun and Moon.
Day 3
We were up at 5am to allow enough time to pack up and drive to The Temples. All I can say is WOW! Pretty darn impressive! I ran off into the desert with my camera gear just before the sun began to rise. Found a couple of locations to capture the spectacle of warm light bathing The Temples.
Back at the truck, we brewed some coffee and then drove a short way to find a suitable spot to cook a full on big breakfast.
Where to now? We had to be back home tomorrow, and had a very long way to go. We decided to finish the Cathedral Valley Loop and head into Hanksville to top off the truck with fuel. Then retrace our route back to Cedar Mesa and find a camp spot on Muley Point.
I had been out to Muley Point once before back in 2011 after exploring the Fallen Roof Ruin. That post can be found here. Muley Point sits at the top of 1000 foot cliffs overlooking the goosenecks of the San Juan River and beyond to Monument Valley.
We lounged around camp for the afternoon and grilled some burgers for our last dinner on this trip. Then played more rounds of Yahtzee next to the campfire before retiring for the night. Tomorrow the grueling drive back home.
Then time to ponder where the next adventure will take us…
