Cruising with the Land Yacht: Bluff, Utah Part 1

Wednesday, July 22 we left Cortez after a stop at Walmart and drove to Bluff, Utah, population 320. After setting up at Cadillac Ranch and having lunch we explored Bluff. Bluff was settled in 1880 by a Mormon mission team. The 250 settlers established Bluff Fort. The actual fort burned down. A replica has been rebuilt and turned into a museum with many artifacts and some of the original wagons are on display. They have a done a great job creating a video presentation to tell the story. You can read more about it here. There are still a few descendants of the original settlers that live in town. We explored town…it didn’t take long.

One of the original wagons...they sure were small

View behind our campgound

Thursday we drove over to Natural Bridges National Monument. There are 3 large natural bridges in the park with hikes to each. We hiked to two of them and saw the 3^rd from the overlook. We learned that the difference between a natural bridge and an arch. A natural bridge is formed by rushing water. An arch is formed by winds and ice.

First Natural Bridge was a tough hike but worth it

Me climbing up one of the ladders after viewing the bridge from below

Third bridge was an easier hike

In the guide books Wayne had read about the Moki Dugway and decided we needed to drive it. Not for the faint of heart and an interesting ride. It is a three mile unpaved section of road that drops 1200 feet in elevation. You can learn more about it here. The hostess at the at the campground suggested we ride out to Muley Point. We had never heard of it, but we are sure glad she told us about it. WOW the views from Muley Point were amazing. You drive 5 miles out on a dirt road to the point on the mesa and overlook the valley below which includes Valley of the Gods and Goosenecks State Park which we went to see up close on Friday. A couple from Germany was out on Muley Point when we were and the guy just kept saying “breathtaking” and he was right.