Day 158 – We woke up at 7 a.m.; 34 degrees and mostly cloudy, a real chill in the air. We left beautiful Goosenecks State Park and drove back to Route 163 the way we came in. It was 8:55 and it was raining lightly. Utah was totally amazing and we only covered a very small section. Gotta come back, and soon!
215 miles
Goosenecks State Park, UT-316, Mexican Hat, UT 84531, directions: from Gouldings on Highway 163, go northeast 20 miles or so to Highway 261, turn left & follow signs to the State Park, turning left on Highway 316 & driving to the end of the road, (435) 678-2238, https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/goosenecks/. Check-out time is 2 p.m. Open all year. First-come, first-served; no reservations. Only 8 campsites, this is for primitive camping, no hook-ups, no water, no dump station. There are restrooms. A picnic table & fire pit at each site. Two campsites are right on the cliff at the top of a mesa overlooking the Goosenecks, some of the prettiest scenery ever. All sites have a view because there’s nothing else out there. $10 per night. The campsites are not numbered; we were the only ones there and picked a cliff-side site. It’s a fairly famous photography destination so the day use area is pretty busy. But the place was basically ours. We would come back again and visit Valley of the Gods. Gorgeous setting.
We drove northeast on the 163 to Highway 191, turning south just before Bluff, UT. Soon we crossed back into AZ. Then we went northeast on Highway 160 to just before the NM border where it turned north to the Four Corners Navajo Monument. We stopped there for a couple of pictures – how often do you have the opportunity to stand in four states at once? The borders of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, & Utah all meet here. We scurried back to the RV; it was cold & very windy.
Click on any picture to see a slideshow.
After leaving Four Corners, we drove south & turned east onto Highway 64. Soon we entered New Mexico. We’d left the red rocks of Utah. Almost the entire journey today was through Navajo Indian Reservations. It rained lightly several times throughout the drive, and at one point we even had a very brief bit of snow showers. At times it was also quite windy. It never got over 52 degrees and as we drove up and down hills, the temperature fluctuated, most of the time in the low 40’s. There was a decent amount of snow in the mountains. We turned south on to Highway 491, pulling off the road at Sheeps Spring for a lunch break. The hills and rocks in NM were mostly various shades of yellow & brown. Small Indian communities, like Sheeps Spring, were nestled beneath the mountains. We continued on the 491 until we got on Interstate 40 east a little before Gallup (which was the first large city we’d encountered in many days). We stopped for gas (much cheaper in NM) and then continued on the 40 for 5 miles where we turned off for our camping destination.
Along NM-64, near Shiprock, NM
Along US-491, near Shiprock, NM
We arrived at Red Rock Park at 2:05 p.m. It was windy, partly cloudy, and 38 degrees. This Park is located off Interstate 40 and is nestled in a group of lovely red rocks, the only ones we’d seen thus far in NM. Red Rock Park was built in 1976 & consists of a convention center, the Red Rock Museum, the historic Outlaw Trading Post (built in 1888), a post office, hiking trails, and a 5,000-seat outdoor arena where rodeo’s & indian ceremonies are often held. (Not to be confused with the large Red Rocks concert venue in Colorado.) We picked at site (#15) below one of the large red rocks, unpacked & set up, and then went to the Park Office to pay for one night ($22 for electric & water hook-ups, no sewer but there are dump stations).
Click on any picture to see a slideshow.
It was cold and quite windy, so after looking around a little, we gladly came back to the RV where it was warm. The campground had about 15 campers. Literature said that when there is something going on at the arena, reservations were recommended because the campground fills up quickly. Not this time of year…..
The girls are fine with it here; they are happy to not be traveling. They’ll be even happier when they discover they have their heated pads again. It’s supposed to get down to the teens tonight.