Sunday, June 5

 

Time to point the nose west-bound and start heading back home. Got on 261, through Valley of the Gods and straight for the steep fault-line climbing hundreds of meters straight up ahead of us. The navigation map displayed an interesting pattern which supposedly was the part of the road we were heading for. The climb was very steep with the road carved into the cliff in narrow shelves, no rails and gravel in the hair-pins. Maybe this is why they don’t serve any alcohol around here?

At the top, close to Muley Point, Valley of the Gods and Monument Valley unfolded into a breathtaking view and 261 could be seen below our feet as a thin band on the valley floor. After a short stop we reached Natural Bridges National Monument after a brief drive. Our tentative plans for the day were to drive to Richfield, being nothing but the midpoint between Mexican Hat and Ely, NV, so we didn’t want to spend too much time here. At the visitor center we learned that there was a nine-mile one-way paved road from which you could spot the three natural bridges in the area with very little walking. Sounded good, we’ll take a quick drive, snap some pictures and be back on our way – not so.

We got to the first natural bridge, Sipapu and walked the short distance to the look-out but turned down the six mile hike described. Drove a little further, took another slightly longer walk to check out the Horsecollar Ruins left by the Anasazi in the 1300’s that could be seen looking down towards the Canyon floor on the remote side. At the second bridge, the Kachina Bridge, we decides to take the 1.2km long walk descending 120m to get a close up acquaintance with the formation. It was fairly simple but steep at times to get down there. At the bottom of the canyon sand had formed a micro copy of canyon walls and a little water trickled in the sandy streambed leading to the arch. It was nice and cool down there and a pool of ice-cold water resided along with lush vegetation under the bridge. Taking our time in the Canyon, walking back and a brief stop at the third bridge, Owachomo, extended our Natural Bridges stay to a couple of well spent hours.

Once out of the park, we started a longer drive aiming for Hanksville. The scenery became less exciting with a mix of forest and rocks of less fantasy-full coloring and shape and at our Glen Canyon crossing I put my wife behind the wheel. It’s always interesting to see the smile on people’s faces when they get to take control of this willing and potent horse…

Hanksville, a boring little aggregate of houses and trailers in a dusty surrounding provided us with both gas and a well-needed lunch. Apparently another dry spot, not that it mattered as I had no desire to get drowsy, but rather acquire a little extra energy from the sweetness of a Coke. Food was good though and we set out for Richfield, but we gained distance well so the possibility of going further started to occur to us although it was not obvious to us where we would find accommodation beyond Richfield. Going west on 24 took us through another little wonder, Capitol Reef National Park with its bizarre clay-like soft round formations floating out from the feet of the steep rugged mountain sides. The road was winding softly through the valleys with a 45mph speed-limit and we took a rest-stop to climb the rounded rocks only to find out that they were soft like dried clay and buried zillion’s of crystal’s in aggregates as well as pink little stones at their base reminding me of cotton-balls.

Somewhere along the road, maybe in Loa, we took a pit-stop at a little café and I took the opportunity to inquire with one of the ladies about possible destinations for night-rest ahead of us. Asking about what to do or see in Richfield, the woman gave a non-convincing “shopping” as an answer after a little hesitation. She seemed to know eastern Utah fairly well (maybe not that hard?) and she said Delta off of US-50 was a decent size village with several opportunities for lodging.

So 24 up to cross I-70, get on UT-28 to get over to “our” highway, 50, the loneliest one in the US according to local propaganda in Nevada. 50 hits and merges with I-15 though, which had us do freeway driving for 12 miles south before we could head west again. The area east of Delta turned out to be very flat with sand-dunes on the sides and a nice paved, smooth road going almost straight providing no place for lurking cops… At 165mph or 260 km/h my female companions in the car got too loud and I hadn’t yet experienced the electronic speed-limiter, supposed to kick in at 155mph. Oh well, maybe the speedometer was off a little but it was time to slow down anyway as we were approaching some curves and an intersection, so maybe some other time.

Delta wasn’t too bad of a town. They had a $69 Best Western with pool for the kids and nice clean rooms that ended up as our choice for the night. I and my wife set out to the nearby pizza-place/pub/bowling-lanes to get pizza. We chatted with the female bartender and one of the guest over two pints while waiting for our 12-incher and learned about some of sight-seeing along our upcoming 50-hike. Bar-total for a pizza and two pints: $6.99!

Us two elderly took a moment to recap some of the trip out by the too-cold-to-swim-in pool and the chilly, windy night before they closed at 10pm.

 

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