Tuesday 17th October - day 28.
Navajo monument to Moab.

Woke to beautiful sunrise with pink skies reflected all around us from our hilltop desert camp.
The Navajo Monument free campsite turned out to be an absolute treasure - secluded forest parking amongst pines and Navajo Juniper trees at 7270 metres with great views and - to our surprise - an extraordinary historical site too.
Before breakfast, we set off to run round the local area to explore and made our way down down to the entrance gate to see what we needed to pay for our camping spot. What we found was a very comprehensive visitor centre, complete with a museum, photographs and models of the ancient cliff village that was nearby.
The visitor centre was plastered with posters advising us that there was to be ‘No Pinyon picking’.
Having never knowingly picked a pinyon, we asked at reception. Pinyons or pinons are in fact pine nuts - which is an Indian delicacy. In this national park they ask that the pine cones remain untouched to provide food for wildlife. We extend our run to follow the trail to the overlook where it is possible to view the cliff dwellings / and we stopped in our tracks. For a start, this spot was completely still and silent diary from birdsong, and secondly, we could see the buildings under the cliff, far below us. It took a while to appreciate the scale of it all. At first it looked like s model village made from terracotta clay. Then as we looked carefully, we realised that the tiny bushes were in fact full sized trees and the houses were full size, but a very long way away from and below us.
Betatakin Village was built by ancestral Puebloans in 1250. It stands on a series of rock ledges in a sandstone alcove at the foot of a cliff in the canyon. The cliff dwellers lived here for about 50 years - it had the ideal aspect - warmed by winter sun, but cool in summer shade. The sandstone above the village was more porous than the rock below, so that filtered water seeped out here. There were about 135 rooms and more courtyards and outdoor spaces. They farmed crops and kept animals on the valley floor, before leaving the area in about 1300, curiously leaving the village full of storage jars containing grain, as if they were planning to return.
As we ran back up to the camp site through the forest we noted all the little information plaques that the Navajo ranges had positioned to explain what the various plants were called and how they were used by the Navajo, for example, Cliff Rose bark shavings to pad babies’ cradleboards, Juniper wood to make roof timbers, crushed yucca root as shampoo and pine pitch to repair broken pots.
Whilst we were browsing amongst the trees and other plants we became aware of birdsong and bird life - Juniper titmice, Red-breasted nuthatches, Mountain chickadees and others.
We breakfasted in the sunshine by the RV and then reluctantly set off on the road again.
The drive was broken with a coffee stop at the Twin Rocks Cafe in Bluff. The place was friendly, the coffee was good and the Wi-fi was speedy. Best of all the eponymous twin rocks were very visible protruding vertically upwards above the roof of the cafe. We exchanged messages and photos with Mike and Chris whilst the unexpected luxury of internet existed!
We arrived in Canyonlands late afternoon and drove the 35 miles from Highway 191 to the visitor centre (it closed at 4 and we had forgotten to change our watches to Utah time when we arrived at what we thought was 3.15) into the heart of the Needles area. We stopped at Pothole Point and hiked the trail there out over the smooth ‘slickrocks’ from where we could see 360 degree views of the sculptured rock spires, arches, sandstone boulders, towers, potholes and canyons. There were also distant views of The Needles - rock pinnacles banded in red and white sandstone.
There was no one else around and it was completely silent - we watched the sun lower behind cloud just above the horizon before wandering back to the van. After dark we drove on to Moab for fuel and water at Maverik station, and then shopped at City market before a frustrating hour or so looking for a camp site - our first choice on Goose Island was completely full so we opted for the Sand Flats recreation field - said to have 120 sites. I pictured the Three Counties Show ground and neat rows of pitches in a 10x12 grid.
Oh no - this was a mountain biking and ATV park with campsites A-H, each with 10-15 uneven rocky/sandy sites tucked into the hillside. We started at A1 and chugged and lurched our way round the ground until we reached the first free plot at E3. What a contrast to last night - and it cost $15!