The Unexpected Plan and trip to nowhere…

As we bolted out of Capital Reef, we did so without a plan. We only knew that we had to be home by July 4. The date was June 28, giving us precisely 6 days to see what we came to see AND make it back across the country (2,127 miles).

We had dinner at Duke’s Slickrock Grill in Hanksville, UT, and this is where we would hatch our plan for the rest of the trip. After a day of exploring and driving, we were ready for a meal! So, with some chow and a beer in our bellies, we decided on our course of action. We would spend one more day in Utah, visiting Natural Bridges and Valley of the Gods, before making our way into Colorado and spending the evening in Telluride.

Up until this point, Durango had been the intended destination for kicking off any Colorado excursions. But all along, I had a secondary objective – to complete (at least) a portion of the Alpine Loop. With a stop in Telluride now on the horizon, this would set us up nicely to travel over Imogene Pass from Telluride to Ouray.

We pulled out of Hanksville with the sun going down. The plan was to drive until we found a suitable remote campsite for the evening. Without any particular destination in mind, we were on the road. Before departing Dukes, we struck up a conversation with a fellow traveler, Stan, from New York City, who was traveling around the region on his BMW Adventure Bike. He told us about the fantastic drive he had along SR95, and we shared some of our favorite routes with him. A new friend was made, and another patch was handed out.

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We checked out a few spots along our route on SR95, but nothing was striking our fancy. JD was determined to put us closer to Natural Bridges, our intended first stop the following day, so on we went. The route led us back to where we started in Glen Canyon a few days earlier. We had driven hundreds of miles and gotten nowhere. In the end, we camped in a patch of dirt along the shores of the Colorado River, a mere 95 miles from our campsite two nights ago. The views in the morning were a sight to behold…

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So, it’s 6/29, we need to be home by 7/4, and we will be in Colorado by the late afternoon. That gave us the morning to screw around. Time to do a little exploring…

So we are driving a Jeep, not a Chevrolet, and we didn’t need 4WD to explore this little side-road down to Lake Powell, but it was still a pleasant diversion from the highway.

Although we started off just after sunrise, all the minor detours were starting to add up. We still had a lot of driving ahead of us to make it to Telluride while still light outside. So, we were off to Natural Bridges National Monument – Utah’s first national monument without further haste.

The history of this area is fascinating, so be sure to take the time to read about the discovery of the bridges and how Teddy Roosevelt declared them a national monument in 1908.

When I visit a new park, I like to purchase stickers or patches to memorialize the occasion. Regrettably, the visitor center was closed.

We used this opportunity to get ourselves cleaned up. After a few dusty days of hiking and driving and a damaged Schrader Value on the road shower, we could both due with some freshening up! Happily, the restroom facilities were open – and immaculate!

It was also an excellent opportunity to organize the Jeep inside, dispose of some accumulated trash, and get some food prepped for our long over-road journey ahead.

This is a park I definitely want to revisit and spend a few days exploring the floor and the canyon. You can hike down to each of the bridges, but the intriguing route is the hike from one end to the other along the bottom of the canyon. As thunderstorms were looming in the distance, the prospect of getting caught up in a flash flood didn’t really appeal to us, so we opted to skip it!

We finished up the loop and were off to Telluride. Our road would take us through the Valley of the Gods, another area I will be back to explore on a future trip, but we had to keep pushing on for now.

More soon!