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Show north side of North Six- Shooter Peak, it is possible to drive, under favorable conditions, to the northeast edge of the spectacular Needles area, about 7 miles air line southeast of the junction of the Colorado and Green Rivers. Half way between Moab and United States Highway 50 there is a truck trail leading to the west which gives access to the high plateau between the Green and Colorado Rivers. It is possible to drive to within 1 mile of the southern tip of the plateau. This point is about 3 miles from both rivers, approximately 2,400 feet above them, and 8 miles almost due north of their junction. Branch trails lead to Upheaval Dome on the west side of the plateau overlooking the Green River Canyon, and Dead Horse Point on the east side. Dead Horse Point is within a mile horizontally of the Colorado River and approximately 2,000 feet above it. Unquestionably the most spectacular and far- reaching views of the Colorado and Green River Canyons obtainable by automobile at the present time are from these trails on the plateau between the rivers. The only other point, now accessible by automobile, which rivals these, is Lands End at the southeast edge of the plateau between the Green and Dirty Devil Rivers. Excellent views of the canyon country are obtained along the last few miles of the trail from Hanksville to Lands End and it is about a mile walk from the end of the trail to Lands End, a high point on the rim of the plateau, only 5 miles from the Colorado River and more than 3,000 feet above it. RECREATIONAL AND RELATED VALUES OF THE REGION Monument Valley has been referred to as " The land of room enough and time enough." To this could be added beauty and thrills, and mystery enough, all of which are applicable to the Colorado River country of southeastern Utah. It is stark realism and mystical surrealism. Trying to make a living raising cattle on the Green River Desert or driving an automobile across its deep sandy wastes on a hot afternoon, one suffers the torments of hell, and curses the country and the reasons that brought him there. However, as the purple shadows begin to lengthen across the gold and red sands, as the towering buttes take on a rosy hue, and distant purple mountains are silhouetted against a royal blue sky, it becomes a dream world of marvelous beauty. Searching across barren rocks for a water hole in summer, or climbing a steep, rocky, snow- covered trail up a canyon wall in winter, you realize why no humans and few animals make their homes there; and yet, standing on Horse Mountain, or Dead Horse Point, or Lands End, or camping near a spring on the Kaiparowits Bench with the canyon of the Colorado below, and Navajo Mountain rising from its fluffy sandstone base across the way, you wonder why so few people have made their way to these places. You are exalted spiritually, but dwarfed by the scale of the scene. Your eye is attracted quickly from the nearby rocks to the mountaintops 40 to 70 miles away; across Figure 77.- Monument Valley. 150 |
