The drive from the Grand Canyon to here was by far the most interesting scenery this trip so far. We drove east and then north east to Kayenta (close to border of Arizona & Utah) and unexpectedly ended up going through part of Monument Valley. It wasn’t even on our radar as something to see but the few rock formations we did see along Hwy 163 were impressive. They seemed familiar...turns out the area has been the setting for more Western movies than any other site in the United States.
Once we got out of Monument Valley and more north to Blanding, Utah, the scenery continued to change and impress. If you want to see what we saw, check out these pictures.
Stayed at the Blue Mountain RV park and trading post in Blanding, Utah for 2 weeks. The park itself was mostly gravel, in the middle of the desert but for the first time in about 2 months we had our own little piece of lawn! Can’t tell you how nice it was to walk on soft green grass for a change! But it came with a price...wind and relentless red dust that blew in the windows if you forgot to close them and even down the stove vent (no way to block it off) by65 mph gusts that occurred a couple of days. But most of the time we were here, it was pleasant although very hot. Temps in the 90s almost every day and really, really, really dry.
Here’s a few pictures of the RV park and some sites in and around the town.
There’s so many tourist attractions you can visit from this location, no wonder the Blanding motto is “Base camp to adventure.” We saw A LOT while we were here. I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking...the albums are listed in the order we saw the sites, starting with the Butler wash ruins, ending with our Hike to Chesler Park in Canyonlands National Park
Albums
Natural Bridges National Monument, UT
Hovenweep National Monument, UT
Canyonlands National Park - Needles District, UT
Chesler Park hike in Canyonlands NP, UT
We enjoyed our days of rest in between all the sightseeing and to be honest, we were pretty tired after that last 10 mile hike in Canyonlands. Before completing the Grand Canyon hike, two weeks ago I’m not sure we would have even attempted it. That will now be our standard for how hard a hike is and help us judge whether or not we can do it.
Next stop, Moab, Utah.....only a quick 76 mile drive north. More canyons, red rock and dry heat to come!