After spending great couple of days in the central Utah, it was time to head south once more to visit few places before we turn north and carry on north till we get to Arctic Ocean. It was already early June and we needed to head north as soon as we could.
From central Utah, we took a route to the Southeast Corner of the Utah where it meets Colorado to the East and Arizona to the South. We drove through the epic and mostly isolated roads and crossed an amazing canyon called White canyon and the mighty Colorado river again till we crossed the border to Arizona to visit Monument Valley and back in Utah to visit the Mexican hat.
We didn’t spend much time in these areas because it was too hot and also for specific locations like Monument valley, it is too touristic for our taste. The main gem we came to this area for was the Valley of the Gods! and the Moki Dugway drive. The Valley of the Gods has a 17 miles dirt road which depending on which way you start it, can start from the Moki Dugway drive and ends 10 miles south of the Mexican Hat town. The drive is amazing and while the monument valley is packed with tourists, you can have the whole valley of the gods for yourself. The rock formations are just similar with the monument valley rock formations.
We drove the 17 mile drive in the valley of the gods and took our time to look at each one of the rock formations and go for the walk around the cooler ones.
That definitely worth the drive through the lengths of Utah to come and visit these giants.
We decided to spend a night under one of these monuments and picked one strategically to be able to hide under its shadows till the sun sets.
The only time that we could really sit outside, prepare a meal and enjoy the night sky is after the sunset and after a cold shower.
After spending a peaceful night in the area, it was time to finally head north. Our compass was fixed to the north for the next two months!
Next stop on our Utah expedition was Moab!! Known for all its amazing offroad drives and stunning scenery around it. It was on our top place to visit list for a long time and we were finally heading there. Arches national park and Canyonlands national park are just the two amazing places to visit around Moab. We did arrive at Moab around lunch time and even though we drove hundreds of kilometers north from the Mexican Hat, it was still too hot. We had to be somewhere with reliable internet for the next few days, so we decided to book a hotel in Moab for those days and then head to the mountains to enjoy cooler weather for few nights before heading to Moab again.
After looking on our maps for the signs of greenery for shade and high altitudes for the colder weather, we successfully found, Manti La Sal national forest. A true gem in the mountains just a relatively short bumpy road in the mountains. We were greeted with amazing drive through the aspen trees and many small lakes on the way.
We found an alpine lake surrounded with pine trees and called it home for the night.
That high in the mountains, there were still plenty of snow under the tress and snow lions, beavers and deer’s were enjoying the cool weather.
That was a refreshing and much needed change.
We enjoyed the area so much that decided to extend our stay for another night in high altitudes and go and explore few other lakes in the area.
The next morning, we started visiting the lakes with the goal to find a great spot to camp with good fishing opportunities.
After visiting few lakes and talking to few locals around, we found the one we were looking for. It was on the other side of the mountains so we had to either go back the same road we came from and take another dirt road or carrying on to go over the mountain pass and get to the other side of the mountain.
And of course we chose to go over the mountain pass! We reached to the altitude of 2300m when we started to see the signs of snow on the road. Few meters higher, there it was. A big pile of snow on the road and a jeep that got stuck in it.
So we started to help the guy to get out. Or better to say that Amir started to help him, I was busy with his dog called Luna 🙂
After lots of shovelings, we finally managed to winch him out.
He decided to turn back but we were still determined to carry on.
After saying goodbye to our new friends, we carried on for less than a hundred meter, before we had another big pile of snow in front of us followed by few other piles in front of that one. So we realized that we have to turn around too and try the alternative road.
It was still a beautiful drive to our next destination by the fishing lake.
By the time we got there, it was almost sunset and we were hungry so we treated ourselves with a great meal before Amir head to the lake to fish.
We had a great night by the lake and Amir managed to get few rainbow trout.
After few days in the woods, it was finally time to head down to Moab and visit few spots and do a bit of work. After we got rejected at the Arches national park because we didn’t reserved our entry, we tried some less crowded offroad tracks and planned to visit Canyonland the next day. Each national park has its own rules which changes through out the year as well so before visiting each one, you need to check the rules and regulations for entry. In the early June, it was still a popular tourist destination and time reservation was required.
The next day, we started our Canyonland adventure early in the morning. After doing the typical road through the national park, we decided to take the famous Schaffer trail down the canyon. There are two famous offroad drives in the canyonland national park, the first one is the White Rim that I really loved to do and the second one is the Schaffer trail. For the White rim, unfortunately, you need to have a reservation for some of the allowed camp spots on the road, before they let you start this journey which in busy times of the year requires booking few months in advance so we couldn’t get a spot last minute. It is around 140 km of drive versus Schaffer trail which is only 70 km and can be done in a day.
The Schaffer trail drive was amazing with hair pin bends and stunning views over the canyon. The second half of the drive is deep down in the canyon with amazing view of the river.
It even had a point where river bends exactly like horseshoe bend in Grand Canyon but we were the only one there.
That was a great wrap up for our adventures in Moab and in Utah.
From here, we headed north and west to get to the Salt Lake city to visit a special place in our hearts and then continue north to Idaho and Wyoming.
We are so exited about the rest of this trip and what the rest of the US have for us.
Visiting Utah was always on top of the list for the US and it definitely didn’t disappoint even considering the fact that we were late in the season and we had to deal with the heat on the daily basis. But Utah always had a trick for us with beautiful mountain ranges, national forest and amazing lakes to allow us to take a break from the heat.
In the next post, we’ll visit our dream place in salt lake city together and continue north to more amazing places.
Till then take care.
