DigitalRoadtrip: Utah, Day 16...Bears Ears

Monday, September 16, 2024

There was one major stop for the day, Bears Ears National Monument. Shortly after President Obama turned the area into a national monument, Mom sent me a long article from the Washington Post about it. Since then, we talked about it whenever one of us heard something new. That's why I came to this part of Utah. It feels weird not being able to share it with her.

The weather guessers showed a good chance of a thunderstorm around 11A. The weather radar concurred.

A few days ago, I asked about trails in Bears Ears in a park and travel related group chat on Twitter. Two trails seemed the most promising. With possible rain, the long one was out. Could I work in the short one?

But first, Mexican Hat's namesake. A rock outcrop in the shape of a guy in a sombrero.

There's a trail to the top. Some reviewers said it was easy to follow with some light scrambling. Others found the crisscrossing trails confusing, and the scramble pretty steep. I would have loved to try. Blame it on the impending rain.

Google Maps gave me this to the trailhead...

Silly me, I chose the shorter route.

That's Utah Rt 261. About ten miles up there's a sign. The road ahead was narrow, steep and unpaved. The GPS said I'd be on the road for thirty-five miles.

Remember, I'm driving a rental vehicle with no spare tire. Oh, and no cell signal. Yeah, I turned around.

About a mile back is the turn off for Valley of the Gods Road.

It's a dirt road through some pretty cool rock formations. We did it many years ago in a Jeep Cherokee. It was a smooth drive.

About a half mile in, I saw this...

Clearly it hasn't been worked on in a while. Scratch Plan B. It turns out there was a lot of rain and flood damage to the road. Turning around was the right choice. The folks at Earth Trekkers posted a blog about the drive. You can see that here:

By now, the Bears Ears Visitor Center would be open. So, I drove there instead. Plan C. I asked about the roads.

That stretch of 261 that was unpaved ONLY ran three and a half miles then returned to asphalt. An eight mile dirt road off to the side went to a place called Muley Point. That was also recommended.

North of the visitors center is Hwy 95. That's where I turned west. They told me the sign to look for read South Mule Canyon.

By now the thunderstorm was pushed back to 12:15P. I had an hour. So, I hopped down into the dry wash and started walking.

My destination was a place called House on Fire. At the thirty minute point, I didn't see any dark clouds, but heard a rumble. Time to head back. The folks at Trek Planner did the hike and you can read about it here:

One doesn't want to get caught in a canyon wash in a storm. There was also that dirt road to get out.

With no service, I didn't know the alert had been pushed back to 2P. Should have kept going.

Instead I drove a little further west to Natural Bridges National Monument. At least I knew all the roads were paved. The park ranger told me the rain had been pushed back again. Now due around 5P.

The park road is a loop that passes overlooks and trailhead. The first is the Sipapu Bridge.

Just up the road is a trail down to the base. The trail drops five hundred feet in .6 miles. I started down knowing I'd have to climb back up again. I just wasn't expecting ladders to be involved.