Southeast Utah

Beautiful drive from Bluff, Utah toward Monument Valley.

You can see how the fires from California 

and Utah have affected the air quality.

This formation is called Mexican Hat.

We stopped at Goulding's Museum.

Check out Harry and Leone's interesting story. 

Their apartment above had amazing views out every window. 

 If you are a John Wayne fan you may recognize this from

'She Wore A Yellow Ribbon'.

Only some of the outside shots were filmed here.

Parts of 'Back to the Future' were also filmed here.

Another day we hiked around Hovenweep which is on 

the Colorado - Utah border. Hovenweep is a Ute/Paiute

 word that means "deserted valley". This is where about 2,500 

people lived between A.D. 1200 and 1300.

 It is about an hour and a half long trail where you go down 

800 feet into the Little Ruin Canyon.

Twin Towers had 16 rooms! One is oval and 

the other is horseshoe shaped. 

They are among the most carefully

 constructed buildings in the entire Southwest.

Hovenweep Castle

The stone walls are two and three courses thick. Growth 

rings on a wooden beam in one tower indicate that the log was 

cut in 1277 CE (Common Era), one of the latest dates on any 

structure in the San Juan region. No kings or queens lived 

here, they were farmers who grew corn, beans, and squash.

 Eroded Boulder House
It was made with several wall layers.

Square Tower is two stories tall.
It is amazing to see and walk where the ancestral
Puebloans lived so many years ago!

On the north side of Bluff you can see the 

Navajo Twin Rocks.

Get out your atlas and mark this road!
 From Bluff heading northwest to Goblin Valley State Park 

we took Scenic Byway 95.  

Around every corner you will be astonished by the 

different landscape formations, colors, and you cross over 

the Colorado River in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area.

This is an area we would like to come back and explore.