UnPaved Roads Less Traveled

Valley of the Gods

2008-10-20T13:21:00.000-07:00

The Valley of the Gods is situated in Southern Utah south of Moab, off of Highway 163 less than 15 miles south of the town of Bluff, Utah and north of Mexican Hat and Monument Valley. I use the Cadillac RV Park in Bluff as my jumping off point in this beautiful area.

The Valley of the Gods road stretches 17 miles between Hwy 163 and Route 261. You can start either direction but I prefer starting on the east at Hwy 163 and heading west. This is definitely red desert land and the colors seem to change throughout the day. There are many buttes, spires, and monuments throughout this area.

This is BLM land and there is dispersed camping at different spots along the road. I have seen RV's within the first couple miles of the east end of the road. I am not sure that I would take my RV much further than that. There are several washes that the road passes through, which have always been dry when I visited. Monument Valley can be seen in the distance from parts of the road. The quietness the last time I took this road was almost as deafening as the sights were beautiful in every direction.

Once you reach pavement of 261 if you go right, it will take you up to the top of Cedar Mesa on another unpaved windy road to a turn off for Muley Point Overlook. The 5 mile road out to the overlook is not as good as the Valley of the Gods road but still passible on the main drag by passenger car. It too is on BLM land with dispersed camping The views at the point are great.
You can see the Goosenecks State Park and Monument Valley from here. You can continue on 261 to the Natural Bridges National Monument, the drive is not very scenic or go down the way you came and visit the Goosenecks State Park on 261 before you meet up with 163 again.

Monument Valley is a nice place to visit while in the area but it is on Reservation land and there is a charge to drive the unpaved road through the area. It is a bustling place but still neat to see. The Valley of the Gods has great desertscape without the bustle.

About this Blog

2008-10-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

Want to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, the tour buses and over crowded scenic overlooks? Don't mind a little shake, rattle and roll, not having cell service or an inch of dust inside and outside your car? If you said yes to both of these questions then theses drives are for you.

This blog is strives to highlight lightly traveled, scenic, unpaved roads that can be reached by regular passenger vehicles. I wouldn't take a vet or any other low rider on these roads, but what most of us drive should work fine. What we mean by lightly traveled is we passed less than 10 other cars on the road on the day we took the drive. I usually sightsee on week days. If you only sightsee on weekends your experience may be different.

Some of these roads will be within National Forest or National Parks and may require a usage fee. Often they have 'self pay' stations. Pay the fees, obey all signs, don't go in closed areas, stay on the existing roads, don't deface the trees or rocks and leave the area cleaner than you found it. Why some people think that they need to express their love or that they were there by carving it in a tree or rock, I don't get. It destroys the trees and the beauty of the area for the next guy and nobody really cares that you loved Jill when you were 16.

We encourage responsible back country usage so that these areas will still be out of the way havens for generations to come.

We are not attempting to give technical touring 'milepost by milepost' information on these areas. We are just 'highlighting' these drives. Be sure that you have a local map with you at all times and note that any mileage mentioned by us is approximate.

We do want to hear from you. We want to hear your experience on the roads we have featured and any changes that may have occurred since we visited. We also want your suggestions for unpaved scenic wonders in your area that we can try out. To email, click on the About Me tab and then click email. You can receive updates to this blog site by subscribing to the site via one of the major readers (see Subscribe to Posts) or via Email (Subscribe via Email).

Thanks for taking a look at this site .. On Da Road

Fossil Creek Rd - Central Arizona

2008-10-19T14:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a cool 'off the beaten path' drive tucked away in central Arizona. I took the Fossil Creek road trip on the recommendation of Mister Windshield who fixed my RV's windshield ding and gave me the area scoop all at the same time. The west entrance to Fossil Creek road (FR 708) starts about 10 miles outside of Camp Verde, AZ at Interstate 17 on Hwy. 260 and continues 26 miles to the small town of Strawberry, just west of Payson.

I started from out from Distant Drums RV Park in Camp Verde. I was a bit disappointed the first few miles of road. There was a lot of wide open spaces with some scrub brush, cacti and Yucca and a couple of dry creek beds with broad leafs that were just starting to change. I resolved myself to the fact that I was just to late in the year to see what I thought was 'the' creek flowing.

As I kept driving the terrain began to change and become a little more hilly and had more vegetation. Finally I came to a Tonto National Forest sign and a turn off that stated the Verde River and a Power plant were 6 miles ahead. I took the turn off and found the creek. What a beautiful creek! Clear cool blue water, rapids forming dozens of little waterfalls. What was once open scrub land was now forest albeit with cacti mixed in (it is still Arizona). I think the only other place I have seen water like this is in Glacier National Park.

The creekside was a great place for lunch and some exploring. I never made it the 6 miles down to the power plant and to the Verde river and the Hotsprings. I was told that the Hotsprings was a place where nudist sometimes hang out. I have nothing against nudist but I hadn't had lunch yet and didn't want to chance it. I was throughly enjoying the scenery were I was.

There were many pullouts and dispersed camping sites around the creek area. One area along the creek, which looked as if it could double as a swimming hole, curiously had cairns stacked all around and in it. Empty on my visit, it sort of had a mystical sense about it. Just me, the water the weird cairns and dozens of butterflies.

Further up the road I ran into a curious older man on a horse with two pack horses for the second time.

When I went back to the main road and continued to Strawberry there were many more pullouts and campsites along the creek. The blue water thrilled me each time I got a glimpse of the creek. Finally the road started winding out of the valley and up the mountain side. The views were great.

I made it back to Hwy 260 in Strawberry where the pine trees were everywhere. The next small town towards Payson was Pine. I found this to be a nice place to stop and check out a little gallery. I continued further and stopped at Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. I found it scenic enough and would have explored more if there had not been a huge bus of school children also exploring the park.

Now getting late, I headed back to Distant Drums via Hwy 260 which climbed back through the pine forest to the high desert scrubland. It was a fabulous day trip. Fossil Creek Road is unpaved and washboard a lot of the way, (more so on the west side than east) but easily passable in a passenger car on the main drag. For the more adventurous drivers there were many inviting off shoots that would have required 4wd and high clearance. I did not check them out. This was a very scenic and enjoyable drive. I did this on a week day and only passed 4 other cars (and the unusual horseman). I hope to do this trek again, maybe in the spring when the all the dry creeks are flowing and yuccas blooming. Next time I will allow more time, do some of the hiking trails in the area and maybe even venture to the hot springs.