The Traveller

Twelve Legs, October 2006

For our second anniversary, Abby and I gathered our dogs, Chihuahuas Sierra and Max, for a trip to Utah. Our driving day, straight through to Monticello, Utah, was about 16 hours, but we had fun, and the dogs did just fine in our laps. By the time we arrived, it was cold in Monticello. We stayed in the Navajo Trail motel, which we liked very much.

Chihuahuas Sierra and Max on the road

Day 2…

•Beautiful, blue-sky day for us.

•Hiked with the dogs to Butler Wash ruins and Natural Bridge, where they minded well and seemed to have a great time.

With Max and Sierra at Butler Wash

Abby and Sierra, Butler Wash

•Drove to Muley Point overlooking the San Juan River, where we left the dogs in the car and scouted around for a few minutes.

Abby explores Muley Point

View from Muley Point looking south

•Stopped briefly at the Mokee Dugway, the steep gravel highway leading up Cedar Mesa from far southern Utah, that we visited in 2003 on the High Road. We were amazed at the number of stickers that had accumulated on the sign in the three and a half years since our last visit.

Signs at Mokee Dugway, 2003 and 2006

•Once down the Dugway, we took the Valley of the Gods road, which leads across an expanse of desert punctuated with pinnacles, washes, boulder fields, and one small campground. The sky was beautiful.

Abby’s image in the heart of Valley of the Gods

•Wonderful dinner together in Monticello at M D Ranch Cookhouse.

M D Ranch Cookhouse

Day 3…

•We left to dogs nested in our room in Monticello and took the guided tour of the Monument Valley Tribal Park. The entrance is just north of the Utah-Arizona state line, but the tour resides inside Arizona. The tour was $50 for each of us, and Abby and I strongly recommend it. Our guide, one of dozens of loosely-organized Navajo Tribe members, took us and a German couple through the park to four impressive natural arches. In the process, he told us stories of the land and its features, and at one point even sang a chant for us. His vehicle was an ancient Ford pickup with benches mounted on the bed for us to ride, covered with a rickety awning, all held together by duct tape.

Abby photographs Monument Valley

Guide and his truck

At “Big Hogan” arch

•Abby liked our tour guide so much, especially his singing, that she tipped him $20.

Day 4…

•Abby took the day off to crochet and nap with the dogs, so I took the Hart’s Draw Road from Monticello to the Needles District of Canyonlands. I saw lots of deer, hunters, snow and Aspens.

Mule Deer, Hart’s Draw Road

•Hiked from the Squaw Flat trail head to Lost Canyon, then south until there were too many wet crossings, so I turned back.

Bench south of Squaw Flat

•Made the Squaw Canyon-Big Spring Canyon loop, which connects at the southern end in a steep, spectacular bench and cliff complex that was some of the best hiking I’ve done in the park.

Near the top where Squaw and Big Spring canyons join

Day 5…

•It was a very odd weather day, so we decided against hiking to Delicate Arch. We heard a ranger on the scanner report hail at the Fiery Furnace trail head in Arches.

•Instead we drove out onto Hatch Point and had a look at the Anticline Overlook. We both had a great time shooting in some very complex light and a chilly breeze.

At the Anticline Overlook

Abby, Anticline Overlook

•On the way back to our motel, we ran into some very beautiful and surprising blowing snow in the Monticello area.

Monticello snow

•A simply great time with my wife.

Day 6…

•Cold, snowy morning; a perfect end for this trip to Utah.

Sunrise over the Abajo Mountains, Monticello, Utah

See the Twelve Legs galleries at richardbarron.net HERE.