Day 28: Mexican Hat Dance?
Trip Start
Jun 01, 2010
1
28
51
Trip End
Jul 29, 2010
Mexican Hat, Utah
Monday, June 28, 2010
Kilometres: 288
So with all the long driving behind us, we decided to start this ever-exciting short day of driving at... the Laundromat! It was a necessary evil, especially with all the humid hot-ness we'd encountered in the past week or so. After that excitement was over, we popped into the Colorado Welcome Centre, to get more information about the Mesa Verde National Park that was nearby, that housed many of the nation’s best Peublo archaeological sites. Cam laughed as I basically got lectured by the lovely gentleman behind the counter because we had only left a couple hours to check out this site – he was essentially telling us it would be sacrilege to only 'check this out’ in a couple hours and it just couldn’t happen... in the nicest way possible of course! Alas, with a smile and a thank you, we left the centre and decided perhaps we wouldn’t be crossing this one off our list today (the sleep-in and clean clothes was a mildly good trade-off we reckon). We did make one more stop in town at Wal-Mart to pick up a few more supplies (the essentials really - more sunscreen, a new deck chair and beer of course, we were headed to Utah!), and then we headed out of town.
Part of my Welcome Centre lecture included the fact that the Four Corners Monument was closed and under construction, and since we weren’t coming back through Colorado on our trip, we couldn’t even access the site as it was only partially re-opened on the weekends. The Four Corners Monument is the exact geographical spot where the four states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona all meet. Alas, it was only a 10km detour, so we thought we’d check it out anyhow! (yes, rebels we are) But sure enough, there are large gates, and ‘closed’ signs, and confused tourists roaming about. We made do, and made our own monument – it’s not the exact location, but we were close!
We kept driving west, leaving Colorado and heading into Utah. It was interesting to note that even though the land is still quite sparse and open, the difference in the landscape once you hit Utah is really noticeable – the rocks just seem to get larger and change into a deeper colour (quite scientific I know – see pictures for better explanations!). It was pretty remarkable actually, and fantastic to drive through. We definitely noticed a lot of landscape start resembling many of the pictures we’d seen of Monument Valley and it was just fantastic – little did we know it was just the beginning! A short drive later we landed in Mexican Hat, a very cool, small town (population 100) just north of Monument Valley and checked into our fancy yurt for the night (for those of you that don’t know what a yurt is, see picture for explanation; for those of you that have stayed in yurts before, see picture for fanciness!).
Since we still had a lot of sunlight left in our exploring, we drove back north a bit to the Goosenecks Park – a phenomenal sight where 6 miles of river winds its way through the massive rock in a series of switchbacks that only ends up being 1 mile in length! It was breathtaking, and the longest of its kind in the world (you almost didn’t notice the temp was in the high 30s still and wanted to just sit there for hours... if it weren’t so hot!). Truly a natural wonder, and of course the pictures don’t seem to do it justice at all! We’re beginning to think the next couple days of photos may all turn out that way, but we hope you get some sense of it all.
With a bit more time on our hands, we then decided to drive south past Mexican Hat and towards Monument Valley. Even though we planned to spend the majority of the day there tomorrow, we couldn’t help but get a pre-glimpse of it all – and it certainly did not disappoint! These formations were spectacular as well – and this evening drive to the gates of the Valley was made all the more special by the unexpected horses crossing, plus the massive dessert storm that swept through as we were driving there and back. The setting sun made for some stunning colours, and we can only hope we have just a good day tomorrow when we truly explore the area. Again, hard to describe in words – the pictures will just to do the talking!
Last stop tonight was at the San Juan Inn Cafe, for a little local kai – a Navajo taco, and Navajo beef sandwich, topped off with some Utah brews Cam was itching to find... the Polygamy Porter! (where the slogan is, ‘Why have just one?’). Enjoyed a great sunset on our personal yurt patio looking over the San Juan River – not a bad way to cap off the night really. Can’t wait to see within Monument Valley tomorrow, then the Grand Canyon afterwards... good thing we cleaned off the camera memory cards!
Comments
This is gorgeous! And a yurt? Utah delivers.