September 20, 2022 - Utah Flight
Valley of the Gods, Blanding Airport, Colorado River,
Delta, Colorado
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| Mark and I heading north from Monument Valley. The plan was to go see the Valley of the Gods, a place I haven't been to. |
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On the way we passover Goosenecks State Park. That's our friend the San Juan River down there.
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| The San Juan River emerges from the Goosenecks canyons into relatively flat lands. At this point I made a mistake by turning northeast. I should have continued due north and would have run into Valley of the Gods. But I was erroneously thinking that Valley of the Gods was north of the town of Bluff, which was to the east. During my flight planning, I had looked at the Valley of the Gods official website by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) which made me think it was north of Bluff. I should have just looked at Google Maps, where the Valley's location was clear as day. |
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Heading northeast towards Bluff. At this point, the Valley of the Gods is probably just off my left wing but I didn't see it.
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| We are about to cross a very unusual geological formation. Called Comb Ridge, it is a "belt" of whitish rock that runs due north. Very distinctive from the air. |
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| A rain squall was directly over Bluff so we diverted around it on the south side. |
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| Bluff has its own little airport west of town. 66V. No facilities and only one plane based there. |
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Mark decides to blow off a little steam.
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| I thought Valley of the Gods was north of Bluff so we headed northish. Here's a good look at Comb Ridge. |
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Soon we encountered some very pretty country. At the time I thought this must be Valley of the Gods.
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| Some campers enjoyed the beauty and solitude. |
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| Nice. |
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Can't complain about this.
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It may not be Valley of the Gods, but it's pretty good.
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| I noticed this canyon so we flew up it. |
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Making a 180 at the canyon head.
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| Heading back down the canyon. |
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Our fuel stop was Blanding Airport (KBDG), only a short hop away to the east. Here we are on downwind for runway 35 at Blanding.
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| Final. |
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| What the heck?! |
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| Fueling up at Blanding. We got rained on a little bit. |
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Passing by the FBO building as we taxi for takeoff.
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The original plan was to head northwest back to the Colorado River, and follow it up through Canyonlands, Moab, Grand Junction, and then hop on the Gunnison River heading east to Delta, Colorado, our overnight stop.
We sort of did that, but the weather wasn't the best -- very misty and light rain in spots-- so we couldn't enjoy the scenery as much as we could have if it was sunny and clear.
Still, the scenery between Blanding and the Colorado River is pretty spectacular.
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Getting rained on.
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| Approaching the Colorado River. |
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| There it is, way down there. |
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| Now following the river at a higher altitude than I usually do. |
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| Looking down at the confluence of the Green River (top) and Colorado River (right). |
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Looking out over Canyonlands NP.
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| Following the Colorado River northeast. |
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| Approaching the distinctive potash ponds. They really stand out amist the red rock. |
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| Weather off to the east. |
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Crazy terrain.
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| The Colorado makes a 180 degree turn. |
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| Looking southeast at the town of Moab, adventure capital of the world! |
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Approaching Castle Valley.
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| Back in 2018 we stayed at the Castle Valley Inn B&B which is somewhere down there where the trees are. |
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Looking back at Castle Valley.
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| I could see there was weather ahead at Grand Junction. So I left the Colorado River and headed due east towards Delta along the Doldres River. |
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| I hadn't been this way before and enjoyed seeing something new. |
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I was amongst the mountains but by following the rivers I could get through to Delta without having to climb over the mountains.
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| Flying through a pretty valley. Now I'm heading northeast on the West Creek. |
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Now almost heading due north. I'll intersect the Gunnison River up ahead.
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That's Grand Junction in the distance, to the northwest.
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| And looking southeast is the Gunnison River which takes me directly to Delta. I've flown it before. |
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| Heading southeast. |
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| Might as well have some fun. |
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| A railroad follows the river on the left. |
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And there is Delta, Colorado, our destination for tonight.
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| Flying over some badlands which surround the airport. |
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| On base for runway 21 at Blake Field (KAJZ). |
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| VG |
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Our four birds are parked amongst those other planes. The little RVs are hidden by the larger (but not faster) planes.
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We were speculating how only one blade of the three-bladed prop could be so badly damaged and the others not. A wheels up landing with prop stopped?
Blake Field has a manned FBO office, and the all-important courtesy car. We stayed at our usual $100 or so motel, and had a nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant downtown. Tomorrow would be a transit day, heading east towards home. The sightseeing portion of the trip was over.
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