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Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
to
Mesa Verde Nat'l Park
Highways UT 163, 261, 95, 191, 666, CO
160
Leaving on Hwy 163 E, go thru the hamlet of Mexican
Hat, well known to the river rafters and for the guy with
the sombrero, north of the
settlement on the east side of the road.
Turn north on Hwy 261 then west on Hwy 316 for a must stop at Goosenecks
State Park for a quick look and see where the San Juan
River has gouged out the goosenecks. Back
on Hwy 261, optional to go thru Valley of the Gods,
a much smaller
version of Monument Valley.
Continue on Hwy 261 and take
the exciting dirt road portion (well
maintained) up Mokee
Dugway to Cedar Mesa -- great views of Valley
of the Gods from the turn-outs. The road becomes paved again at the
top and where there is a 5 mile dirt road to Muley
Point with more views of the goosenecks. More
pics of wonderful sights around Mexican Hat.
Stay on Hwy 161 to Hwy 95, then go east to
Hwy 191 and Blanding. Going west on Hwy 95 will take you to Natural
Bridges
NM, optional. We have not been on this section
of the road to Blanding.
There
is the Dinosaur Museum
in Blanding that I hear is very nice but we have
not
seen that either. Take Hwy 191 north to Hwy 666 at Monticello and go
east thru Cortez,
CO, a
fair size town with many services, then Hwy 160 E to Mesa Verde.
Maps
Mesa
Verde Nat'l Park Photo Tour Photo
Tour 2 Park
Map
Another great
park.
And there are hotel rooms at the Far View Lodge
in the park.
You could do it in a couple of days -- maybe pick a few pueblos to
see. Visit the
visitor
center for worth while ranger programs. Usually fairly busy here
because of it's reputation as the
finest and best preserved cliff dwellings in the U.S. and as
a World
Heritage Site. (Other nearby World
Heritage
Site are
Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, see page 6 and the Grand Canyon NP). We camped
in the park at a typical national park no-frills sites -- very few
sites
with
hookups.
On your way back from
Mesa
Verde you may want see
the Four
Corners Monument if you are going past it -- optional. The
Indians are charging to see it these days -- your Golden Age Passport
won't work there.
Some of
what we saw on the way to Mesa Verde NP
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Mexican
Hat
-- rafting is popular on the San Juan River
Mexican
Hat
-- here's the hombre with the Mexican sombrero
"Indian
Blanket" -- Banded hills
The San
Juan
River
continues thru Goosenecks State Park, on it's
way to the Colorado River and Lake Powell. The headwaters is east
of Farmington, NM
Wondeful
scenes -- free boondocking for campers
Valley
of
the Gods -- diminutive version of Monument Valley
Valley
of
the Gods seen from atop Mokee Dugway
See Mokee Dugway photo next page
On the way to Mesa Verde continues on page 5
Go
to Page 5 - To Mesa Verde - 2
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