JamesDowning
Explorer
The next leg was from Page to Valley of the Gods. It would take us through Navajo Nation, or "Dine" Nation (in Navajo tongue) (how did Dine become Navajo?)
Anyways, while we were eating breakfast on Lake Powell, I had made the comment to Megan, "How do they get those boats shipped in (because the house boats are really really big)? I'd like to see that". Well lo and behold, as we were leaving we got our answer. That thing was hanging a good few feet over the line. Anyways, it was impressive.
This is a good representation of the majority of Navajo Nation. This is a volcanic plug that has remained after much erosion, called Agathla Peak.
We stopped at monument valley and did some shopping for our families. We liked the authenticity of this place. The shop owners were really cool, all willing to chat about their families, and very friendly.
We passed Mexican Hat, turned north, and then took the short side road over to the Goosenecks. I was able to get one decent wide-angle shot of the river. Pretty insane path that the river chose.
So on we went towards the valley.
The valley of the gods road was one of the best maintained roads we had hit so far, and we made really good time. I was very surprised (and a bit annoyed) of the traffic on this road. Everything from cars to minivans. Wasn't as remote as I had expected after coming from Point Sublime. But it was still a really cool place, especially once we got toward our campsite.
I wasn't exactly sure where we would be camping, but we eventually found a nice spot right under Castle Butte. I think this is the same spot I had seen previously on Expo. You won't find a normal car camping here though, as the entrance is a bit tricky and off camber. Not sure why it had a fire ring either, because (I thought!) it said no fires were allowed.
Views: Castle Butte to the left of this image:
We went exploring a bit, and found beauty everywhere.
Below wasn't Castle Butte, but the other big rock formation above our camp. I can't find a name for it.
Megan was the lizard whisperer and made a few new friends.
I battened down the tent, because I figured we'd get some winds tonight. In retrospect, I shouldn't have because it was the stillest, warmest night yet. Perfect camping weather.
I can't seem to draw any more detail out of this image, but it gives you a good idea of where we were positioned. A truly amazing campsite.
We were losing light fast, so Megan jumped on dinner duty.
Our best dinner view the whole trip:
Night fell, and it was a warm, windless night. Perfect camping weather. You might be able to barely make out Castle Butte in this one (the camp lights kinda wash it out):
For some reason I woke up at about 2 am and enjoyed snapping a few more photos of the night sky. It was amazing what your eye could pick up in the darkness. The dark rock silhouettes really stood out against the blanket of stars. I think this one came out well (only after a lot of Photoshopping).
Sun came up the next morning, and brought different light to the land (compare this photo to the 7th one in this post!).
I attempted to make pancakes on the cast iron grittle we had... but failed miserably. I'm normally the pancake master, but this was my first time using the grittle. I wasted a good hour, two bottles of mix, and dirtied a bunch of cooking utensils - and we had no food to show for it!
So we headed off in search for food, but only found vistas.
We did eventually run across the Twin Rock's Cafe. We had a good experience there. The 'Indian bread' was pretty good too.
Anyways, while we were eating breakfast on Lake Powell, I had made the comment to Megan, "How do they get those boats shipped in (because the house boats are really really big)? I'd like to see that". Well lo and behold, as we were leaving we got our answer. That thing was hanging a good few feet over the line. Anyways, it was impressive.
This is a good representation of the majority of Navajo Nation. This is a volcanic plug that has remained after much erosion, called Agathla Peak.
We stopped at monument valley and did some shopping for our families. We liked the authenticity of this place. The shop owners were really cool, all willing to chat about their families, and very friendly.
We passed Mexican Hat, turned north, and then took the short side road over to the Goosenecks. I was able to get one decent wide-angle shot of the river. Pretty insane path that the river chose.
So on we went towards the valley.
The valley of the gods road was one of the best maintained roads we had hit so far, and we made really good time. I was very surprised (and a bit annoyed) of the traffic on this road. Everything from cars to minivans. Wasn't as remote as I had expected after coming from Point Sublime. But it was still a really cool place, especially once we got toward our campsite.
I wasn't exactly sure where we would be camping, but we eventually found a nice spot right under Castle Butte. I think this is the same spot I had seen previously on Expo. You won't find a normal car camping here though, as the entrance is a bit tricky and off camber. Not sure why it had a fire ring either, because (I thought!) it said no fires were allowed.
Views: Castle Butte to the left of this image:
We went exploring a bit, and found beauty everywhere.
Below wasn't Castle Butte, but the other big rock formation above our camp. I can't find a name for it.
Megan was the lizard whisperer and made a few new friends.
I battened down the tent, because I figured we'd get some winds tonight. In retrospect, I shouldn't have because it was the stillest, warmest night yet. Perfect camping weather.
I can't seem to draw any more detail out of this image, but it gives you a good idea of where we were positioned. A truly amazing campsite.
We were losing light fast, so Megan jumped on dinner duty.
Our best dinner view the whole trip:
Night fell, and it was a warm, windless night. Perfect camping weather. You might be able to barely make out Castle Butte in this one (the camp lights kinda wash it out):
For some reason I woke up at about 2 am and enjoyed snapping a few more photos of the night sky. It was amazing what your eye could pick up in the darkness. The dark rock silhouettes really stood out against the blanket of stars. I think this one came out well (only after a lot of Photoshopping).
Sun came up the next morning, and brought different light to the land (compare this photo to the 7th one in this post!).
I attempted to make pancakes on the cast iron grittle we had... but failed miserably. I'm normally the pancake master, but this was my first time using the grittle. I wasted a good hour, two bottles of mix, and dirtied a bunch of cooking utensils - and we had no food to show for it!
So we headed off in search for food, but only found vistas.
We did eventually run across the Twin Rock's Cafe. We had a good experience there. The 'Indian bread' was pretty good too.
