From: casarollnotes.blogspot.com
Tim and Linda Bunyan
From Mesa Verde, Colorado to Mexican Hat, Utah we have arrived by the only road through Mexican Hat, Highway 163 to Valles RV Park (Full hookup $35.00/night) in Mexican Hat,
a small village on the San Juan River (which originates in the San Juan Mountains on Southwestern Colorado) on the northern edge of the Navajo Nation's borders.
The population of Mexican Hat, Utah is 31. The elevation is 4,244' . It was cooler (80's) in Mesa Verde at an elevation near 8,000'. It is about 20 degrees higher temperatures here. We are a stop away from Lake Powell and we are yearning for a boat ride on the water especially during these hot days.
Besides providing a base to explore the surrounding scenery, the town is also popular as the start (or end) point for rafting trips along the San Juan River. Rafting trips begin from Mexican Hat downstream to the upper end of Lake Powell, exiting via the Plute Farms Road near Monument Valley.
We order pizza to go and gather with Mike&Sherry and Ron&Fran for some good dining. The registration desk and the Pizza Cafe for Valles RV Park is one of the same. The man greets us and checks us in an RV site and hands us a menu. Our three RV's are the only filled RV sites. We have full hookups and running the air conditioner much of the day. We are happy to have full hookups as the heat continues to be with us.
READING: The Black Stallion reigns yet rears up at the incongruent; remains in a smile position making all those who cluster happy. On the quest of picture-perfect lacking defects or flaws; ideals exact and correct.
A READING: As the Rocky Mountain delivers water to our homes, we flourished as we have traveled along its course,Happy to be an accompaniment in the stream of life.
We've remain fortunate and protected from ravage and fear as we honor the Resource of our being as a witness to all that surrounds our daily lives.
The "Black Knight" is led with vigor. Love is the fuel in their journey on paved, and unpaved roads.
Imagine doing all this in meakness and in health!
We get to live like this coming and going with people we know.
This history and tales of friends. It's a bit of a Party every day and night.
The Mexican Hat popped into our view from the highway as we drove in on U.S. Highway 163. It is named after the sombrero-looking formation. The formation is 60-foot diameter caprock is comprised of Cedar Mesa sandstone. The base is red siltstone and shale of the Halgaito Formation. The ancient Cutler rock layers over 300 million years old were laid down by the recurring rising and falling sea levels of an ancient marine environment.
We take a walk from our RV site to a spectacular landscape of the San Juan River that runs along with the village of Mexican Hat, Utah. This is a place to walk in beauty. The film "Stagecoach" was filmed in this area.
The sun is setting against the deep, layered cliff walls that glisten from the sun and are reflected in the San Juan river below. The greenery along the water's edge contrasts vividly with the swirling reds and grays of the canyon walls.
We are glad to take a walk nearby and outside, next to the San Juan River, with a gentle breeze the hot weather is not so oppressive. READING: Our perspectives represent our unique national view; the objective is honed throughout our experiences which are the frameworks to organize and understand the world.
The cliffs of Mexican Hat, Utah. Most of the surroundings are BLM land south of the river is the Navajo Reservation. As much of our Travel Tour 2020 route, the San Juan River originates as snowmelt in the San Juan Mountains (part of the Rocky Mountains) of Colorado, it flows 383 miles through the desert of northern New Mexico and southeastern Utah to join the Colorado River at Glen Canyon (Lake Powell).
We are exploring the local landscapes. Gooseneck State Park a few miles to the northwest of Mexican Hat is one of the best examples of entrenched meanders in the world. It windes 5 miles yet stretching only one mile as the crow flies.
The San Juan River twists and turns through the meander flowing west on its way
to Lake Powell.
Above the sinuous river meander known as a gooseneck, the park affords impressive views of one of the most striking examples of an entrenched river meander on the North American continent.
300 million years of geological activity is evident as the San Juan River winds and carves its way through the desert 1,000 feet below. The San Juan River is a major tributary of the Colorado River. It provides the chief drainage for the Four Corners region of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona.
There is a tourist van parked next to picnic tables on the canyon top. A couple had the use of this tour all to themselves. We had our own personal tour of our own in our Tundra.
Not far from Gooseneck State Park, we take our personal tour approach straight north on Highway 261 to the Moki Dugway. The highway is part of the Utah section of the Trail of the Ancients, a National Scenic Byway.
We watch for Falling Rocks and all rocks! Some scenes of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"were filmed in this area.
The switchbacks traverse the Moki Dugway.
Mexican Hat on the far horizon, 38 miles. The Moki Dugway was constructed in 1958 by Texas Zinc, a mining company, to transport uranium ore from the "Happy Jack" mine to the processing mill in Mexican Hat.
We head back to our RV site to discover Ron in his
Ram Truck Black Knight drove the Moki Dugway today too!
Ron was very proud of his Ram Truck and 4-wheel Black Knight proven road warrior!
Time slows down here, this is untouched, protected, and preserved. We went out on the town at the "Hat Rock Cafe" where only beer or wine is licensed.
Tim and I drove around 'the hood' our last day here to find residences on the Indian Reservation. Some of the houses were vandalized, with other happy families living inside. This community sign has been painted over. Our waitress told us her story of house funding from the Navaho Nation for a house on half an acre for $1,200. She and her husband and grandmother are saving up in order to build a house.
Here is one example of "the hood' with some housing. We saw other homes in Monument Valley where acres were provided for those ranchers or sheep keepers. Plenty of power and water is provided.... not a problem.
It is time to continue our 2020 Travel Tour to Lake Powell. Ron&Fran and Mik&Sherry have been along on this travel tour since June and they must return to their 'sticks and bricks' houses to resume their life business. Mike&Sherry are selling their HighCountry 5th wheel to replace it with a Grand Design they must define and order. Ron&Fran are returning to family in their Las Vegas House and then on to their Reno House to take an SYC boat cruise for Labor Day! On to seeking still waters!
