Driving Dusty

After our delightfully restful day it was time to get a move on. My darling husband's dream was to drive the Utah Backcountry Discovery Route (UTBDR - a route put together for adventure motorcycles but also doable in a 4WD which showcases the less visited but rather stunning beauty of this amazing state) on our way north so we planned to head in that direction: to the southeastern border of Utah near Mexican Hat which is where the trail started.

Heading through Zion NP

We drove from Springdale where we had breakfasted and made use of the Wifi at Mean Bean Coffee House, through Zion National Park (didn't see much of it, crazy busy, but what we did see was pretty awesome) to Kanab (or "Little Hollywood" as they like to call it) then Page and on to Mexican Hat. What a beautiful piece of the country, it's no wonder there are so many national parks/monuments/recreation areas in this region.

The Moki Dugway

From Mexican Hat we started to follow the trail which began with a trip around the Valley of the Gods before heading up the switchbacks of the Moki Dugway and out to Muley point where we camped with a stunning, albeit windy and chilly, view. By now we were once again somewhat dusty after our gravel road adventures, but that was just a mere taste of what was to come next.

Cold and windy camping at Muley Point

Comb Ridge

Cliff dwellings

Sunday morning we left Muley Point and headed north across the Mesa then cut off onto a red dirt road down the side of the mesa before traveling south down the Valley on one side of 'Comb Ridge' and then north up the other. There was much dust, in both red and yellow varieties, traversing through sand and over rocks. We took a break from driving and hiked out to some cliff dwellings through more sand. Very cool to see - there were even ancient puebloan corn cobs left behind. After all the dust the road led us up into the pine, oak and Aspen covered Abajo mountains where we reached 10,300+ ft in altitude before dropping in to Monticello for the cheapest RV park tent site ever which included unlimited free showers. There we discovered that the fine dust had crept into every crack.

The home that fell of the rocks....

Though we managed to get ourselves somewhat clean, the Jeep itself was having none of that. What's the point when the next day's travels just mean more dust? We were headed from Monticello to Moab - not the quick 50 miles on 191 but the very back way via Lockhart Basin and some somewhat challenging 4WD roads. Glorious scenery, worth every bit of the extra 6 hours of travel time.



Now we are camped at a somewhat familiar place - last year we visited the waterfall that now cascades behind our campground - then it was for some serious cooling off on a hot summer day with no air-conditioning - now we enjoy the campsite with some mildly warm weather; pretty perfect really.