May Trip #9 - Bear's Ears, Canyonlands and Dead Horse Point

 

Mexican Hat
Sometimes it works. Taken from a moving car and the set up is spot on!

Cross the bridge and take a hard left into the narrow canyon. You will find the San Juan Trading post and a cafe that serves wonderful Navajo Tacos. We were sort of on a quest to find the best. Will have to continue the quest (so self-sufficient in the van we only had a couple of opportunities)

Did we really drive that road?

The map showed a road, not necessarily the biggest, fastest road, but it was headed in the direction we wanted to go. The map didn't show anything about it being a steep, windy, narrow (one lane), gravel road. What fun! 

We think we'd do it again.

This is just the beginning! Don't look down!

We came from way down there!

Got to the top! There was a (mostly) straight, flat, two lane, newly paved road!
And a view of the Bears Ears!

Bears Ears National Monument

We had decided we only needed on night at the Monument Valley camp so we were in search of a campsite. Got to Natural Bridges National Monument only to find that the person in front of us got the last campsite! That was okay--they directed us to some dispersed camping on Bears Ears Road so we "boondocked" in Bears Ears NM (or at least close to it)! Having heard of the ups and downs and finally ups of Bears Ears we were quite thrilled to camp there. Sadly the Visitors' Center was closed mid-week so we'll have to go back again.

 

Canyonlands National Park (The Needles Unit)

and the road in, including Newspaper Rock

The road into Canyonlands was pretty spectacular on its own merit. We felt like we were on an adventure and enjoyed the scenery.

Newspaper Rock

About half way in there is an extensive collection of petroglyphs.

Just awe inspiring!

Canyonlands National Park

Are we getting overwhelmed by all that we are seeing. I really only ended up with one photo from Canyonlands NP. This the the Wooden Shoe Arch (once you find it, it is obvious). This may also be a park that takes some time to explore and there are two other, distinct areas to explore.