After a good breakfast at our Motel at Mexican Hat, San Juan Inn, we headed towards Moab. Driving on the HW163, we have seen a sign to the Valley of Gods. We did not know what to expect, but seeing a gravel road we thought this will be fun and we hopefully get some nice images. The sky was still covered with clouds and we hoped for some rays of sun…. which did not really happen 🙁
Never the less we had a lot of fun and we even got some nice images with the clouds and some rocks…
Back on the road, we headed directly to the Needles Outpost, as it did not make much sense to drive to Moab first. We bought some T-shits and some food & drinks and then headed into Needles. We had the idea to drive to the Confluence Overlook, so we headed down to the “Elephant Hill” trail head. Reading the sign, we had to get a permit in oder to drive all the way to the overlook. So we headed back to the visitor center to meet the Ranger!
We expressed our plan to drive to the Confluence Overlook, then he started with some questions: What car do you drive? – Toyota 4Runner – rental… – OK… what tires? – well stock tires.. He expressed his concern, that a tow truck would cost about 2’500$ not including the rental damage fees… Then he agreed to give us the permit, although it was already 3pm, and some rain on the horizon. He told us to first climb the “Elephant Hill” by foot, and then decide if we would proceed by car. Sure we did not follow his advice!
Put the 4Runner in low gear and have one guy to look for a path… and off we go. Boy this was a tough ride to climb the “Elephant Hill”, we had realized that our car was not up to the requirement for this path. We turned around! As driving down the “Elephant Hill” on the other side, looked really tough, and thinking about driving this road back up while rain, was just impossible for this car.
We crawled back down to the trailhead with no damage! Which was a challenge by itself 😉
As a backup plan we headed to the “Colorado River Overlook”, which seems to be an easy road, as there was no permit required. The first few miles it was mostly sandy and little bumps. Then there where some climbs and larger rocks. But these where no problem for our little Toyota! At the end of the road, we stepped out to take some nice images from the “”Colorado River”. On our way back the sun begun to set and the rain clouds formed some dramatic scenery. Over all it was well worth to drive to the “Colorado River Overlook”, and bear in mind to have a good 4×4.
After a log day driving, we finally arrived in Moab and headed for some nice beer and stake!
