Welcome to Colleen’s Corner. This is a column meant for fun and some information About myself: I am a Freelance Photographer you often see me on the side of the road or in various places taking photos of different things animals, birds, places, people etc. l have lived in Lumby just over 8 years you have seen my photos in the newspaper (Lumby Valley Times) and once in awhile in the Vernon Morning Star, and the Lumby Art Gallery. Photography is my passion. Disclaimer: The information on some of my photos that I write about a lot of times come from the Internet or books I research them, hopefully the facts are as close to the truth as I can come.
When we were traveling through Utah on our way back to BC it was getting late in the day and we needed a place to stay for the night. I have this app on my cell phone called Campendium, it’s a pretty cool app that shows you where campsites are free and those that you have to pay for are located near you. So, I opened up the app, and there were a few campsites close to us. I picked the one that had a cool name and that’s where we went.
It was an out of the way BLM (it was free) called Valley of the Gods. We had to drive down a fairly steep hill that was all gravel, then across a creek bed that had a couple of inches of water. It was okay to cross the creek bed as long as it didn’t rain. At first going down the steep hill not really knowing where we would land it was kind of an OH OH did we make the right decision? But we had to carry on anyway as there wasn’t a place to turn around. As we were descending down the road we started to see some pretty cool things that we couldn’t see from the road above. The drive down the hill was totally worth it.
The amazing red colored rock formations that have been there for over 250 million years and 32,000 acres stood out in all their glory, It was absolutely stunning! We parked at the first landing where we could see the rock formations for miles. The road that continued past us is about 17 miles long.
The valley of the Gods is considered sacred to the Navajo, as their belief is that these beautiful pieces of stone hold the spirits of the Navajo warriors. I can see why, as when you are there the great rocks seem to fill you with a feeling of power and peace.
The Valley of the Gods is a part of the Bears Ears monuments. The US Federal Government In 2008 placed The Valley of the Gods under the Area of Critical Environmental Concern which was classed as scenic value.
When former President Obama was near the end of his term in 2016 recognizing the land is important to the native tribes he declared the Bears Ears and the Valley of the Gods would be national monuments. As for decades before that the tribes that lived close by were affected by years of their health deteriorating because of uranium mines, and groundwater poisoning which causes lung cancer and other diseases. This was a great relief to the people of the area; it meant no more mining, or poisoning groundwater. However the joy did not last long as in 2017 the then President Trump overturned the order that President Obama had put in to protect the Bears Ears and the Valley of the Gods. Bears Ears was left alone but other areas like the Valley of the Gods were left without protection. So far mining is still off limits there, as it is still protected under the 2008 act and being well hidden and hard to get at probably helps.
At this time there are still debates and lawsuits going on to place Valley of the Gods back into protection so nothing can be done to it ever, and to just leave it as scenic value, and the spirit place.
If you ever get a chance to go to Utah be sure to find the Valley of the Gods, and take in all the beauty before it is no longer there.
