View of a Dust Storm from House Rock Canyon Viewpoint
Much as I wanted to explore the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, I simply didn’t have any plans on doing so at least at the moment. I didn’t allocate any time for it and I don’t even know where to start. I didn’t find any signs which shows visitors where to start. I could probably try to find one in Google Maps but that would be chancing it. Anyway, I still need to make my way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon so I much make haste. There is a flat area ahead of me. So I was hoping that it would be easy driving here. Unfortunately, this was not the case. I noticed that there was some dirt in the air and I thought it was just because of the desert sand. But I didn’t realize that there was strong wind blowing across the area and it was kicking up the sand.
Looking Back at Vermillion Cliffs National Monument from House Rock Canyon Viewpoint
I really didn’t know what to expect and I just kept on driving. It was just some wind, I thought. But I didn’t know that the gusts can be very strong and there were several points where I thought I felt it push the car. Before I knew it, I was already in the middle of a dust storm. I don’t know if this was bad but I just wanted to get out of there. Visibility was bad so I couldn’t really drive that fast. There weren’t too many vehicles on the road either. All I could think of it to just keep on going. Eventually, I reached that appears to be the mountains and the road has started to turn up towards the cliffs.
I eventually found a place to pull over and have a look at the area. This part of the road is elevated and is beyond the dust storm. From here, I could see the cloud of dust that was kicked up and I shuddered to think that I was just there. I don’t know how dangerous it could have been but apart from dust I didn’t see anything else flying like cows or houses. I don’t know if there are tornadoes here but I would have been cool but dangerous to see one up close.
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