This part of the trip was always something I was looking forward to especially. Perhaps cowboy films had left some indelible memory, or maybe it was from a geography lesson in the dim and distant past.
The journey from Cortez is through the beginnings of canyon country and the red rocks, deep canyons and rugged mesa are dominant landscape features. We stop at Bluff to visit the Bluff Fort Museum, an excellent museum telling the story of early mormon pioneers who followed their calling and headed into Indian country in family groups to show they meant no harm. A journey they thought would take six weeks took six months and they had to face the freezing conditions of winter with snow and extreme temperatures. There was no road so they made one as they went which included descending the plateau to cross the Colorado River.
The museum is very well put together and the story of each family recorded and narrated by a descendant is told in reconstructed huts on the site of the original settlement. Each hut also has artefacts and information about their contribution to the group and the establishment of Bluff.
The blacksmith's home.
From Bluff we headed to the amazing feature of deeply incised meanders made as the River San Juan cut deeply into the plateau surface close to Mexican Hat. This is now the Goosenecks State Park and well worth the short detour off the main route.
You see Monument Valley in the distance long before you arrive. It is the size and scale of the area these features cover which impresses so much. We check-in and meet up at the Reception where Henry loads us into the back of his 4 wheeled drive truck and off we go! The ride is not smooth as we are taken off road and onto the dusty tracks which lead us into and past the main sites of the Navajo Indian State Park. Lots of photographs later we return for a much needed cold beer and shower!
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