Day 49 Summer 2010 Park to Park Road Trip

Today we are going to visit Four Corners Monument.

This is the spot where the States of Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado meet. It is the only spot in the USA where the boundaries of 4 States intersect. Once again our National Park Pass was not accepted at this Monument run by the Navajo Native Americans.

We stood in all 4 states at one time.

We left the Four Corners Monument and headed North on the Trail of the Ancients on our way to Mesa Verde National Park.

Arrived at the entrance and showed our National Park Pass.

Our first stop is the Montezuma Overlook.

The road is newly paved and scenery is beautiful as we head to the Visitor Center.

Here is the Visitor Center.

We left the Visitor Center with our Passport Book stamped, some postcards and a hat pin. We will drive the Top Loop Road which is very scenic and will take us to various pulloffs where we can explore Native Puebloan villages and dwellings.

The first stop is Pit House, dated back to AD 600. You will notice that these archaeological finds are sheltered from the elements and further destruction.

The next stop is Square Tower House. 1200 – 1300 AD. A cliff dwelling.

Looks like some eagles have built a next just above the ruins.

Next stop is Pit Houses and Pueblos 700 – 950 AD.

Then we stopped at Mesa Top Sites 900 – 1100 AD

And Sun Point View 1200 – 1300 AD. There are several cliff dwellings visible from this overlook.

Oak Tree House.

Sun Temple.

Cliff Palace.

Here is a better view of Oak Tree House from the next viewpoint.

Fire Temple

This is Sun Temple, 1250 AD. It is not tucked in underneath a rock overhang, it is out in the open.

The main attraction at Mesa Verde National Park is Cliff Palace. Here you can take a Ranger guided tour. However this is quite a steep climb to get down, and then there are ladders to negotiate, plus the heat of the day and the steep climb back up… so Karen and I opted for the “photo op” this time, and we will come back to Mesa Verde at a future date, when it is cooler and take the Ranger guided tour.

Here is another view of Cliff Palace from a different overlook.

That concluded our visit to Mesa Verde National Park. This is a park that we will definitely return to and explore some more. You could spend several days here and not see everything.

We headed for our hotel in Cortez Colorado. To see all of our photos from today you can click on this link to my FLICKR site.

Day 48 Summer 2010 Park to Park Road Trip

Today we have 2 destinations.. Natural Bridges National Monument and Monument Valley.

On the way to Natural Bridges National Monument, this is some of the scenery that we saw.

Arrived at the entrance and showed our Park Pass. Our National Park Pass is also good at the National Monuments. We stopped at the Visitor Center.

Our first stop is the Sipapu Natural Bridge. This is the 7th largest natural bridge in the world.

Our next stop is Kachina Natural Bridge. These bridges are a little difficult to spot, the colouring in the rocks almost camouflages them.

Owachomo Bridge is our next stop.

We drove out of the park on Utah 261 and headed towards Monument Valley. This part of Utah 261 is also known as the Trail of the Ancients. There is a section of the road that is called the Moki Dugway which is a 10% grade, steep gravel road with many switchbacks. The Moki Dugway was a fun section of the road to drive as you will see in these photos. Excuse the rain droplets in the photos, it was sprinkling a bit as we drove.

The colours in the rocks are amazing to see. Just as if someone painted them.

Further along we came to the town of Mexican Hat. This prominent rock feature is how the town got its name.

Onwards to Monument Valley. There is a great photo opportunity at mile marker 13. If you ever saw the movie Forrest Gump, you may recognize this scenery. This is the spot where after running back and forth across the USA for 3 years, Forrest Gump finally just decided to stop running.

We entered the park and paid our admission, our National Park Pass is not valid on Native Land.

Apparently this spot was John Wayne’s favourite spot to look out over Monument Valley while he was making his films.

There are many more photos of Monument Valley and all the other things we saw today on my FLICKR site.

We left Monument Valley and headed North to our hotel in Blanding UT.