Marble Canyon Arizona

It's been a couple days since the last update and this one will be a long one so sit back get comfortable.

We showed you Valley of the Gods; now we'll show you Marble Canyon which was our next stop after we left the View Hotel in Monument Valley. However first we'll make a fast side trip Goosenecks State Park in Utah. The park is situated between Valley of the Gods and Monument Valley (much closer to Valley of the Gods) and is accessible by a paved road leading into a gravel parking lot.

Goosenecks State Park is four miles off Utah Highway 261 near Mexican Hat where you can look into a 1,000 foot (305 meters) deep chasm carved through the Pennsylvanian Hermosa Formation by the San Juan River.

We've got a small video at the end of this showing the area just a little bit better.

Our next stop was Marble Canyon AZ. Marble Canyon is a tiny settlement next to the Colorado River surrounded by some remarkable scenery. Marble Canyon marks the beginning of the Grand Canyon and is named because of the very colorful rocks. You'll find a hotel, restaurant, post office, gas station and an artist specializing in metal works and jewelry. Also can't forget about the airport. There isn't much of a population here but the folks are very friendly and helpful. You reach Marble Canyon driving 14 miles on AZ Route 89A off AZ Route 89. The turn off is approximately 25 miles from Page. We spent two nights here and are looking forward to the return vist.

When you visit Marble Canyon you must visit Allison Leigh Schmidt owner of Marble Canyon Metalworks. Allison's work is outstanding and Sandy treated herself to some earrings.

Marble Canyon is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Monument Valley - unless you stop a couple trading posts along the way....

We arrived in Marble Canyon early afternoon and decided to top off the Jeep and go explore the area. Don wanted to see if he could find a view of the Grand Canyon that might be off the beaten path and not in the Park itself so off we went. And 5-hours later we made it back to the hotel to check-in and get a great meal at the restaurant.

When the signs say you're in a wilderness area believe them! From the time we turned off the 89A onto Buffalo Ranch Road and made the 5-hour round trip we saw no one other than ourselves. We didn't even see dust trails of any other vehicles. And if you guess there's a warning coming you're right. While we didn't need to put the Jeep into 4-wheel drive we nevertheless were very glad to have a high clearance vehicle and emergency supplies.

We found several spots where we could overlook the beginning of the Grand Canyon as well as the Colorado River.

Want to see how you get a person 6-9 and make him look small? Have him sit on a ledge overlooking the Grand Canyon.


We didn't want to leave people with the impression that you need a high clearance 4-wheel drive to see anything in this area. Lees Ferry is adjacent to Marble Canyon and Cliff Dwellers a settlement even smaller than Marble Canyon and offers several chances to view strange and very unusual rock formations.

Gooseneck State Park

Grand Canyon

We don't want to close this out without saying hello to Lea & Chris from New York. Glad we were able to help you with your camera problem and again - thanks for dinner!

As always thanks for allowing us to share and please feel free to leave a comment.

Sandy & Don

Valley of the Gods - Utah

Located within an hours drive from Monument Valley is a place called Valley of the Gods. While Monument Valley is on the Navajo Nation and covers Arizona and Utah, Valley of the Gods is located on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in Utah. Seeing as how this is BLM land you can actually camp here for free as Don did several years ago.

There's a 17 mile winding dirt dusty road through the valley and you have a choice of two entrances. There's an entrance off Highway 261 and another off 163. Take either entrance as they are both well marked; as a matter of fact take one then turn around and drive back so you can see things you may have missed the other way.

As you may have figured out by now we travel in a four wheel drive high clearance vehicle, currently a 4 door Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. We very rarely will recommend roads as some we travel on can be better called goat paths; however the 17 mile dirt road here is very passable in even 2-wheel drive vehicles. Okay here's a huge caution and hopefully your common sense will kick in as well - if it's dry it "should be okay" - if it's wet then expect mud, lots of mud and you have to ask yourself are you feeling lucky.

Several things put Valley of the Gods apart from Monument Valley; you can camp here, you can actually drive the road through the valley and not see another car and more than likely a single tourist bus. We've always considered Valley of the Gods a mini Monument Valley and you can actually see the higher parts of Monument Valley in some parts. Expect to find a remote vast iconic desert with equally spectacular sandstone sculptures and spires only on a smaller scale.

Not to belabor the point however please use extreme caution if you decide to visit this beautiful area. It can get deadly hot and there are no facilities so in other words - you are on your own. You could be out here for several hours before seeing someone so please be careful. There is the Valley of the Gods Bed and Breakfast located near the entrance off Highway 261 but that can be a very long way if you're on the other end of the road. Valley of the Gods is located approximately 30 minutes either way between Mexican Hat to the west and Bluff to the east.

We decided to revisit the area while staying at Monument Valley. The majority of the images are from that stay however we've decided to add a couple more from a visit several years ago when we actually had a decent sky so please enjoy them.

Don checking this out to see if it would qualify for cash for clunkers..

2004 visit

Our next stop is Goosenecks State Park before heading to Marble Canyon so stay tuned.

We hope you've enjoyed the images.

Sandy & Don

As always please feel free to leave a comment.