The Southern End of Route 191 in Utah.

Normally traveling to Monument Valley, or even into the state of Arizona, means going south on Route 191 to Bluff and then continuing on Route 163.  So what happened to Route 191 you might ask; then again you might not even care.  Being curious adventurers, Roy and I decided to find out what the southern extension (built in 1981 - 1982) had to offer in sites; we had not traveled it before and there's a first time for everything.





Route 191, depending on the map you use, is also known as "Bluff Road" or "Mexican Water Road"; Mexican Water is the name of the town you will come out in when you eventually reach Route 160 in Arizona.  Bluff itself is not part of the Navajo Nation, but you will soon cross over into it.  Now many of the roads are Country Roads (sign has a CR with a number), County Roads (sign has a SJC with a number), and you will still see signs for old "Indian Routes" (sign has Indian Route with a number); and then there are the roads with no signs at all.  Now after living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for about 19 years, I understand how the Amish and Mennonite like their privacy; they're people who follow a different culture, they're not "things" for sightseeing.  The same goes for the Native Americans and the Reservations; it is homeland for their culture, and the people are not part of the tour unless you have been personally invited.  So, unless you know for certain that a road leads to a site open for public viewing; well, if in doubt, stay out.

After turning onto Route 163, you'll sort of think, at first, this road looks boring; that thought won't last very long as you suddenly come up to sheer sandstone walls reaching up into the sky.  Hold onto your heads as they'll be turning from side to side to try and get all the sites in.  At one point you'll cross over the San Juan River and its sandy shore.

Now what I didn't know at the time was that this section of Route 191 runs parallel to Comb Ridge.  The indentations of the ridge (as seen from above and partial frontal view) mimics the structure of a comb, hence the name, and on our to-do list of course.  Anyway, the outward views from the road are pretty awesome to see.




Oh, before I forget, mile markers are pretty much non-existent on this stretch of roadway; so if you're one of those drivers who needs to know exactly where everything is, you're out of luck.  Just relax and drive, you'll find it eventually.  I can tell you that once you turn onto Route 191, you're about 26 and 1/2 miles from Route 160 in Arizona; yes, I said "about", relax and deal with it.


Once in a while you will see a road sign that will give you how many miles you're away from something.  This photo of one of those signs tells me that the scenic shots I took were about 4 and 1/2 miles from the turn-on to Route 191.  Does the mesa seen in one photo have a name?  No clue - no signs, no names listed on maps; basically not every formation has a name out here, since there are thousands.  Do you realize how large a book of maps would be if every rock formation was named and pointed out on a map!!??!!

Along the way I made Roy stop the SUV to get a photo of some adorable looking creatures - three burros.  Now I have seen many a light gray burro, but these were white and dark gray to black.  I was entranced with how adorable they looked, and Roy smiled because this simple pleasure was so exciting to me.  He named them, what else, The Three Amigos.

The Three Amigos

Now this last photo was of an intriguing formation that became more and more mysterious looking as you got closer.  Considering we were looking eastward and the sun was in full brightness; it caused an intense shadowing effect on the dark stone.  I looked on the internet for many an hour to try and identify it; from written geological reports I ascertained that this is more than likely "Boundary Butte".  I found photos of "Boundary Butte Mesa" which is further east of this formation, same type of rock, smaller in size and having an arch within in.  It was so named due to its proximity to the Utah-Arizona border, so once you see this formation, you know you're almost to Arizona.

Boundary Butte

Now we're at the Arizona border and this is where this post will end...for now.  As you travel along Route 191 to Route 160, and then pick it up again going southward to Canyon de Chelly, the landscape will resemble a miniaturized version of Monument Valley.  There's your tease...

Mary Cokenour

Lost from Bluff to Cortez; Sort of.

When Roy and I go traveling around the Four Corners area, we don't always have a destination in mind. Basically we point the vehicle in a direction, make sure we have maps, water, snacks and a full tank of gas; then go. We have found some interesting sites; we have found places that have made us both say, "What the heck!?!; and found many places not mentioned in guide books or on maps, you just have to know they're there. So starts this adventure from Bluff, Utah to Cortez, Colorado; mainly because we just wanted to know where a road went and what we could see on it. I'm going to post a map where I've noted some names, road number changes, or pertinent information to the "wanting a beer with their meal" traveler. With the lack of, or vague, road signs on many of these roads, you're going to appreciate this.



Navajo Twins adjacent to Twin Rocks Cafe
 

We headed south on Route 191 through Blanding and White Mesa until we reached the rustic and scenic Bluff.  Bluff was settled in 1880 and was basically the last stop on the route taken by the "Hole in the Rock" Mormon pioneers.  The San Juan River runs along there allowing trees and vegetation to grow; ruins and petroglyphs hidden throughout the area; amazing sandstone formations like the "Navajo Twins" (adjacent the Twin Rocks Cafe), and "The Locomotive" (overlooking the cementary).  Pioneers from the Bluff area headed up north and settled Monticello (Abajo Mountain area) in 1888; Blanding (desert area), however, was not settled until 1905.  Blanding has the Dinosaur Museum and "Edge of the Cedars" Museum; Route 95 at the edge of town (south) leads to Natural Bridges National Monument.  It is sort of like the contrary child, since the sale of any alcoholic beverage is banned within city limits; not so for Bluff or Monticello.  I'm mentioning this for any traveler in the area who enjoys such a beverage with a meal; look to the other towns for that pleasure.

The Locomotive


 

Since we didn't start this trek until after lunch, we decided to backtrack north to a road indicating "Hovenweep" was in an easterly direction; a map indicated this was Route 262.  It is a paved road, but not well maintained, so you might find it a bit rough and bumpy in spots.  I know the map above says it is a dirt road, but its been fixed up since that map was printed way back who knows when. 




Along the way you'll see many formations in the rocky areas, if they had a specific name there were no signs indicating any.  You'll also be driving parallel to Native American Reservation land and the San Juan River can be spied now and then.  There will be two road junctions you'll come across, one to Montezuma Creek, the other to Aneth which are both situated along Route 162.  We stayed on Route 262 to see how far it actually went, and what else we could see on it.

At the end of Route 262, a road to the left leads towards Hovenweep and the Hatch Trading Post; well somehow we missed the sign and stayed on the road leading to the right.  We later found out this was Road G which would eventually bring us out onto Route 491 (S. Broadway) just north of the airport in Cortez, Colorado.  By the way, you'll see snow on the mountains; we took this ride in early spring and it was still cold up there, but not in the desert areas.  So off to Road G we go...


Now this is really a scenic, pleasant drive; the road is twisty here and there, so don't plan on driving too fast on it.  Once in awhile we would spot an abandoned building and wondered if it dated back to the early pioneers or not.  I finally had the opportunity to stop and take a photo of long horned cattle; a thrill since I'd only seen them on television.  I would have liked to not have the barbed wire in the shot, but those horns intimidated me enough to keep my distance.

Long Horned Cattle

Along the road we did pass a "Welcome to Colorful Colorado" sign, but seeing Sleeping Ute Mountain was also a rather large hint that we were finally over the state border and in Colorado. 

Snow Covered Sleeping Ute Mountain
 

What we didn't expect was to see a roughly made parking lot, large sandstone formations and a sign stating that this was "Canyons of the Ancients" National Monument; yep, you guessed it, not written on our map.  By this time though it was nearing sunset, since daylight savings time had not sprung into spring as yet.  As much as we wanted to explore, doing it in the darkness was not on our to-do list.

Sand Canyon Trail Entrance
 

 

As we got nearer to Cortez, we saw the snow covered mountain range of Mesa Verde (park entrance is 9 miles east of Cortez).  We immediately recognized Route 491, made the left turn towards the main area of Cortez and treated ourselves to a celebration dinner.  Celebration?  That's right, we celebrated the end of another adventure in the Four Corners area; you're not living if you're not having an adventure here.

Mary Cokenour