From nearby Moab we woke well before dawn to visit Arches National Park as the Sun spread over it. The temperature was 0 degrees F, which got our toes numb standing around in the fluffy snow, but watching from the La Sal Mountains Viewpoint as the sun and […]

Canyonlands National Park southeast entrance and Indian Creek Recreation Area

We circled back to Moab and Canyonlands National Park, this time entering the park from the southeastern edge through the BLM Indian Creek Recreation Area and Newspaper Rock State Park / Historical Monument.

The Indian […]

Mesa Verde National Park had an incredible collection of Ancestral Puebloan / Anasazi ruins; some of the best, largest, and most well preserved anywhere.

The long park entrance road rose steadily to a 7000 foot elevation, with views out in all directions across the plains, canyons, and mesas that […]

We previously explored the northern reaches of Butler Wash, and then also explored this southern area near the Valley of the Gods. Access was a bit rough on a poorly maintained gravel based, snow covered road that had only been traveled by one set of tracks before ours. We […]

The Valley of the Gods was a smaller version of Arizona’s nearby – and more famous – Monument Valley. Tall deeply colored buttresses, pinnacles, and buttes rose straight and high into the air above a sage brush covered plain, like a gallery of geologic statues.

Driving from the east over the […]

Hovenweep National Monument

If you wanted to see many excellent Ancient Puebloan Anasazi ruins in a concentrated canyon community, all stabilized but not otherwise reconstructed, then Hovenweep National Monument would be your place.

It must have been an amazing, vibrant community at one time. The […]

Goosenecks State Park

For a spectacular view that you can literally drive right up to, Goosenecks State Park was a great side trip.

Peering over the canyon edge, we saw 1000 feet down to the San Juan River flowing with chunks of ice. The unusual snake-like […]