Tuesday 3 June Moab, UT

Moab
(via Gooseneck State Park, Valley of the Gods State Park, & Canyonlands (Needles)

Gooseneck State Park
A double version of Horseshoe Bend, with the San Juan River, which is usually slow-moving and flows through a relatively shallow canyon with many wide curves.
More of these convolutions are visible in the nearby Gooseneck State Park, reached by a 4 mile paved side road (UT 316) off UT 261.
The park, to which entry is free, has just one extended viewpoint of several huge river bends, now flowing one thousand feet below ground level in a deep canyon with a series of stepped cliffs and terraces.
This area is recognised as one of the best examples of entrenched river meanders in the world.
Fantastic,if a little scary at the unfenced edge.
Unfortunately the low and facing Sun meant than the big camera had to remain sheathed as the light flattened the colours and meandering effect.
Snapped some digital shots though – so not all lost!

Valley of the Gods
This is is a smaller scale version of Monument Valley, with huge isolated red sandstone rocks standing above the level valley floor, remnants of some ancient landscape.
The area has a 17 mile dirt road (FR 242) that winds amongst the eerie formations; it is very bumpy and steep in parts but was passable by our rental car, although we chose the North-south route. The opposite direction may not be so easy for many cars.
The track crosses mostly flat but bumpy open land and follows the course of Lime Creek, a seasonal wash which occasionally floods in sections, through these buttes and pinnacles.
There are numerous places to stop, and due to the lack of any real tourist awareness (we saw only 4 4x4s and 2 cars in the entire 70 minutes in the ark!), almost anywhere sensible could have been used as a lay-by.
Since hardly anyone seems to pass by, this area provides a more relaxing and isolated experience than its larger and more famous cousin Monument Valley.
The tranquillity and closeness made this an excellent region for photography.

Highlights:
Setting Hen
Rooster Rock
Balanced Rock/Lady in a Tub
All distinct and recognisable from their names!

Needles (Canyonlands National Park)
This was our first of two visits to Canyonlands. We were to make three trips, the second being later today to a viewpoint across the ‘Needles’ part of the park (from Needles Overlook – go figure!), but the park ranger advised us that as our itinerary included the Grand View Overlook tomorrow, we could forego the Needles Overlook today as the views would be better from Grand View.
We would, later, deeply regret this omission.
Our first stop off was a little way before the park proper, at the amazing ‘Newspaper Rock’

Newspaper Rock
Newspaper Rock features a 200 square foot area of extremely dense Native American petroglyphs on a "desert varnished" cliff wall.
It is thought that Archaic, Ancestral Puebloans, Fremont, Ute, European and Hispanic cultures have all contributed to these images
The petroglyphs were created by several ancient cultures beginning some 1,500 years ago.
The drawings consist of animals, human figures and many inexplicable symbols, for instance, a six-toed foot!

Highlights:
Newspaper Rock
The ‘Needles’ themselves
Views into expansive red sandstone canyons, with snow-caped (yes, still!) mountains in the near (40 miles) distance.
Big Spring Canyon Overlook – quite literally, the end of the road!

Journey Notes & Details
North along US-163 to Gooseneck Turn off, then back onto UT-261 heading northwest to Valley of the Gods north entrance.
Exiting at the east onto US-163, head north (left) towards and past Blanding.
Enter Canyonlands/Needles entrance some 67 miles later.
From Canyonlands, again north along US-163 which becomes US-191 at Moab.
Distance: 221 miles
Duration: 7 hrs 15 mins