Navajo Expedition: April 28th

Morning brought us up through the tourist-saturated area around The View Hotel, giving us a welcome stop at a grocery store for resupply. Still no sign of my Hostess Crunch doughnuts, I really should have bought some when we stopped in Flagstaff. The rest of the day on into early evening we traveled through even more expansive dunes, cliffs, and slickrock trails with one added obstacle – an ever worsening dust storm.

We’ve reached the top of Hunts Mesa at what seems to be the peak of the storm. The weather radio reports it will not pass until sometime after 21:00. A search of several potential campsites reveals none with shelter from the sand-blasting, made worse by the many dunes up here on the mesa. It would seem the local hotels are in cahoots with the weather, with rates starting at $195. Carlos mentions he knows a good place for us to stay in his home town of Mexican Hat, so we’re heading for the Utah border.

The San Juan Inn & Trading Post, Carlos’ recommendation for “camp” and dinner, turned out to be this perfect little 2-story structure clinging to the cliffs over the San Juan river. As it is just outside the reservation, the restaurant (The Olde Bridge Grille) serves alcohol. As it is in Utah, they have Polygamy Porter. They also have excellent food…