MULEY POINT / MOON HOUSE
Muley Point
Elevation: 6,270 ft.
Ecological niche: juniper-pinyon woodlands
Ownership: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, National Recreation Area
Location: Cedar Mesa, north of Monument Valley and Mexican Hat in southeastern Utah
Moon House
Elevation: 5,615 ft.
Ecological niche: juniper-pinyon woodlands
Ownership: U.S. Bureau of Land Management
Location: Cedar Mesa, southeastern Utah
JOURNAL ENTRY
Erika Osborne
Muley Point – Cedar Mesa, UT
September 17, 2003
The wind has been howling for two days now. I slept only an hour last night because of the constant shower of sand that got sucked up under the fly of my tent and came down through the mesh in a nice coat of red. I did my best to get some work done today but I was more or less useless.
The thing that has struck me most about this place is the amazing endurance and capacity to survive that the trees and plants have here. The juniper and pinyon rival the most gnarled I’ve seen. Today I began a portrait of a pinyon near the edge of the mesa and, as I was cussing, having everything I was carrying blow away and feeling like I was going deaf from the noise and strength of the wind, I watched this pinyon gracefully, and with a calm nobility, weather it all with ease.
