It was a jam packed, dusty day. We headed out from the Canyonlands towards Blanding to do a short hike called House on Fire. This hike was along a wash, with the destination being a Anasazi granary built under the rock ceiling. It was similar to the stone storehouse from yesterday but bigger. The hike was easy and we arrived in no time to the house but very disappointingly it was in the shade, so not “on fire”. Judging from the direction of the sun, it wouldn’t be on fire until midday - which was too long to wait - so we snapped a photo and headed on with our day.
We then visited nearby Mule Canyon which boasts ruins of a 12 room house with a kiva (ceremonial building) and circular tower belonging to the Pueblo and Anasazi peoples.
Next up was a short drive to Sand Island Campground outside of Bluff on the San Juan River to drop off our trailer before we could continue. The campground was first-come-first-served so we were bit nervous about getting a site but as it turned out, the campground was totally empty. We had our choice of any site so we selected one near petroglyphs on a large rock with several cottonwood trees for shade. After lunch and unhooking the trailer, we were ready for more adventure.
We started our afternoon with a drive along a bumpy dirt road through Valley of the Gods. Here we saw several large mesas eroded into various shapes and named accordingly. The drive was fun with a few 4x4 sections, such as crossing a wash, and we bumped around in the truck as we rattled along the rocky and very dusty road. Our favourite rock formation was Lady in the Bathtub which looked exactly like its name, though Battleship was a close second. Very fun!
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| Seven Sailors Butte. |
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| Sitting Hen Butte. |
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| Battleship Butte. |
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| A wash in the road made for a bumpy crossing. |
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| Lady in the Bathtub Butte. |
Next on the itinerary was a drive to the famous Monument Valley. We stopped at Forest Gump lookout to snap the iconic photo, though we declined to stand in the middle of the highway (along with dozens of tourists blocking traffic) to get the perfect shot. Our photo is from the shoulder.
The scenic drive around the valley was another bumpy drive along a dusty road. There were signs saying “4x4” and “no cars” everywhere but we saw loads of people doing the drive in low clearance rental cars. We were fine in the truck and bumped our way around the dirt road loop to see the monuments. We loved the Mittens and the famous Merrick Butte which is in all the cowboy films. We saw the John Ford Scenic Overlook from all the westerns but declined to pay $20 to sit on a horse to recreate the iconic photo. We said hello to the horse, though. Artists Point provided a sweeping view of the valley and was another worthwhile stop. After the drive, we had a look in the visitors centre and museum where we learned about the role of the Navajo Code Talkers in the world wars.
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| Mittens and Merrick Butte. |
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| Mitten Butte. |
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| Elephant Butte. |
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| John Ford Overlook. |
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| Three Sisters. |
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| The Thumb. |
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| Camel. |
On the sunset drive back to our campground we passed a town called Mexican Hat featuring both a rock feature that somewhat resembled a hat but more interesting a very strange looking gravel pit sandwiched between the river and the highway. It looked very out of place and after some internet sleuthing we realized it is an UMTRA uranium disposal site from the ‘90s. There are radioactive uranium and radium tailings buried here in a special vault that will safely store them for 100 years. Cool but creepy. We are sure glad we just drove by and didn’t venture off the highway for a closer look. You never know what you are going to find out here in the desert.
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| The grey “puddle” is the uranium disposal site. |
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| The Mexican Hat. |
