Life in the Valley of the Gods

Valley of the Gods was part of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah when Obama designated it; Bears Ears was the first created by request of and with input from Indigenous tribes. The protected land size was changed as each administration changed, and now the size of the monument has been reduced to 85% of what it was. My long-winded point is that where we are, Valley of the Gods, was part of Bears Ears and now is not.

There’s a beautifully illustrated article with an augmented reality viewing in this free Washington Post article.

Valley of the Gods is also a half hour northeast of the famous Monument Valley, so, basically the same place, just with smaller monuments and in Utah instead of Arizona. We had a really long travel day from that Angel’s Peak spot in New Mexico and wanted to get to Valley of the Gods before all the decent boondocking sites were taken, so we just drove through Monument Valley, with enough rain to make it hard to take photos from the truck. I figure everyone knows what it looks like anyway, right?

A fact I didn’t know that I learned as we drove through: a rock climber was hurt in the late 1960s, I believe, and the Diné government that owns and allows use of the region declared all rock climbing off-limits from there on out, no exceptions. I learned several good reasons for that, but I won’t get back on my soap box.

Back to Valley of the gods: Despite all our delays, a great spot for us to park was open right off the dirt road that runs through.

It’s really tricky to get photos of the area because the views are so expansive, and the buttes seem to change shape with just a few feet difference in perspective.

This is Locomotive Butte, for example, seen from one angle.

And this is also Locomotive Butte, I believe.

There’s a windy dirt road that runs through Valley of the Gods that gives you views of all the monoliths, pinnacles, and buttes. Each has a charming Western name on Google Maps, like the Seven Sailors and Sitting Hen

An even more precipitous road nearby is the Moki Dugway (a uranium mine road) that provides views of the valley like above.

I kind of like views like this, from our trailer site. We are right in the red dirt of the valley, with monuments off in the distance and plenty of rocks, briers, and lizards. I am so grateful for my leather boots I bought years ago in Wyoming. All other hiking boots gather briers and red dirt, inside and out.

And walk I do in them. You can just see the trailer under the sunrise on the horizon here. I love the quiet, and I love walking among the desert scrub, looking at new growth, startling the lizards, seeing tracks. I love this immersion.

Here’s a quick video I took from the campsite; there’s a rough spot near the end where I walk off the camp rug without my boots on to show you the rest of the view. Worth it.

And this here is Tom, of Amy and Tom fame, who happen to be staying about 20 minutes from us. You can see that Banjo prizes the hot desert sun even more than friends visiting. I, however, hope we get another visit before we head up farther into Utah tomorrow.