We'd gone as far south this trip as we could go and normally it would be slightly depressing to turn north to head for home. This year felt completely different because we knew we still had new roads to explore ahead of us. The internet is a wonderful tool. I had simply typed the words "switchback roads in america" and found a multitude of unique highways to investigate. Two roads in particular fell into both our travel plans and the unexplored category.

The first was the southern portion of Hwy 191. Easter Arizona is reputed to have one of the curviest stretches of pavement in the continental US. This would be the section of Hwy 191 which lies between Clifton and Alpine, Arizona. We had travelled the northern portion of Hwy 191 several times and were completely unaware of what we were missing. Fortunately for us, Hwy 191 begins at the Mexican border just southeast of Tombstone, zigzaging it's way north, ultimately leading us to our favourite red rock locations and the second, comparatively shorter road called the Burr Trail, from Bullfrog to Boulder, Utah.

Both of these roads took us through unbelievably beautiful countryside from the flatlands to tops of mountains and down again - so many times, we lost count of the mountain ranges we crossed over. Before we'd gotten home, we were again saying.....we have to do this run again !!!

The Coronado Trail got its name from the explorations of the Spanish conquistador Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, who came searching for the non-existant Seven Cities of Gold. But for today's drivers, the riches of Coronado Trail are evident and enjoyable. Steep and winding, with frightening drop-offs, it has an eerie absence of human habitation.

The original designation of this highway was U.S. 666 and the 123-mile stretch of scenic blacktop was once called the Devil's Highway. The demonic route number is gone, changed to the more benign U.S. 191, but the challenging curves and mountain vistas remain to make this one of the best driving experiences in America.

The Coronado Trail passes through the White Mountains, with about 6,000 feet of elevation change. The scenery ranges from the red-rock country north of Clifton to a magnificent pine forest, most of it in the Apache National Forest.

There are more than 500 separate curves between Morenci and Springerville which is one reason why the Coronado Trail is reputed to be the least-traveled federal highway in the nation. According to the state Highway Department, cars on this road are spaced an average of 19 minutes apart. And that's including rush hour. Plus, it's about 100 miles between gas stations.

Wildlife sightings are common, especially around dusk, so caution is a must.

Clifton and it's neighbor Morenci are mining towns. Copper mining is a depressed industry, so these towns appear to be slowly dying. But there is history here. Geronimo, the famous Apache war chief was born near here.

Several pieces of history are on display for travellers to investigate. This locomotive from the Coronado Railroad is open to the public and well as other pieces of equipment.

Clifton's first jail ws carved out of the mountainside.! The jail has two cells, one with a window, and one without. To enter the cells you first must descend a flight of stairs, which takes you underground. Then you go into the mountain, into a central room, where the doors to both cells are located.

The story also says that the stonemason who built the jail, Margarito Verala, went out celebrating after getting his cheque when the job was done, got drunk, shot up the dance hall, and wound up being the first guest at the new jail.

The historical main town street appears to have been desolate for years, ever since the Phelps Dodge Mining Company moved the main road. Almost everything is boarded up and deserted. The outer town of Clifton is populated, although dwindling due to slow-down in mine operations again.

Whole towns like Strargo, Metcalf, and Newtown have fallen victim to the mining operations and ended up inside the great pit and many residents feel that it is just a matter of time before Clifton follows the same fate.

Madonna of the Trail

Historic Driving Tour:

This 10 foot high, 5 ton statue, cast by St Louis sculptor August Leimbach is on of 12 identical monuments to the bold spirit of the pioneers, erected in 1928-29 along the national old trails road from Maryland to California.

The Petrified Forest was set aside as a national monument in 1906 to preserve and protect the petrified wood for its scientific value.

It is one of the world's largest and most colorful concentrations of petrified wood, multi-hued badlands of the Painted Desert, historic structures, archeological sites, and displays of over 200-million-year-old fossils.

The park was a bit of a letdown after having just travelled free through the Apache National Forest. Being from Alberta and having our own "Badlands" and abundance of dinosaur history, this just didn't warrant the fee that was charged.  However, we've seen it now and can chalk up another mission accomplished.

Now all we had to do was simply relax and tour around the area. For many years we have been saying we wanted to come back to the Bluff area, and spend a few days just touring around. This was the year. Nights in Bluff are incredibly peaceful. We just sat outside taking in the "still of the night".

There was a morning haze giving everything a shimmering gleam to it.  As I was hanging out the sun roof snapping pictures at 60 miles an hour, Doreen at the wheel and Willie riding shotgun on the dash, we crossed the"most photographed road" in America

You don't realize how busy that highway is until you try snapping pictures of a barren road without oncoming cars.  We were almost ready to put up a roadblock until finally there was a gap in the traffic.

Although we have been to Monument Valley many times, we have never toured through the Navajo Nation's Monument Valley Park. This year - true to our fill in the gaps theme - we decided to take the time to tour through the park. There is a new hotel in the park, the View Hotel. We will have to keep this hotel in mind for another trip.

As soon as we entered, we knew we were in for a treat. The parking lot was humming with tour guides in vehicles that made us wonder what the heck we were heading into. It appeared that we needed some sort of all terrain vehicle or at least a beat up truck. However, brave as we are, we struck out unguided in the Murano and hit the first wild, bumpy, rutted, steep and (maybe we shouldn't be doing this) road. Of course, we loved every minute of it. It wasn't long before everything smoothed out and we toured on the park's 17 mile road for several hours.

We stopped at Goulding on our way out to eat supper. After visiting John Wayne's cabin we said good-bye to Monument Valley and headed down the road to Mexican Hat.

My new camera made all the difference in the quality of the pictures we took.It's a great camera and all we did was point and click. The pictures turned out so great we can only imagine what I could do with the camera if I had some lessons for it. Or, maybe, a less knowledge is better - just let the camera do the work!!

Both our favorite pictures capture the feeling of the area. In Doreen's favorite, you feel the coolness under the trees with the monuments baking in the heat beyond. In mine, the background almost doesn't look real - more like a painting or mural of the monuments as a backdrop behind the wagon as the heat rises off the valley floor.

Mexican Hat is actually a tiny town on the San Juan River just outside the northern boundary of the Navajo Nation and Monument Valley on highway 163. The name "Mexican Hat" comes from a curiously sombrero-shaped, 60-foot wide by 12-foot thick, rock outcropping on the northeast edge of town.

We have passed this rock many times. This year, we visited. We took a bouncy dirt road leading to the rock. Although there are two paths to climb the rock, we opted for viewing from the bottom. Just a short walk from the base of the rock, there is a terrific view of the winding San Juan River.

Goosenecks State Park

We have passed the turnoff for Goosenecks State Park many times over the years while going to or from Moki Dugway and Valley of the Gods. We have always been curious about the Park and this year we travelled the short four miles to it from highway 261.

Goosenecks State Park overlooks a deep meander of the San Juan River. Millions of years ago, the Monument Upwarp forced the river to carve incised meanders over 1,000 feet deep as the surrounding landscape slowly rose in elevation.

Eroded by water, wind, frost, and gravity, this is a classic location for observing incised meanders. The river meanders back and forth, flowing for more than five miles while progressing only one linear mile toward the Colorado River and Lake Powell.

Today, we seemed to save the best for last. The anticipation grew. It was now finally time to head back to our favourite road - highway 261 and the Moki Dugway.

Highway 261

Arriving back on highway 261 is a good feeling for us. As much as it never seems to change - it really never stays the same. Karen even notices when some rocks have moved or a part of the road is changed - sometimes made wider and sometimes missing a shoulder.

This year we noticed a wreck over the cliff and we are absolutely sure we never saw that before. Whether it was a prop or an actual accident, it reminds us that although the road is stimulating, exciting and fun to drive - it can also be very dangerous.

As we headed back to Bluff we noticed that the painted desert looked completely different now with the sun setting than it had that morning.

We headed out the next morning to the Canyonlands area. Of course we had to stop so I could get a picture of Church Rock. I don't know why this rock fascinates me. I just want to know what is in that hole.

Doreen found some information about Church Rock. "The opening to Church Rock is approximately 16 ft. high and 24 ft. across. It was cut by Marie Ogden's religious cult to make a church. They had plans to hollow out the entire center. These plans were never finished."

Who knows? This may or may not be true, but the story of Marie Ogden is certainly very interesting.

Wilson Arch

Hole in the Rock

The half hour drive into the Needles Overlook was really worth it. There was no one else around and we spent the next half hour just viewing and relaxing. We were not really sure what the Needles were and what we were supposed to be looking at, but just being at the top of the overlook was more than enough to thrill us.

We left the overlook with the intention of taking the lower road into Needles. We stopped at Newspaper Rock, and headed up the road to Needles but it was too late in the day. We turned back toward highway 191 and stopped at Newspaper Rock again.

Newspaper Rock State Historic Monument is located 25 miles north and west of Monticello in eastern Utah. The Monument features a flat rock with one of the largest known collections of petroglyphs. The petroglyphs were carved by Native Americans during both the prehistoric and historic periods. Dating the rock carvings is difficult. The reason for the large concentration of the petroglyphs is unclear, making the rock somewhat of a mystery.

  I found a forestry road for us to take back to Monticello It was getting late in the day and we were heading deeper into the forest. I had visions of getting lost, spending the night in the bush, and meeting face to face with Bigfoot himself. We have never seen so many deer anywhere we have travelled. There were thousands of them and not just in the trees. They were grazing at the side of the road pretty well oblivious to us. Once again I had my head out the sunroof taking picture after picture. Soon it became too dark for the camera to catch them without a flash.

It was nearly dark by the time we reached highway 191. We spotted an historical marker for the ghost town of Verdure. We never noticed this before and stopped to read it. Verdure, originally named South Montezuma and settled in March, 1887, is the oldest Mormon settlement in the Blue Mountain Region. Settlers set up camp at Verdure to prepare for a permanent settlement at Monticello.

Valley of the Gods

In the morning of June 24th we left Bluff and travelled a couple of miles west to the SE entrance of Valley of the Gods. The last time the Murano had travelled this road was in August the year before, just after a rainstorm and a couple of the runoff areas had been washed out and muddy. This year, the sun was shining, no other tourists invaded our space and for an hour and a half we had the world to ourselves. We took a multitude of photos and then drove out onto Hwy 261 at the base of the butte.

At the bottom of the Moki Dugway on Hwy261 there is a turnaround where those less adventurous can about-face instead of climbing the butte. A fully loaded tractor trailer with a secondary pup full of sheep was pulling back onto the road from the turnout so we pulled into turnout to give him room to pass - assuming he had mistakenly taken a wrong road.

Half way up the butte - we came upon two cars of women and kids, one of which was attempting to back down the treacherous gravel road. A glance to the right gave us the explanation why someone would back up at this point and saw another fully loaded tractor trailer rounding the narrow bend heading in our direction. We were stunned as there was no doubt the clearly marked road restriction signs posted were intended for this type of vehicle. We suddenly realized that the first truck we'd seen at the bottom had not been turning around but had also just come down the hill.

The truck passed the 3 cars pulled off to the side and Karen yelled at the two men "Are you crazy" and they laughed as the drove by leaving a cloud of dust. Out came the camera and history is once again recorded.

Following our little adventure on the butte, we continued north on Hwy 261 to the junction of Hwy 95 and a short jaunt into Natural Bridges National Monument. We found out from the gatekeeper that the ferry over Lake Powell closed earlier than expected and we would have to hustle to make it that day. So off we went, skipping the Natural Bridges for another time.

We followed Hwy 276 to Hall's Crossing and pretty much drove right onto the ferry with a scant few seconds to spare. The captain of the ferryboat recognized our license plate and came over to chat, as it turned out his mother was raised in Cardston, Alberta, a small town just south of Calgary.

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