Off the beaten Path
Southeastern Utah’s Goosenecks, Valley of the Gods worth the drive

A camper enjoys the overlook at Goosenecks of the San Juan in southeastern Utah n April. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Brian Leddy

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Brian Leddy
Staff writer

BLUFF, Utah — Southeastern Utah is a gem of a place. Traveling along U.S. Highway 163 is like driving through an alien landscape; the deep red sandstone drips from rock formations millions of years old with bright patches of green vegetation poking up here and there along the neo-Martian landscape.

Recently, a few friends came into town from Michigan and I decided that this would be a fabulous place to take them. They being used to verdant forests and the calm waters of the Great Lake State, I figured this desert scenery would sufficiently shock their senses and awaken their eyes to an incredible landscape millions of years in the making.

I was right. Dawn, who had never been out west before, was glued to the window of my car like a stay-at-home mom watching her favorite daytime soaps.

The journey began early one spring morning in April with our ultimate destination the Goosenecks of the San Juan and Valley of the Gods state parks near Mexican Hat, Utah. We left Gallup at about 7 a.m., heading north on U.S. Highway 491 toward Shiprock as the morning’s glorious rays of sun awoke our brains. It was a perfect day for a drive.

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