Yesterday, I went to Valley of the Gods in Bears Ears National Monument, located in Southeastern Utah. It is located in San Juan County, UT—I posted a diary about the area around Bluff, Utah two weeks ago. Valley of the Gods is located a bit further west than the area that diary focused on, though still (just less than) 20 miles from Bluff. Valley of the Gods, or ‘VotG’ going forward, has been a named destination for many years. However, prior to being protected by inclusion in the newly established Bears Ears National Monument—it was completely unprotected by any Federal designation. Thankfully, by being included in Bears Ears this gorgeous valley is now protected from development. Fwiw, there are no gas wells in VotG, although the entire area around it that is not within Bears Ears is chocked full of gas and/or oil extraction wells. And to be clear, when an area is designated a National Monument, all current leases, be they acreage for cattle grazing or mining/extraction operations—remain. What becoming a National Monument means is that no further leases will be issued (among other things), not that any current lease is cancelled. This is an important point, as often the hue & cry about federal designations contain some measure of ‘But what about all the untapped resources?’. This is misleading, as there have been leases granted for decades here, so if any extraction company was interested, they had decades to purchase an extraction permit & lease land to do it on. That window has closed, but not without years to pursue the ‘resources’ previously.
It is also misleading in another fashion as well. I saw a quote from a Native American Tribal Leader who was discussing Bears Ears that sums it up well—and I sincerely apologize for not knowing the original speaker’s name:
“The Earth is not a resource, it is THE source”
I promised many photos, so let’s get started. First a map of Utah. Bears Ears is in southeast Utah-it, in places along its southern border, defines the northern border of the Navajo Nation. Bears Ears is a vast, 1.3 million acre swath that roughly sits between the Colorado River, the San Juan River, and the towns of Bluff, Blanding, Monticello, and Moab.
VotG is closest to the ‘outpost’ of Mexican Hat, Utah—a place so small is isn’t on that map. Mexican Hat is named for a sombrero-like, balanced-rock formation, and has a population of ...31. It is ~150 miles from my hut near Durango, CO, perfect for a quick day’s adventure although a lifetime could be spent exploring nearby. I wanted to get a early start so I prepped the evening before, including checking the weather several times. This is crucial for traveling dirt roads in the desert, especially in the Spring, as the roads become impassible when wet. Not treacherous, impassible. No precipitation was forecast. I awoke during the night to discover it was drizzling. ?? Eh, well, I went back to sleep but when I awoke, the ground around my hut was moist at most, so...still good to go. When leaving Durango towards the west, one goes over the La Plata Mountains, and although it is not labeled a “Pass” it is nonetheless a higher elevation than town. And much to my dismay, here is what I found—
Luckily as I drove west, the drier it got. Mostly. The roads were slightly damp, and the dirt/mud alongside looked quite damp. As I approached VotG, the sun & time had dried things considerably.
When approaching a commercial venture in some town or another, there are often many signs for many miles advertising said venture. No so with VotG—here is the only sign. Don’t miss it, because there is no ‘Grand Entrance’, no friendly Park Ranger in a booth, only this sign.
I stopped as soon as I turned off State Hwy 163, so as to show you the entrance:
You can’t quite see it, but only ~150 yards from this spot there is a wash ahead. A wet wash or dry wash? The difference will make or break our day. Please be dry.
A wash in desert is nothing to fool with—they are straight up dangerous! Without warning, they can become a raging torrent within seconds. The storm may not even have passed overhead & maybe it didn’t rain on you, but 10 miles away it rained...and here comes the water down the wash! You won’t hear it, not until it is way too late. It can be deep enough to wash you & your entire campsite waaay down-wash. Bad. No camping in washes, derp, and check before you even drive through! I stopped the truck to check it out, wanting to investigate the bottom for solidness & not deep, wet, soft sand. It may not look like much—but upon seeing a wash for the first time, one that is wet? You better check it out because you’ll wait for someone else to pull you out should you get stuck. And it won’t be AAA, since there is no cell phone coverage here. I do carry—at all times, all year round, a tow strap. Gotta have one. I’ve pulled a dozen folks out of the snow with it, luckily or wisely never needing for my own self.
Valley of the Gods is accessed by a 17 mile drive on a dirt road. As you can see below, it is not quite a loop.
One drives along across the desert floor, and gazes slack-jawed up at the abrupt sandstone formations—buttes, monoliths, mesas, towers, mushroom rocks and sweeping desert views. It is similar to Monument Valley in that way—but it is less famous & a much smaller area and thus far less used. I saw perhaps 20 vehicles in VotG all day! I did see maybe 7-10 RV-type campers though, and except navigating the washes with a trailer—it is an awesomely gorgeous place to camp. Incredible, incredible views with few if any other people after dusk!
The first named butte you come to is Seven Sailors Butte. But these names are only ‘what they’re known as’, not any official name. Call them as you see ‘em!
Barely past Seven Sailors, two prominent features come into view-a monolith and a tower:
The drive gets you closer as you wend your way along the road…wait—look back, it Seven Sailors again!
Turn your head back again--
Annnd back again!
Oh—it’s pretty no matter which direction one looks!
I pulled over to let a camper/RV pass. The road is wide enough for two small cars to pass—not a truck & a RV. The ~30’ camper gives scale to the Setting Hen:
I decided to take a walk around The Rooster & Setting Hen. The is a small ridge that connects the two:
And then looking perpendicular to the two formations:
Driving on…
But really, if you want to see camping done right:
Soon enough, my mind was well into ‘The Land Time Forgot’, hence, I forgot to note which buttes these were. Franklin & Battleship? I dunno. Guess along with me!
Usually, trees look like this. This tree is probably an order of magnitude older:
See the formation in the distance in the first photo of the cedar? Pretty big. Let’s see how wide that knife edge is:
Continuing along…
Or...maybe this is Castle Butte. If you look a little left of center, you maybe, might, possibly see a white van. Notice the second butte to the left—the van is right in front of it. :D
Here, let me zoom in. Way in.
It really is Spring in the desert at 4000’...maybe not the height of Spring just yet, but soon. Maybe 2-3 more weeks—then it starts getting HOT. The desert is fairly green, as you can see. You can also see that “green” is relative. Part of the beauty of places such as this is that...while impressive when looked at from a distance, one must get closer to see Spring. Let’s look at Spring, shall we?
Desert Wildflowers!
Even succulents!
Holey smokes, Fella—who knew there were so many flowers in the desert? Well, you do now. Even the Indian Paintbrush has begun to bloom.
One can’t very well have a photo diary of the desert without a cactus pic, right?
Close by, it is lush by desert standards:
My trusty hiking buddies—OF COURSE they came along! We’re a pack, we do everything we can together—especially if it involves hiking or truck rides!
BONUS! As I neared the north end of the drive, I decided to go up the Moki Dugway. A wise choice. Moki Dugway is on County Road 261, and it is how one climbs up Cedar Ridge in a vehicle. Honestly—it was as cool as VotG, although perhaps not as ...natural. Built in 1958 (by Texas Zinc, a mining company, to transport uranium ore from the "Happy Jack" mine in Fry Canyon to the processing mill in Mexican Hat. See? They’ve been extracting stuff here for a long time.) it climbs nearly 1500 feet up Cedar Ridge in only 3 miles, hugging the mesa face. Moki is believed to be a bastardization of the word “moqui”, what the Spanish explorers back in the 1500’s called the Native Puebloans they came across. And a “dugway” is simply how they refer to what has been dug away from the cliff or mesa face—a dugway. Go figure. So...not only is the dugway an impressive sight in it’s own right—but, MAN—the views from towards the top are incredible. At the top of the dugway, there is a road to Muley Point—an area with truly eye-popping, jaw-dropping views AND many, many Native American petroglyphs. The road in is about 12 miles—one way, too far to allow the time needed to explore something so picture-worthy and historically significant. Next time: Muley Point. But this time, let’s check out the Moki Dugway!
Oh! Look at...why...YOU GO GIRL!
The view gets better and better as you climb. Seriously—
And to the east…
And near the top, I saw a heart-warming sight. Freeway Blogger would be proud of this, here near the Navajo Nation:
But seriously though—the views up there!
When researching The Moki Dugway, I came across this—a 3 minute Go-Pro video of driving up the dugway. Impressive—but consider yourself warned! Vertigo alert! Vertigo Alert! Very, uh, groovy soundtrack too…
And from a TV show, “Hell Roads”. I found this one interesting—but Moki is NOT the word for dead people in any language!
Alrighty, I’ve burned up enough of Kos’es pixels. I promised many pictures of Valley of the Gods—I hope you’ll agree, I came through.
I want to remind you—You Own This. We own Bears Ears. We own the Moki Dugway—all of this; it’s our heritage and our birthright as Americans! Please help #Protect Bears Ears! Please, please contact your Congressional Representative and Secretary Zinke, and tell them:
Protect Bears Ears!
Thank you!
Peace.