Located within an hours drive from Monument Valley is a place called Valley of the Gods. While Monument Valley is on the Navajo Nation and covers Arizona and Utah, Valley of the Gods is located on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in Utah. Seeing as how this is BLM land you can actually camp here for free as Don did several years ago.There's a 17 mile winding dirt dusty road through the valley and you have a choice of two entrances. There's an entrance off Highway 261 and another off 163. Take either entrance as they are both well marked; as a matter of fact take one then turn around and drive back so you can see things you may have missed the other way.
As you may have figured out by now we travel in a four wheel drive high clearance vehicle, currently a 4 door Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. We very rarely will recommend roads as some we travel on can be better called goat paths; however the 17 mile dirt road here is very passable in even 2-wheel drive vehicles. Okay here's a huge caution and hopefully your common sense will kick in as well - if it's dry it "should be okay" - if it's wet then expect mud, lots of mud and you have to ask yourself are you feeling lucky.
Several things put Valley of the Gods apart from Monument Valley; you can camp here, you can actually drive the road through the valley and not see another car and more than likely a single tourist bus. We've always considered Valley of the Gods a mini Monument Valley and you can actually see the higher parts of Monument Valley in some parts. Expect to find a remote vast iconic desert with equally spectacular sandstone sculptures and spires only on a smaller scale.
Not to belabor the point however please use extreme caution if you decide to visit this beautiful area. It can get deadly hot and there are no facilities so in other words - you are on your own. You could be out here for several hours before seeing someone so please be careful. There is the Valley of the Gods Bed and Breakfast located near the entrance off Highway 261 but that can be a very long way if you're on the other end of the road. Valley of the Gods is located approximately 30 minutes either way between Mexican Hat to the west and Bluff to the east.
Several things put Valley of the Gods apart from Monument Valley; you can camp here, you can actually drive the road through the valley and not see another car and more than likely a single tourist bus. We've always considered Valley of the Gods a mini Monument Valley and you can actually see the higher parts of Monument Valley in some parts. Expect to find a remote vast iconic desert with equally spectacular sandstone sculptures and spires only on a smaller scale.
Not to belabor the point however please use extreme caution if you decide to visit this beautiful area. It can get deadly hot and there are no facilities so in other words - you are on your own. You could be out here for several hours before seeing someone so please be careful. There is the Valley of the Gods Bed and Breakfast located near the entrance off Highway 261 but that can be a very long way if you're on the other end of the road. Valley of the Gods is located approximately 30 minutes either way between Mexican Hat to the west and Bluff to the east.
We decided to revisit the area while staying at Monument Valley. The majority of the images are from that stay however we've decided to add a couple more from a visit several years ago when we actually had a decent sky so please enjoy them.
Don checking this out to see if it would qualify for cash for clunkers..
2004 visit
Our next stop is Goosenecks State Park before heading to Marble Canyon so stay tuned.
We hope you've enjoyed the images.
Sandy & Don
As always please feel free to leave a comment.
Stumbled across you photos while searching for info. on Valley of the Gods as we are considering stopping there since we might not have time to visit Monument Valley. Beautiful photos!
ReplyDeleteAs nice as the Valley of the Gods is Monument Valley is a must see.
ReplyDeleteDon