Thursday October 16th, 2014
Total Miles: 246

We certainly weren’t going to eat breakfast at the hotel after last nights experience with dinner.  We loaded up and turned south out of Mexican Hat and headed toward Monument Valley. 

Fee area for Monument Valley is $10 for driver and bike plus $6 for passenger.  Since we were short on time we turned around and we ended up having breakfast at Goulding’s Lodge and checked out their museum which featured the John Wayne cabin. 

The owners Harry and his wife during the Great Depression were concerned for the Najvo Indians in the area.  In efforts to help them survive these bleak times the owners of the trading post headed to California and got a meeting with director John Ford and showed him pictures of Monument Valley.  He loved the photos and ended up filming many movies in the Valley.  He hired local Indians to act in the movies and of course he and the movie stars stayed at the trading post which.  It was the jobs he brought to the area that allowed the Najvo Indians to make it through the Depression.  Other notable movies filmed here were Back to the Future 3 and National Lampoon.  We headed south into Arizona for a few miles but decided to turn back and head back for Mexican Hat. 

We fueled up but was disappointed that all they had in Mexican Hat were blender pumps and gas with Ethanol.  Quick stop to take a picture of Mexican Hat Rock. 

We made our way through Valley of the Gods and it was fantastic views with every turn.  Lots of pictures to be taken.  This road is a good gravel road with few washouts.  Of course it would be horrible if wet. 

We turned right on the blacktop and started up the Moki Dugway.  Soon blacktop turns to gravel and we start gaining in elevation.  Amazing and a must do when you ride Utah.  Add the Moki Dugway to your bucket list!  

At the end of the gravel we made our first left and rode to Mulley Point which overlooks the Goosenecks State Park and gives you a breath taking view of Valley of the Gods and Monument Valley in the distance.  A few million pictures later and back we went on Highway 261 North

Pictures do no justice when it comes to Mulley Point.  It is massive and gorgeous.  If you are in Utah don’t miss this spot.  It is worth adding an extra day to the Utah Back Country Discovery Route just to see this.

We were on blacktop most of the rest of the day.  Galen and I were so surprised just how beautiful Hwy 95 turned out to be.  Neither of us had any idea just how gorgeous this part of Utah would be to ride through.  For a blacktop road it was full of fantastic views.  We saw very little traffic as we entered Glen Canyon.  We knew we would be camping tonight and started to look for a place.  We turned into Hiute.  It showed camping and a Maria on the map.  We thought we were on the North side of Lake Powell but what we found was straight up eerie.  This part of the lake had dried up.  The boat launch went to no where.  The beautiful bathroom facilities were closed.  There was no one there.  Yes, there were picnic tables but it was so wide open.  The little Marina had been long closed.  We double checked the map.  Two more tents noted on the map in the next hour so we kept moving. 

We came up the Dirty Little Devil River and the campsite were wide open and next to the road.  We have learned camping near the road causes a  sleepless night because of the traffic noise.  

We decided to continue on to Starr Ranch camping and picnic area.  It was blacktop all the way except the last 5 miles.  This was like a highway compared to the gravel roads we had been on earlier in the trip.  There we found an awesome camping area.  We were late in the season and there was only one other family and us.  The place was crazy quiet.  I can see that if it were full it would be loud.  Sites are very close together.  They had pit toilets and fresh water.  Each site had a picnic table, fire ring and grill.  At 6:30pm it was still 70 degrees.  We were losing day light quickly.  We got camp set up, Galen went to search for firewood.  We cooked up Jamacian Rice and Chicken for dinner and it actually wasn’t half bad.  By 9:00pm we had everything cleaned up and we were just relaxing with some whiskey by the fire.  Galen mentioned that camping is so much more enjoyable when you haven’t beaten up your body riding all day.  Couldn’t have asked for a better night to camp.  Temps today were mid-seventies with lots of sunshine.  Man, the sun is intense here and it felt much warmer than 70’s.  Starr Ranch, were we camped, is located at 6,140 ft elevation.