Mexican Hat, UT – Goosenecks State Park is located near the town of Mexican Hat, Utah off of Highway UT-316, about 30 miles north of Monument Valley. There is a $5 per vehicle entrance fee. The park offers covered picnic tables, vault toilets, and primitive camping ($10/night; first come/first serve, bring your own water). The main feature of this park is the phenomenal views of the Goosenecks, a fabulous canyon carved by the San Juan River.
This small state park offers large views of the Goosenecks carved by the San Juan River
A view of Goosenecks
From the park’s website: “The San Juan River twists and turns through the meander, flowing a distance of over six miles while advancing one and half miles west on its way to Lake Powell. Gaze at the results of 300 million years of geological activity, where the San Juan River winds and carves its way through the desert 1,000 feet below.”
Another view of the Goosenecks
The San Juan River carved this canyon
A trip to Goosenecks State Park can be combined with a tour of the Valley of the Gods and/or a drive up the Moki Dugway to scenic Muley Point. For those wanting a closer look at the San Juan River, the nearby Honaker Trail Hike on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land drops 1,200 feet from the canyon rim to the river in its 4.4 mile out and back route.
A view of the Goosenecks from nearby Muley Point
We stayed at Goulding’s RV Park, Monument Valley, Utah, which is located off of UT-163 near the Utah-Arizona border, about a 30 mile drive from Goosenecks State Park. While in the region we also visited: Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, the Canyon De Chelly National Monument, the Navajo National Monument, the Natural Bridges National Monument, and toured areas of Bears Ears National Monument and the Cedar Mesa/Grand Gulch BLM Lands including the Valley of the Gods. The region is rich in scenic beauty and has many ruins from the Ancestral Puebloans (formerly known as Anasazi).
