Amazing Travels - October 29, 2025 - Goosenecks State Park & Raplee Ridge

October 29, 2025 After leaving the Moon House drove to Goosenecks State Park. The “Goosenecks” are the long, narrow strips of canyon wall that tower above the winding San Juan River below. Over many years of erosion and geological activity, the San Juan River has carved out this unique piece of southeastern Utah. The dramatic back-and-forth bending of the river is called a meander. Goosenecks State Park is one of the most distinct examples of "incised meanders" in the country. The canyon walls are made from shale and limestone and are over 300 million years old. The river loops several times from the main vantage point. Over 1.5 miles as the crow flies, the river flows six miles due to the crooked bends in the San Juan. We wandered along the different viewpoints and then left to go check into our hotel, The San Juan Trading Post. Our next adventure was taking a ride out to Raplee Ridge for sunset. Raplee Ridge is known for its step-like folds in the rock that features a distinctive zigzag pattern created by the erosion of overlapping layers of light-brown sandstone, reddish-brown siltstone and sandstone, and multicolored siltstone, shale, and limestone. These alternating anticlines and synclines were formed by compression and have been compared to wrinkles in a rug kicked across a smooth floor. Raplee Ridge is thought to have a significant influence on classic First Nations Navajo (Dine’) textiles, jewelry and pottery designs going back hundreds of years. The reds and multi-gray zigzags are quite suggestive of the geometric patterns commonly found in Navajo weavings. Locals also refer to the ridge as “Indian Blanket Cliffs". We roamed the area and got a lot of photos. Nearby, we could see the Mexican Hat rock formation which is named for its likeness to a sombrero. It features one of Utah’s strangest rock formations, a balanced, flattened pancake disk atop a 300-foot-high talus cone. It’s really not a hat at all, but a sombrero with a wide brim jutting above a narrow head. The rock formations are ancient, dating back over 250 million years. After sunset, we went back to our hotel for some dinner and to settle in for the night. Music: Aeorien by Really Slow Motion; Album: Of Mist and Magic