Utah

A saturday, September 13, 2014 was a very interesting.
We have made a trip on a raft by the Colorado River and have seen Horseshoe Bend.
The sea of impressions and sensations.

But ahead - no less interesting places - Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park.
These parks and many other exciting places are located in one of the most beautiful states of America - Utah and we drove there.
*Utah*

A lot of interesting things there are here.
Navajo National Monument and Monument Valley and Natural Bridge and Capitol Reef National Park and very beautiful places around Escalante.
And the roads - one more beautiful than the other.

Well, we had booked a room for the night in the motel "Sunglow Motel", in the town of Bicknell, UT.
From the city of Page, you need to go there about 5 hours.
If you are driving in a clockwise direction from the town of Page.
But we drove counterclockwise to see as much as possible...
The road took 8 hours of driving.

We knew that all the beauties of nature can not be seen, but we will drive by car near of them.

Our route:
We got to the town of Kayenta by the roads 98 and 160.
Then we turned onto the road 163 and came to Utah through Monument Valley Park.
We drove to the town of Bicknell by the mountain road 261, by the road 95, over the Colorado River, by the road 24.

The desert in Arizona is not very varied.
The landscape resembles a song "Steppe and steppe around"...

Sometimes, you can see the lonely house in the desert.
Who live here, what they do and where take the water - the question we asked ourselves many times.

Who will use these roads should be aware that if you will turn from the road 160 to the road 564, you'll come to Navajo National Monument.
GPS-координаты: 36°40'40.9"N, 110°32'27.6"W
*Navajo National Monument*
*Navajo National Monument - Wiki*

We did not turn and drove past because we did not have free time.
The landscape began to change after an one hour of the driving, when we passed the town of Kayenta.
Rocks rose in front and on the sides of the road.

The vegetation has changed, too.
Green bushes and flowers grew near the road.

And the rocks have become higher, like monuments.

Apparently, the mountainous country was here in ancient times.
But strong winds and occasional rains have eroded and weathered soft rock over thousands of years.
And now, we can see only the separate rocks - giants , who silently looking at the world around them.

We looked at the surrounding area, drove by car near the bikers, by road 163, across Monument Valley.
We entered in the state of Utah!

Monument Valley - a plain, part of the Colorado Plateau.
The top layer of the plain, consisting of soft sedimentary rocks, was completely destroyed, but separate cliffs remained in the desert.
These rocks, in height from 12 to 30 meters, had built of more solid sandstone.
These rocks are called Monuments, many of them have their own names.
*Monument Valley*

The park "Monument Valley" is located in the Navajo reservation.
Indian ancestors lived here for thousands of years and many Monuments are their places of worship.
*Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park*

Now, "Monuments" - the source of income of Indians; business that they do for tourists.

You turn off from the road, come to their visitor center, pay the money and drive from the monument to monument.
GPS-coordinates: 36°58'56.8"N, 110°06'44.3"W

But, you can not drive to the Indian office, because the rocks - "Monuments" are perfectly visible from the road 163.
We have chosen this option and we were driving by the road 163 and were making the photos.

Surprisingly, Monument Valley occupy a small part of the territory on the border of Arizona and Utah.
"Valley" stayed behind and the road 163 goes uphill.

We crossed the river San Juan by the bridge and reached the town of Mexican Hat.

Another the natural monument is located here - "Mexican hat".
It's a stone like a hat - "Mexican Hat Rock", a width of 18 meters and a height of 4 meters.
GPS-coordinates: 37°10'31.6"N, 109°51'20.7"W
*Mexican Hat Rock*

We have left the beautiful road 163.
The road 163 run to Colorado but we turned left onto the road 261.

The road 261 was very heavy and dangerous.

We have chosen the road 261 to cut the route.
Now, I remember how my wife was scared.

If you like to go up the mountain by the serpentine, by the unpaved road, near the cliff, then Welcome.

I would call this road - "road for Mustangs", which connects the two tectonic plates of the North American continent, which are at different levels.
We went upstairs and saw Monument Valley, which lay at the bottom.

As I wrote, today was very interesting and we are tired.
We need about three hours to get to the motel, but soon the evening.
We turned onto the road 95 and drove to the direction of Escalante.

You can see "Natural Bridges National Monument", which is located not far from here.
(We did it only 5 years later...)
GPS-координаты: 37°36'32.7"N 109°58'37.0"W
*Natural Bridges National Monument*

Our rest area near the Colorado River.
The sun had set behind the mountains, but was not dark yet.

We rested on the rocks near the river and made the photos of the bridge.

We called to the motel and was told that we will come in the 9 - 10 pm.
The reply was: "OK, guys. Be careful on the road in the dark..."

In September, dark early, around 7pm.
Driving the car in the dark is very difficult, especially on mountainous roads and serpentines.
Another problem of night roads - the little animals that suddenly pop up to the road.
This rabbits, groundhogs, skunks, deer, etc.
You must be very careful that do not to crush the animals and do not to break the car.

The river was asleep and we drive to the motel.