Images of Valley of the Gods – Southeastern Utah, taken in May 2021.

In 2016 the Valley of the Gods was protected as part of Bears Ears National Monument. That classification was removed in 2017, however, this area is still administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and therefore currently has limited protection as the removal of the national monument designation is challenged in the courts.

This area is sometimes referred to as ‘Little Monument Valley’ because the formations are similar to what is seen in Monument Valley a mere thirty-five miles to the south. In fact, Monument Valley can be seen from the Valley of the Gods on most days. A seventeen-mile dirt road snakes through this wilderness and past a multitude of fascinating rock formations. I visited here twice, at sunrise and at sunset, to view the formations in the most interesting and dramatic light.

Nearby, on Utah Highway 261, are the Moki Dugway dirt switch backs; a road originally carved from the face of the cliff to haul uranium and vanadium to a mill in the valley below, it winds its way 1,200 feet down into the valley over three miles of dirt at an 11% grade. Today this route is mostly used by tourists who crawl through the sharp curves and along the steep guardrail-less roadway to get from one scenic site to another.