Sunday 1 June San Juan Inn, Mexican Hat, UT

San Juan Inn
(via Sunset Crater and Monument Valley)

Sunset Crater
Sunset Crater Volcano was born in a series of eruptions sometime between 1040 and 1100.
Powerful explosions profoundly affected the lives of local people and forever changed the landscape and ecology of the area.
Lava flows and cinders still look as fresh and rugged as the day they formed – a lot like asphalt along the sides of many of America’s unfinished roads!
Within this caustic and harsh landscape we still found thriving trees, wildflowers, and signs of wildlife, including deer mice, a kangaroo rat (its true!!) and several rock squirrels (smaller than ours and without a bushy tail).
I took a punishing one-mile 500 ft upward trek carrying around 25 kg of camera gear only to find the vista before me at the peak, somewhat undeserving of such effort.
Banged off some snaps instead!
Many dead trees here replicate the scene at so many other national parks and forests. Understandable here, but the others….??

Monument Valley
Located in the border of southeast Utah and northwest Arizona, these dramatic rock formations (Buttes, pr. Butes), provide perhaps the most enduring and definitive images of the American (wild?) West.
The isolated red mesas and buttes surrounded by empty, sandy desert have been filmed and photographed countless times over the years for movies, adverts and holiday brochures.
Because of this, the area may seem quite familiar, even on a first visit, but it is soon evident that the natural colors really are as bright and deep as those in all the pictures – almost super-real.
The valley is not a valley in the conventional sense, but rather a wide flat, sometimes desolate landscape, interrupted by the crumbling formations rising hundreds of feet into the air, the last remnants of the sandstone layers that once covered the entire region.
Instead of taking the shaky and dusty trailer rides (open trailers towed by air-conditioned 4x4s) at speeds of up to 30mph, we decided to make the 17 mile tour, carefully in our rental car, averaging around 12 mph.
We survived, and so did the car!

My favourites – the Mittens!
Astounding, simply astounding.

Journey Notes and Details
North along I-89 towards Page, turning right (east) at Sunset Crater National Monument.
Back to the I-89 north taking a right (northwest) onto the AZ-160 at Tuba City, signposted Mexican Hat.
Continue to Kayenta then left (north) onto UT-163, for Mexican Hat
Mileage: 238 miles
Duration: 10 hrs. 16 mins (having lost another hour again!!)