As the weather is colder than usual this Memorial Day weekend we decide to go in an area that we couldn't visit traditionally this late in the year - Grand Gulch in Southern Utah. It is a long drive but at least we pass through Monument Valley on the way for some great views and afterwards we have to climb the Moki Dugway. It is a bit scary even though we descended it once before however it is a great experience (still not sure why it isn't paved yet?!).
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| Passing Monument Valley | Hmm... |
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| Climbing Moki Dugway | View from top |
Soon we arrive at the dirt road that takes us past the trailhead and after that we have to find a campsite for the night. We find one finally in a sandy area with at least a few flowers and then soon we are ready to go to sleep as the next day is a long day. In the morning we eat breakfast enjoying our campspot before finally packing and driving to the trailhead where our hike into the canyon starts.
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| Road to trailhead and near campsite | Red dirt/sand is everywhere |
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| Lots of cryptobiotic soil | And a few flowers near the campsite |
The trailhead that we are starting from today is the Bullet Canyon Trailhead, one of the easier ways to get into Grand Gulch, a huge canyon with many ruins and petroglyphs. The trail starts easy enough on the rim until suddenly it starts to descent into the Bullet Canyon the side canyon that we are going to follow for the day. While the canyon is shallow here the descent is relatively steep however it the trail is relatively well defined which helps a lot. After arriving at the bottom the trail follows in general the canyon bottom with some notable exceptions later in the hike.
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| Bullet Canyon Trailhead - unexpectedly full | Trail - looks easy?! |
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| Flowers on the side of trail | Short but precipitous descent |
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| Arriving at the bottom | Start of bottom of canyon hike |
As we walk we are looking carefully all around especially as the canyon becomes narrower and deeper trying to see any signs of the Anasazi. Sure enough on some rocks we notice something and we climb towards them and yes they are petroglyphs. Not something spectacular but because we found them they are special to us:). Soon afterwards we also find the watchtower described in our guide, it is far up on a cliff and we cannot get a good shot of it so we decide to try to do that when we return.
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| Is this natural or human made? | These are human made |
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| Not the best but still look ancient | Mix of different types of paintings |
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| Canyon becomes narrower | Ancient watchtower on the rim |
As the canyon gets rougher and deeper the trail becomes more difficult as it tries to avoid some spots by going up and is then difficult to follow. We even lose it a few times and have to backtrack or play it by the ear and trying to descend at best as we can without the trail.
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| Trail can be wide... | ...or very narrow |
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| Goes under an overhang | Passes (barely) through a crevice |
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| Going high | And then low |
However the most scary part comes afterwards when the trail climbs quite high up following a ridge then descends in big jumps basically from one level to another that we have to plan in ahead and then climbs again after climbing down near a dry waterfall - it is exhilarating but it takes quite some time as we try to do it as carefully as possible. The views are great however especially from the shelf trail and we decide to eat a late lunch also here before descending for the final time ahead of the ruins that are our goal.
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| One of the more spectacular (and hair raising) parts | Some impressive views |
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| Canyon is far below | The small dog rock formation (according to us:)) |
The trail now is easy and follows the river bottom which is even flowing in the area. There are flowers, marshy aeras, cacti and trees everywhere - trees are especially welcome to shade us from the midday sun.
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| Flowers and cacti are everywhere | Even the trees and bushes are in flower |
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| Finally at the bottom again | There is even water in the creek |
The trail arrives soon at a beautiful meadow, it is a shocking contrast to the canyon before and it is great walking in a more open space for a while. In fact the canyon from here is less narrow even though it is still deep.
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| Canyon opens up | Suddenly we are in a meadow |
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| Full of beautiful flowers | And of course cacti |
And then we finally arrive in the area of the first ruin - the "Perfect Kiva" Ruin. There is no clear trail or a sign pointing to it and it is not visible from the main trail so we are happy that we actually placed a waypoint for it on our GPS - we use that and somehow we make our way up until we see the ruins and then after a bit of climbing we arrive at them. THe major attraction here as you could expect baed on the name of the ruin is the kiva which is very well preserved including the original ceiling. You are even allowed to descend into it which is great as this is the best preserved kiva we have even entered and we can see how they looked way back in their heyday.
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| "Perfect Kiva" ruins | Close up of well preserved ruin |
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| The perfect kiva...shall we go down? | Of course |
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| Inside the kiva | Everything looks original |
There is also one well preserved house however most of them are ruined but still the ruins are quite scenic and photogenic.
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| Exploring the well preserved house | Inside the house |
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| Another less preserved ruin | And some are even less well preserved |
There are also a lot of remnants from time past from metates to cobs of maize to pottery shards - it is great walking around and exploring all these signs of the Anasazi of course without disturbing anything.
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| Metate | Used for grinding |
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| View from the end | Maize on the ground |
Of course there are also petroglyphs here quite a few in fact and they are well preserved - almost feels like they were painted yesterday.
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| So many colors - different periods? | More homogenous |
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| Classic hand paintings | This is a weird one |
After we finish exploring the ruin we descend back to the trail and walk another 1/2h to the next ruin and our turnaround point.
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| The trail is down there | Have to descend back to it |
The second ruin here is called Jailhouse Ruin and again it is clear almost immediately how it got it's name. The problem that we face here is different from the other ruin - we can see it but we cannot get to it as the last climb looks perilous. In the end we take a deep breath and climb to the lodge with the fear lodged in our brain that we might not be able to descent (it is always more difficult for us). The name of the ruin comes from the window of one room which has bars and it looks like a mini-jailcell - it is cute almost.
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| Jailhouse ruin - note the huge paintings above it | Inside the ruin |
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| This is where it got its name | Close up of original window |
There are of course a few petroglyphs here also and a few rooms as well as a relatively well preserved granary but it is a small ruin overall and soon we have to descend to go back to the trail and return. Surprisingly given the general solitude on the trail we are joined by 2 other groups of people here and everyone is waiting for the other one to descend to see if they survive (or at least it seems that way to us). In the end after waiting for some time we decide to be the trailblazers and descend carefully as we still have a lot to walk back and it is getting late. Of course everyone else descends soon after when they see it is safe :).
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| Paintings from below - difficult to get there | Some more accesible petroglyphs |
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| Looks like a granary/tower | View from front |
The view from the ruin as usual is great as you can see the canyon and the meadow and both are beautiful as we continue back on the easy part dreading the next stage with the ledge.
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| Great view from the ruin | Even nicer when looking back - trail can be seen also |
As we get into the more difficult area we try a different approach which doesn't involve almost freestyle climbing and actually just go through the wash climbing over a dried waterfall and it looks easier in the end at least to us but we are certainly happy when the difficult area is behind us.
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| Back on the ledge | This is wild country |
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| Did we really pass through here? | Does not look familiar |
From here on we are not in such a hurry and enjoy the walk and even catch another view of the tower on the rim as we approach the parking lot. As we are dirty and our muscles ache we decide to go to a hotel for this night and drive to Blanding about an hour away and try for the first time ever to get a room directly by entering the hotel (after checking the price online). However surprisingly the price quoted is higher than the one online so we ask her if she can honor the online price. She says no so we say wait one second and then reserve online on the phone and come back - "now we have a reservation". However now she says that the reservation is for a room that does not exist (booked out) then she goes on the phone with her manager and finally we get a better room at the cheaper price - weird experience. We eat from our reserves and then soon we are asleep as we are really tired after our 15 miles of hiking.
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| What is that on the rim? | Watchtower in sunset light |
In the morning we eat breakfast and then we try to decide whether to walk or drive over the highway to the Dinosaur museum that is our next goal. In the end we decide to check out and drive so we are not stressed by having to return to the hotel by a certain time so driving it is.
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| Our hotel for the night | Mural inside the hotel |
We arrive quite early at the museum and are probably between the first people in. It is a surprisingly interesting museum from the beginning with quite a few fossils and dinosaur reconstructions.
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| Dinosaur Museum in Blanding | First view of the dinosaurs |
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| Looks impressive | Other fossils |
A big part of the museum is dedicated to the idea that birds are descended from dinosaurs and even though many of the bones are not the original ones the duplicates and then the reconstruction of how the dinosaurs must have looked like are impressive.
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| Quite scary | More docile |
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| Various fossils | Dino bone |
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| Good reconstruction | Probably not how the real one looked |
The reason for this is that the creator of the museum actually did the dinosaur creation for many movies throughout the years as exhibited in another hall at the museum which shows posters for many of the films and the dinosaurs used - it is quite fun to wander around and look at the exhibits comparing the dinosaur to the poster. But then unfortunately we have to leave as we still have a long drive back to Phoenix and at least one more stop planned.
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| Dinosaur used in movies | Scary up close |
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| Lots of movie posters | With some protagonists |
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| Poster.... | ....and star |
The stop is at Natural Bridges National Monument, we have been here quite some time ago but it was quite hot at that time of year and we always wanted to return when the weather is cooler. Today it is cooler however it seems that a thuderstorm is coming so we cannot really hike down the canyons as we intended but have to stick to the short distance viewpoints on top for safety reasons. The first viewpoint is for Sipapu bridge one of the three major bridges that can be easily seen in the park and the first in the one way driving loop around the monument.
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| Sipapu Bridge in the distance | Close up of bridge |
Almost immediately afterwards is the start of the Horsecollar Ruin Trail, the ruin can be visited from the bottom and we intended to but now we are stuck at the top and we are not sure how much better that is due to all the thunder and lightning that we see around us. Therefore we walk as fast as we can the 0.3 mi trail towards the viewpoint but even so we have to stop a few times to admire the nice views of the canyon.
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| Start of Horsecollar Ruin Trail | Trail under threat of rain |
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| View of canyon | Where are the ruins? |
The ruins look large enough even though by the standards of the area are quite common and we are sure we would have enjoyed to visit them - maybe another time. Our sightseeing is cut short by rain and we beat a hasty retreat to our car just before the real downpour begins.
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| There they are | Closer up view |
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| Part of the ruin | Granaries and a few rooms |
However the rain stops by the next bridge and we run out to it take a few pictures and then return to the car repeating this for the third bridge where the period is even shorter as the thunder seems to be closer and closer. Unscathed we decide we had enough excitement for this trip and start our long trip home.
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| Kachina bridge trail | Kachina bridge |
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| Owachomo bridge in the distance | And a close up |
We are followed by the rain that we really want to avoid on the Moki Dugway however we make it there and then down carefully in time. The views are much better (and scarier) going down as you can see how high you are and what is coming in advance. This makes going slow especially if the car in front of you is really really scared and goes at snail pace.
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| Road towards the Moki Dugway | That is our road |
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| Stuck behind another car | Getting closer to the bottom |
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| Almost level | Finally down - colorful hills |
After we are down we pass the Navajo Reservation and have one more stop in Flagstaff at a Denny's where we want to refuel - the food is not as good as it was at other Denny's but is still welcome and then full we drive the remaining 3 hours back to Phoenix after a short but very exhausting trip.
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| Chicken fried steak at Denny's | And a steak |
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