Happy Halloween!

 

Bluff 2025 Pt. 5--The View

 Time to head home.  Because of the rain on our way down, we didn't get to stop at our favorite place on earth ...  Muley Point Overlook.  The early week rain actually packed the road nicely, no mud and little dust.  And then we were there...

Another pano shot from the overlook...

In the distance, I think this is Navaho Mountain...

This year we drove back on the Hankvilles route rather than through Moab.  This route was amazing driving from the south.  And nice views of Bears Ears itself.

Looking for lunch in Hanksville, we found Duke's...  new, well appointed, good food, great homemade pie!  We accidentally found this "museum"? 

Before ending these blog entries, I should mention our favorite restaurant in Bluff, Comb Ridge Restaurant.  Only outside dining,  a fun menu, great food, and Charles...  (ask him if he's still in the witness protection program!).

That's it!  A very fun time, and planning has started for next year... the Kayenta flea market on Wednesday, maybe the Comb Ridge road, lots of other stuff.

Bluff 2025 Pt. 4b--More Bears Ears

 Our next stop was Cave Towers which normally requires a long hike since the road is very, very rough; however, Eli cautiously wheeled our van down to the site for a much shorter hike.

The site itself is small, but the view of the canyon is wonderful.  In the second shot, other ruins tucked into the cliff can be seen.  Expand the pic to check it out...

For our lunch break, Eli drove us down a long road filled with trepidation and lots of bouncing...  on and on...  and then!

The above are from an overlook into Arch Canyon.  Really a spectular if remote area.  A very nice lunch of wraps, fruits & veggies, although Eli withheld the cookies until he could herd us back into the van to continue our tour.

Eli drove us over to the Butler Wash road, a long drive aside Comb Ridge.  A shot off road, but with the main highway visible as it winds its way looking for a path through the ridge.

An dino tracks!

We drove along Butler Wash until we could see a large cove in the ridge.  This was the point of another hike to see more ruins.

I don't remember the name of these ruins but they were worth the hike!

I was amazed at the patterns in the overhang...

By this time, we were getting a bit worn from the hiking and started thinking about cocktail hour...  So we drove the length of Butler Wash until we hit the highway back to Bluff.  I can't thank Eli and the tour company enough for wonderful day.  Eli, though still young, was quite knowledgable about the area (he grew up locally), and we learned so much as well as seeing so much.  

Bluff 2025 Pt. 4a--House on Fire

 For our third day in Bluff, we reserved a full day combo hiking and touring of Bears Ears with Wild Expeditions.  Our guide, Eli, loaded us into a 4-wheel drive van and off we went.  Our first stop was a popular hike to the House of Fire ruin.  This is an easy trail to access, and often there are lots of cars parked along the road and many of hikers.  Eli told us it's the result of social media creating more interest in Bears Ears hikes.  Even in this somewhat off season, we encountered more than usual visitors
"swarming" Bears Ears sites (we, of course, are "explorers"!).  Here's a bunch of photos from the trail and the ruin.

A panoramic photo of the site...

If we waiting an hour or so, the sun would have hit the site and the full meaning of House on Fire would have been revealed.  However, we opted for more sites than waiting.  

Finally, a small tree "growing" out of a boulder...

Bluff 2025 Pt. 3--Hovenweep

 After an easy morning, no tours to meet, we drove over to Hovenweep to hike around the ruins.  This hike is a convenient stroll of about 2 miles that encircles the ruins and leads back to the visitor's center (closed due to a govt. shutdown).  Of course, as easy a route that it was, I still managed to get lost, but that's another story...   Anyway, here's some pics from the hike.

Finally, Sleeping Ute Mountain in the background...

A recommended hike on a beautiful day.  After the hike we tried to find Montezuma Creek but got lost due to bad mapping on our iPhone. But soon we did hit a road for a spectacular run into Montezuma Creek, but we missed Aneth...  a big disappointment (!).

Bluff 2025 Pt. 2--Monument Valley

Our first day was worrisome since it rained significantly through the night.  But as we drove out of Bluff towards Monument Valley, the sky began to clear, the sun came out, and the light on that area's geology was unbelievably beautiful.   We'd arranged a tour of Monument Valley, which turned out to be a good idea as private cars weren't initially allowed into the valley due to the rain...  and also since out guide Derek was so fantastic.  Before our tour started, we got a special treat...

 At the entrance to the valley...

Some shots as we travelled through the valley...

Now a shot from John Ford point...  named for the director who made several movies in the valley...

John Ford point was a major stop on the tour with several shops and food shacks, most unfortunately closed probably because of the rain.  Here's part of the signage from one shack.

Another major stop was the Big Hogan, a cool cavern in the red rock.

Our guide brought his flute and treated us to a short concert.  Great acoustics!  Hopefully the video works...

Another stop was a beautiful, natural arch.

I only wish I had a recording of Derek's explanation of the culture's traditional cosmology...  rendered in a typical monotone, he soon had us mesmerized...  and I found myself thinking about comparisons to Buddhism.  

All in all, a wonderful time.  After Monument Valley, we were off to Kayenta to check out the code talker display at the local Burger King!