Trans-America Overland Part 16: Page to Durango via Monument Valley, Valley of the Gods and Mexican Hat

John Ford Point — valley overlook from the back of a rented horse

Part 15 ended in Page after Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon X, the Painted Desert Project and Tuba City. We left Page for a two-day run through Monument Valley and southeastern Utah before climbing into Colorado for Mesa Verde and Durango.

The route offered two unpaved 17-mile drives, which seemed a suspiciously tidy coincidence. The roads quickly corrected that impression.

Trans-America Part 16 — Post Summary

Across two days, we drive from Page to Durango through Monument Valley, Mexican Hat, Goosenecks State Park, Valley of the Gods, Bluff and Mesa Verde. The route mixes tribal-park and BLM dirt roads with volcanic remnants, entrenched river bends, rock imagery, Ancestral Pueblo history and a great deal of red dust.

What's Covered
🛣️	Page to Monument Valley — AZ-98, US-160, US-163 and Agathla Peak
🏜️	Monument Valley — 17 miles of dry ruts, named formations and Navajo vendors
🎬	US-163 north — Forrest Gump Point and volcanic Alhambra Rock
🪨	Mexican Hat and Goosenecks — balanced rock and entrenched river bends
🏨	San Juan Inn — riverside lodging, fry bread taco and rock imagery
🚙	Valley of the Gods — 17 miles of gravel, clay, wash crossings and buttes
🏘️	Bluff and Sand Island — settlement history and protected rock imagery
🏛️	Mesa Verde — Cliff Palace, Ancestral Pueblo migration and descendant communities
🌲	Durango — creekside lodging, Texas barbecue and an unusually specific flyer
👽	Next Stop — Durango to Roswell for UFO history and roadside Americana

We drove Shehzadi about 400 miles over two days. AZ-98 and US-160 carried us east from Page, US-163 turned north through Monument Valley, and local roads led to Mexican Hat, Goosenecks State Park and Valley of the Gods. We then crossed Bluff, stopped at Sand Island and Mesa Verde, and ended beside a creek in Durango.

Route: Page → Monument Valley → Mexican Hat → Goosenecks → Valley of the Gods → Bluff → Mesa Verde → Durango
Method: Overland by truck, including two unpaved 17-mile drives
Distance / Time: Approx. 400 miles / 2 days
Themes: tribal-park roads · Colorado Plateau geology · river incision · rock imagery · Ancestral Pueblo history
Vehicle: Shehzadi (2024 Toyota Tundra)

Route at a Glance

1. Page to Monument Valley via AZ-98, US-160 and US-163
2. Monument Valley’s 17-mile Valley Drive
3. US-163 north through Forrest Gump Point and Alhambra Rock
4. Mexican Hat and Goosenecks State Park
5. San Juan Inn beside the San Juan River
6. Valley of the Gods Road from UT-261 to US-163
7. Bluff and Sand Island
8. Mesa Verde National Park
9. Durango overnight
10. Next stop: Durango to Roswell

Page to Monument Valley via US-163

We left Page at dawn on AZ-98, joined US-160, and turned north onto US-163. The road crossed open Navajo Nation country before Monument Valley’s familiar outlines appeared ahead. We had spent enough time with desert roads to know that a famous view can still arrive without a marching band.

US-163 — Utah and San Juan County signs at the state line.

The Arizona–Utah border came after the tribal park, not before it. The old source had the road performing a small interstate shuffle that US-163 never actually attempted. Monument Valley lies across the state line, but its visitor entrance and much of Valley Drive are in Arizona.

Monument Valley approach — the highway aimed toward the distant buttes.

The first formation to break the horizon was Agathla Peak, south of Monument Valley. Its dark, steep sides differ from the layered buttes ahead because Agathla is a volcanic neck or related volcanic remnant. It rises about 1,437 feet above the surrounding country, making it a useful geological warning that the Colorado Plateau occasionally changes the subject.

Agathla Peak — volcanic rock rising above the sedimentary country.
Photo: wikimedia

US-163 then lined up with the buttes and mesas built from sedimentary rock. Sandstone, shale and siltstone accumulated in ancient environments, and erosion removed the softer material around the resistant remnants. Iron oxides supplied much of the red color. The science is slow; the first sight of the road and buttes is immediate.

US-163 — Shehzadi at the Utah welcome sign.

The state-line stop marked the end of the approach photos and the start of the park road. US-163 remained paved and broad, giving us one last easy stretch before Valley Drive traded asphalt for corrugations and dust.

Monument Valley Road — the paved approach before Valley Drive.

Monument Valley Valley Drive

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park is called Tse’Bii’Ndzisgaii by the Navajo Nation. At the entrance, we paid the 2024 fee of $20 per person and put Shehzadi into four-wheel drive for Valley Drive. That was our choice for the day’s conditions, not a universal rule issued by the geology department.

The official loop is 17 miles. Navajo Nation guidance warns of rough terrain and deep sand, while conditions change with rain and maintenance. Our July road was dry, corrugated and pitted. It took us three hours because we drove slowly, stopped often and gave every pothole the respectful distance it had clearly earned.

Monument Valley entrance the visitor area and the descent onto Valley Drive.

Mittens, Merrick and Elephant Butte

The first section dropped from the visitor area toward the Mittens, Sentinel Mesa and Merrick Butte. Their flat tops and steep walls showed the basic pattern repeated across the park: resistant rock survived while surrounding layers wore away. Distance had made them look like props. Valley Drive corrected the scale.

Mittens, Sentinel Mesa and Merrick Butte changing views from the first part of the loop.

Elephant Butte appeared farther along the loop. The name comes from its outline, which saves everyone the trouble of inventing a mammoth, a spirit animal or a geological elephant-training program. Shehzadi provided a useful scale and, unlike the butte, came with air conditioning.

Elephant Butte Shehzadi, the overlook and three angles of the formation.

John Ford Point and Screen History

John Ford Point carries the director’s name because Ford repeatedly used Monument Valley in Westerns, helping fix these formations in the global picture of the American West. Film history does not replace Navajo history, ownership or present-day life. It explains why many visitors recognize the view before they know where it is.

John Ford Point — the overlook above the valley floor.

We rented a horse from a local Navajo gentleman at the overlook. The rider and horse gave the view a familiar movie silhouette, but the exchange also belonged to the park’s current economy. Navajo Nation Parks encourages visitors to buy directly from Navajo artists and vendors along the loop.

Thunderbird Mesa — the mesa above Monument Valley Drive.

Thunderbird Mesa stood near the route while the loop curved around Rain God Mesa. The same formation looked different from opposite sides, which is one reason a 17-mile road can absorb three hours without achieving much forward progress.

Rain God Mesa west and east faces seen at different points on the loop.

Rain God Mesa, Three Sisters, Totem Pole and Rooster Rock

Three Sisters came first, followed by several narrow spires and Rooster Rock. Their English names describe visible shapes or established park usage. We kept the names and removed a stack of detailed legends that could not be verified through authoritative Navajo sources. The formations managed perfectly well without borrowed mythology.

Three Sisters three narrow sandstone spires above Monument Valley.

The loop then turned toward a thinner cluster of spires. Distance compressed them into one silhouette at first; each bend separated the forms and changed which one occupied the skyline.

Totem Pole, Yei Bi Chei and Rooster Rock slim formations along the loop.

Beyond Rooster Rock, the view widened again. The next roadside frame showed how much empty ground sits between the named formations, a scale that close photographs tend to hide with great efficiency.

Monument Valley — the road and formations beyond Rooster Rock, viewed from here.

The Cube, Spearhead Mesa and Balanced Rock

The Cube appeared near a roadside marker, followed by a broad view across the valley. Its angular profile changes with position; the rock did not become more cubic, but our argument with perspective became less successful. Spearhead Mesa and Balanced Rock followed along the same route.

The Cube roadside marker — the named formation beyond the open pullout.

The marker settled the name; the road supplied the geometry. From the first pullout, the formation looked less like a perfect block than a large sandstone mass with unusually straight edges.

The Cube — a closer view of its angular sandstone face.

A closer angle exposed ledges and weathered joints that the distant view had flattened. The Cube kept the nickname, though erosion had clearly declined to follow the architectural brief.

The Cube — Shehzadi beside the broad sandstone block.

Shehzadi added a useful measure of scale beside the formation. Across the road, the view reversed, replacing the blocky face with a broad floor and scattered buttes.

Opposite the Cube — the open valley floor from the viewpoint opposite to the Cube.

That opposite view also showed why every stop needed a full turn of the head. The road was rarely about one formation; the open ground, distant walls and changing sightlines did most of the work.

Spearhead Mesa — a wide view from the named roadside stop.

Spearhead Mesa filled more of the horizon as we moved closer. Balanced Rock appeared along the same part of the loop, where a narrow support carries a cap that looks far less relaxed than the tourists.

Spearhead Mesa and Balanced Rock formations seen from the road and with Shehzadi.

Balanced Rock survives because harder material protects a narrower support while erosion works around it. No fake elder quotation is needed. A large rock perched on a small base already contains enough suspense for one paragraph.

Artist’s Point, the Thumb and North Window

Artist’s Point opened a wide view across the park. The Thumb and North Window came later, each changing shape as the road bent around them. We treated the established names as route markers and left unverified stories about hidden springs and solstice rites out of the account.

Artist’s Point — a broad view across Monument Valley.

Artist’s Point closed one wide view and the road tightened around the next group of formations. The Thumb appeared in stages, shifting from a distant profile to a roadside landmark large enough to make Shehzadi look pocket-sized.

The Thumb wide, close and vehicle-scale views from the loop.

After the Thumb, the loop curved toward North Window. The opening framed the valley rather than standing as a separate arch, turning two walls and the gap between them into the photograph.

North Window the opening framed distant Monument Valley formations.

North Window framed the distant formations before Valley Drive climbed back toward the visitor area. The loop had used three hours, a layer of red dust and most of our available synonyms for “rock.” We still stopped for one final look after returning to US-163.

US-163 north — Monument Valley seen from the highway.

That final look from US-163 closed the photograph sequence. Shehzadi’s camera had kept working through the entire loop, including the sections where our attention was occupied by ruts, pullouts and ambitious potholes.

Video: Shehzadi’s dashcam records the complete Monument Valley Valley Drive loop, including the descent, ruts, dust and return climb. The road remained dry. The suspension remained employed.

US-163 North: Forrest Gump Point and Alhambra Rock

Northbound US-163 climbed into Utah and reached the long straight view now called Forrest Gump Point. The 1994 film used the road near mile marker 13 for the moment when the running sequence ends. We recreated the view in 2024, before current safety guidance had acquired our full attention.

Forrest Gump Point — US-163 runs toward Monument Valley; current safety guidance says to remain on the shoulder.

Our photograph recorded the modern roadside stop; the movie still explains why people recognize it. The resemblance is obvious, but standing in a travel lane for the comparison remains a poor sequel.

Forrest Gump — the US-163 stopping scene from the 1994 film.

Utah tourism officials now tell visitors to stay on the shoulder. People standing in the traffic lane have been injured and killed, and a photograph is a weak reason to meet a moving vehicle. The road view remains available from safer ground, where the perspective is almost identical and the medical paperwork is considerably shorter.

US-163 also passed the turn toward the Needles District of Canyonlands, which we had visited earlier in the expedition. This time we continued toward Mexican Hat and Alhambra Rock.

Alhambra Rock — the dark volcanic remnant southwest of Mexican Hat.

The Utah rock and the Spanish palace share a borrowed name, not an origin. One grew from volcanic activity; the other was built by people with considerably better access to courtyards, water and payroll.

Alhambra Palace — the Granada namesake used for comparison.

The palace photograph provides the namesake reference, then the route returns to Utah. Alhambra Rock stood alone against the desert, with snowy peaks adding a second horizon behind the dark igneous mass.

Alhambra Rock — the formation with distant snowy peaks.

From closer range, the formation lost the fortress-like outline that inspired its name and showed rough volcanic surfaces instead. Perspective had done the branding; geology handled the actual construction.

Alhambra Rock — a closer roadside view of the igneous outcrop.

Alhambra Rock is a volcanic remnant in the Navajo volcanic field, formed about 25–30 million years ago. It rises more than 250 feet above the surrounding ground and connects to a low igneous dike roughly three miles long. The dike is much easier to trace from the air than from US-163, where it resembles geology trying to keep a low profile.

Early Spanish travelers named the rock for a perceived resemblance to Granada’s Alhambra. The palace photograph remains a namesake comparison, not evidence that Utah volcanic rock and Nasrid architecture shared a contractor.

Mexican Hat and Goosenecks State Park

Mexican Hat Rock sits above the community that borrowed its name. Utah Geological Survey places the famous balanced rock within the Halgaito Formation setting. Differential erosion left a resistant cap above a narrower pedestal. The source’s homemade weight, volume and erosion calculations have been retired before they could become a municipal building code.

Mexican Hat roadside views from below, including Shehzadi for scale.

Multiple roadside angles made the cap’s tilt easier to read, while Shehzadi supplied scale. The final panorama pulled back far enough to show the formation as one object in a much larger stretch of desert.

Mexican Hat — the rock above the road and open country.

A short detour led to Goosenecks State Park. From the overlook, the San Juan River follows over six winding miles while advancing only about one and a half miles west. The canyon is roughly 1,000 feet deep. The river has covered a great distance while appearing stubbornly undecided about direction. We understood the feeling.

Goosenecks State Park — entrenched bends of the San Juan River below the overlook.

The first overlook photograph caught our reaction; the panorama was needed to explain it. One bend alone fits easily into a frame, but the river’s linked turns require the wider view.

Goosenecks State Park — the river travels more than six miles through the visible bends.

From the broad overlook, we returned to the parking area and Shehzadi. The truck had crossed the same river corridor at road level; here it sat above a thousand feet of patient excavation.

Goosenecks State Park — Shehzadi at the paved overlook.

The bends began when the river meandered across flatter ground. As the Colorado Plateau rose, the San Juan cut downward while keeping much of its winding course, producing entrenched meanders. Its headwaters lie in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, and the river runs about 360 miles before reaching the Colorado River within Lake Powell.

San Juan Inn and Riverside Rock Imagery

We ended the first day at the San Juan Inn and Trading Post beside the river in Mexican Hat. The room, cottonwoods and porch gave us a close view of the San Juan after seeing it from a thousand feet above. Geography occasionally arranges a useful follow-up appointment.

San Juan Inn Shehzadi, the river view and the trading-post building.

Dinner at the attached San Juan Cafe included a fry bread taco. We also met a Navajo elder who spoke about the Hero Twins and pointed toward the cliffs. “The rocks remember,” he said. “You just have to listen.” We retain that as a conversation we actually had, not as a universal interpretation assigned to every named formation.

Rock Imagery Behind San Juan Inn

Behind the inn, pecked figures and marks appeared on sandstone panels. The photographs do not establish their dates or makers, so we do not assign the entire group to Fremont, Ancestral Pueblo, Ute and Navajo artists in one paragraph. Rock imagery can carry several periods of work, later additions and meanings known within descendant communities.

Rock imagery behind San Juan Inn — first panel.

The first panel held scattered pecked shapes rather than one continuous scene. Moving along the wall revealed another group, separated by bare sandstone and differences in weathering.

Rock imagery behind San Juan Inn — second panel.

The second panel changed density and spacing, which is why one caption could not responsibly summarize the whole wall. The next photograph recorded a separate concentration of marks.

Rock imagery behind San Juan Inn — third panel.

The third panel added another arrangement without supplying a convenient translation. The final photograph continued the record while leaving the symbols undescribed beyond what the stone actually shows.

Rock imagery behind San Juan Inn — fourth panel.

Such panels should be viewed without touching, tracing, chalking or wetting the marks. Contact can damage fragile surfaces and transfer oils. Sandstone has survived centuries of weather and does not need a visitor’s damp finger to improve its chances.

The next morning, a round WASATCH sign on the cliff supplied a smaller piece of road history. It was gasoline branding associated with the Wasatch Oil Company of Salt Lake City, not a scenic marker installed by a regional transport line. The feathered-headdress logo also belongs to an advertising period less careful about whose imagery it borrowed.

Mexican Hat — a surviving WASATCH gasoline sign on the cliff.

Valley of the Gods Road

We entered Valley of the Gods through the west entrance from UT-261 and planned to leave at the east entrance near US-163. The BLM route is 17-mile San Juan County Road 242. Gravel, clay, sharp turns and wash crossings replace ticket booths and pavement.

Valley of the Gods — the BLM information board at the west entrance.

BLM guidance says passenger cars can use the road when it is dry, although weather can change conditions quickly. Our July drive was baked hard, with ruts and loose rock. We kept Shehzadi near 15 mph, which was fast enough to raise dust and slow enough to retain the truck’s major organs.

Valley of the Gods the first half of the dry dirt-road drive.

The isolated buttes and towers are mainly Cedar Mesa Sandstone dating to the Permian Period, about 250 million years ago. Erosion cut the broad plateau into separate forms while softer layers receded around them. That common geology explains the family resemblance to Monument Valley without making the two places interchangeable.

Valley of the Gods Shehzadi and the road between isolated buttes.

The BLM guide lists local formation names, so the source’s claim that visitors must never name them was wrong. The same guide quotes historian Robert McPherson describing the monoliths as Navajo warriors frozen in stone and places of power. We keep that clearly attributed interpretation and avoid supplying private biographies to every butte.

Castle Butte, Seven Sailors and Lady in the Bathtub

Valley of the Gods Road the truck, road and changing formations.

The road photographs then gave way to the first named cluster. Seven Sailors appeared as a narrow row from one angle and a tighter group from another, proving that sandstone is quite willing to edit its own profile.

Seven Sailors distant and closer views from the loop.

Castle Butte followed, broader and heavier in outline. Three viewpoints tracked the way its towers merged and separated as Shehzadi moved along the winding dirt road.

Castle Butte three sides of the named formation.

The last named profile in this sequence was Lady in the Bathtub. The title depends on the viewing angle, so the road view and the closer photograph work together better than either one alone.

Lady in the Bathtub the road view and the formation’s profile.

Seven Sailors, Castle Butte and Lady in the Bathtub served as practical route markers. Their profiles changed as the road climbed, dipped and crossed washes. The names were memorable; the drive still demanded more attention than the naming committee.

Valley of the Gods — panoramic view from the dirt-road loop.

We reached the east entrance and returned to US-163. The valley had no tour buses during our drive, little roadside infrastructure and enough dust to identify every door seal that Toyota had not personally supervised.

Valley of the Gods east entrance — Shehzadi returned to pavement.

Back on pavement, we could stop steering around ruts long enough to review what Shehzadi had recorded. The camera had been less bothered by dust than the people sitting behind the windshield.

Video: Shehzadi’s dashcam records Valley of the Gods Road from the west entrance to the east entrance. The clay was dry, the washes were passable and the dust achieved full employment.

Bluff and Sand Island

We continued to Bluff, Utah. Its welcome sign says “Established 650 A.D.,” referring to evidence of early permanent Ancestral Pueblo settlement in the area. The modern town has a different starting point: members of the Hole-in-the-Rock expedition founded it in 1880.

Bluff — the roadside sign separates ancient settlement evidence from the modern town.

The expedition involved about 250 people, 83 wagons and more than 1,000 livestock. A trip expected to take six weeks lasted about six months. Bluff Fort presents that nineteenth-century story through reconstructed and interpretive buildings, wagons and exhibits. It should not be mistaken for a complete untouched fort dating from arrival day.

Bluff Fort — reconstructed wagons and buildings at the historic site.

Sand Island Rock Imagery

At the Sand Island petroglyph panels, about three miles west of Bluff, figures and symbols cover a sandstone face near the San Juan River. The panel contains work from different times. We avoided assigning one date, one culture or one tidy meaning to every mark.

Sand Island — petroglyph-covered sandstone near the San Juan River.

Rock imagery remains culturally important to descendant communities and legally protected. The correct visitor method is simple: look, photograph from a respectful distance and leave every surface unchanged. This procedure requires no equipment and has an excellent success rate.

Mesa Verde National Park

From Bluff, we crossed into southwestern Colorado and returned to a state we had entered much earlier, during our drive from Topeka to Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods. Several western states had passed between those Colorado chapters. Shehzadi had receipts.

Mesa Verde National Park protects thousands of archaeological sites, including more than 600 cliff dwellings. Cliff Palace contains about 150 rooms and 23 kivas and may have housed roughly 100 people. Building inside the alcove required stone masonry, timber, plaster, ladders and a social system capable of organizing all of them.

Mesa Verde — Cliff Palace in a sandstone alcove.

Ancestral Pueblo people did not vanish. Communities migrated south toward present-day Pueblo homelands in Arizona and New Mexico, where descendants continue their cultures. Drought, resource pressure and social change form part of the archaeological discussion, but the story ends in living communities, not a mystery fog.

Mesa Verde became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978. The designation recognizes the archaeological record and the relationship between the sites and present-day affiliated peoples. It also gives visitors another official reason not to climb, pocket or autograph anything.

Durango Overnight

Durango — Shehzadi parked beside the creek at the lodge.

We rolled into Durango and parked beside the creek at our lodging. Dinner at Serious Texas BBQ followed, with the kind of direct menu expected from a business that put both “Serious” and “Texas” in its name. We had reached forests, cooler air and streets where red dust was no longer the dominant surface treatment.

Durango — the cannabis-tour flyer was unusually direct.

A cannabis-tour flyer near the lodging was equally direct. Colorado had appeared earlier in the expedition through Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods; Durango offered barbecue, legal marijuana advertising and a place to plan the next highway. Regional variety was not struggling.

Across two days, the route moved through a Navajo-run tribal park, a Utah state park, BLM land, the modern town of Bluff, Ancestral Pueblo sites and a national park. Sedimentary buttes gave way to volcanic remnants and back again. The road connected them; it did not make their histories identical.

Next Stop: Durango to Roswell

Part 17 heads south from Durango toward New Mexico and our second encounter with extraterrestrial-roadside culture after Nevada’s Extraterrestrial Highway. The next post follows the drive to Roswell, its UFO history, alien-themed businesses and roadside Americana: Trans-America Overland Part 17: Durango to Roswell.

Reference route maps for our USA and Mexico overland loop: Map-1 and Map-2.

— The Vagabond Couple and Shehzadi