AZ, UT, NM Road Trip
(Day Three: July 29,2007 - Page 17)

Holy S&^#!!
Valley of the Gods, UT:
Wow….Wow…God and I came to new terms here at, I guess, the Valley of the Gods. Forget the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and Capital Reef: this is now my favorite point on Earth. The Earth just ENDS…Traveling Highway 261 South signs are posted warning all tractor trailers to exit the road and I can see why. The road goes from a paved two lane to nearly ending at a 3000 feet cliff. For as far as the eye can see the land just ends here and there is a valley below. Lower elevation and this would be a great sea. Several stubborn land stone formations still rise from the floor, but they are no where near tall enough the reach the top of this cliff. Road Runner and the Coyote had to worry about this one. Off the cliff you can see a school bus and a couple of cars that made the leap, probably for a movie or a commercial. This is truly the end of the earth and only topographers know whether this is the edge of the Region wide uplift which forms the Arizona and Utah landscape, but it all ends here. For about 230 degrees this cliff protrudes from all sides and Highway 261 snakes down the side of the cliff as a one lane dirt road. Once you are at the bottom we entered a region call The Valley of the Gods. The gods are the remaining limestone structures that still stand. This may also include the structures of Monument Valley across the boarder in Arizona. Once at the bottom, with 4 wheel drive evoked we took a dirt road tour of the “Gods” at the bottom which ended on Highway 163 which we took southwest into Arizona and Monument Valley. Hope you enjoy this page as much as I did. Everyone must see this region of the country sometime in their life!