We stayed in Valley of the Gods in October 2020, during Big Trip #3. Read here about our first visit in 2016, during Big Trip #1.

I spilled the beans about a super boondocking spot in my last post, so might as well keep rolling with the theme and tell you about another one. Valley of the Gods, between Bluff and Mexican Hat, is a treasure. It’s like Monument Valley, with ever so slightly less wow factor, but waaaay fewer people, and more freedom of movement as a guide is required to fully visit Monument Valley.

Drive the 17-mile scenic road (using this guide to the geologic formations) through the BLM-managed towers and buttes, pull off into a site that speaks to you, and set up camp. If you’re towing a trailer, we recommend scouting first without the trailer and identify some spots you can get to with the trailer, because some are tricky! The eastern entrance is more trailer-friendly. This was our second stay in Valley of the Gods, and we landed in the same fantastic site we had five years ago. We did more in the area that first trip; this time we mostly just chilled by the Airstream.

Our two-and-a-half non-Valley of the Gods activities this time around:

If you can, eat a meal on the dog-friendly patio at Comb Ridge Eat + Drink in Bluff. Delicious! We stopped on the way in; it’s easy to park a trailer along the road across the street from the restaurant.

On the way to our next location, we stopped for a hike at Hovenweep National Monument. It’s an hour and a half from Valley of the Gods, so not really a day trip type of activity, but if you’re passing nearby it’s worth the stop. Dogs are allowed on the trails through the prehistoric structures.

This is the “-and-a-half” activity–it’s an hour further on from Hovenweep, so definitely not somewhere you’d pop over to from Valley of the Gods. But if you’re heading east from the area through Cortez, CO, Loungin’ Lizard has really good fish tacos! (J didn’t like his reuben.) (We prefer The Farm Bistro, but they were closed.)

Coming up: a bunch of locations sprinkled around the mountains of Colorado!