On the Road to Arches National Park

So, as I mentioned in the last post, we had full tanks and an almost empty fresh water tank. As we left Albuquerque heading north on US 550, we were gaining altitude and since it was raining, the rain turned to SNOW! It was a light dusting and before long we were descending and the snow was gone.

As we drove, we searched for a place to dump our tanks. We used a website to find a place on our route, but the one we wanted to use in Shiprock, New Mexico, was closed!


We continued into Utah and decided we could go one more night without a problem.

 Our stop for the night was one of our favorites--Goosenecks State Park overlooking the goosenecks in the San Juan River. The closest small town is Mexican Hat named for the rock formation that looks like....a Mexican hat!

The park has changed since we first stopped here in 2008. Now there are ramadas (covers over picnic tables) and the price has increased from $0 to $5 (2011) to $10. It is still a bargain, even without hookups.

The view of the goosenecks in the river is still breathtaking! This is just one of the goosenecks you see from the campground.

The San Juan River meanders through the goosenecks to go 1.5 miles west, however the goosenecks extend the journey to over 6 miles! Occasionally, you see rafters in the river, but not this day.

There was one spot where you could descend a few hundred feet toward the river, but we decided not to go down.

The following morning we drove Moki Dugway. It is a hard packed gravel road that goes from the bottom of the mesa to the top. At the top, if you turn left, the road takes you to Mulee Point which overlooks Monument Valley. The other road takes you to Natural Bridges National Monument. We chose Mulee Point since we needed to get back on the road with Sol.


Here is a view of Monument Valley from Mulee Point.

 Yes, it was cold at Mulee Point, but at least the wind wasn't howling like our last visit!

 As we descended Moki Dugway, we stopped at a pullout to get a picture of the road below.

 Once back to Sol, we packed up and were on our way to Blanding, Utah. There is a convenience store/campground there that charges $5 to dump and fill with fresh water. We were able to dump our tanks, fill with water and continue on our way. Next stop: Ken's Lake, Spanish Valley, Utah.