In August we spent a weekend in the Cedar Mesa area. We left Friday after work and drove to Valley of the Gods outside of Mexican Hat and found a little pull off to camp for the night. It was pretty cool with the full moon and we had fun taking some pictures. The next morning we completed the drive through the valley. Valley of the Gods is like the smaller cousin of Monument Valley - some neat rock formations, just on a smaller scale. After completing the loop we drove the switchbacks at Moki Dugway up to Cedar Mesa.

We drove towards Blanding and turned off on Lower Butler Wash Road that parallels Comb Ridge. It is 21 miles on a dirt road to Bluff - we were able to manage in my Mazda 5 - and there are many ruins and points of interest along the way. Using the Michael Kelsey guide we stopped at three different ruins - Fish Mouth Cave, Split House, and Monarch Cave. All three ruins were short hikes (not maintained trails, but we were able to navigate easily to the spots) and were impressive in their preservation. In addition to the ruins we saw other artifacts and petroglpyhs. Very cool spots to explore and we really enjoyed seeing the ruins.

While there is a lot to see on Lower Butler Wash Road, it was a hot day and we were getting tired. We were satisfied with the three ruins and made our way back to pavement. We had a tasty meal at Twin Rocks Cafe in Bluff (fry bread was our favorite) and went to Sand Islands on the San Juan River. There are some easily accessible petroglyph panels here and we dipped our feet in the river to cool off.

In the late afternoon we drove out to Recapture Pocket to check out the hoodoos and find a campsite. We had such a lovely evening here. It cooled off and was a pleasant temperature for sitting around, eating cheese, and drinking beer. No bugs really, although the bats kept swooping overhead, so there must have been some bugs. We caught a few Perseids and admired the Milky Way before the full moon rose. Nice way to cap off a great day.

Sunday morning on our way home we stopped at Goosenecks State Park (learned a new phrase "entrenched river meander") and for the classic shot of Monument Valley (despite some less than ideal light conditions). It was a great weekend exploring some new areas!