GOOSENECKS OF THE SAN JUAN STATE PARK

The following morning, en route to Monument Valley (an area actually on Navajo Indian reservation), we stopped the Goosenecks of the San Juan State Park. This largely an overlook of the San Juan River as it meanders toward the Colorado, but the river flows about 5 miles while only traveling one mile as the crow flies.

Between the Four Corners and the Goosenecks state park is a short drive through the Valley of the Gods (http://www.americansouthwest.net/utah/mexican_hat/valley_of_the_gods.html) which is said to be worth the side trip, but one htat we missed due to time limitations.

Visible from the road is the "mexican hat" an oddly shaped natural phenomenon of wind and water erosion. (see photo). I also included a photo of a small lizard friend I found at the Goosenecks state park. He was a bit of a chameleon as he could change colors to match the surronding rock.

BLUFF, UT & the FOUR CORNERS AREA

The Four Corners area is home to the heinous 1998 murder of an area Sheriff and shooting up of the area by several convicts. The story is retold in a National Geographic Adventure magazine here http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/2008/10/fugitives/david-roberts-text/1

During the manhunt, several law enforcement men and women stayed at the Recapture Lodge where we would stay on our trip. (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&view=text&gl=us&q=lodging+near+four+corners,+twin+rocks,+utah&ie=UTF8&hl=en&sll=39.115180,-111.468730&sspn=5.058257,5.101895&latlng=664533844984828391&ei=F-NtSrzHIIi69QSBys3cBw&cd=3&usq=lodging+near+four+corners,+twin+rocks). This is a great place virtually right on the Colorado River that runs fast with a thick muddy look back behind the lodge. The rooms are nothing to get excited about, but the location is and there is not a lot around besides this lodge. We had dinner at the nearby Twin Rocks Cafe (http://www.twinrockscafe.com/) which offered decent food, but the service was lacking (bigtime). Again, though, the view was awesome.

FOUR CORNERS BOUND

This odd geograpic space seems incredibly arbitrary. Do NOT try to explain this trip to friends. It can only be answered with "Because". The four corners is the single spot in the United States where four states touch. It is in the middle of NOWHERE. That is why the government must have given it to the indians. Consequently, it will cost you a few bucks to get into the area for your photo, but if you came this far, you have to go in....

There are a handful of vendors in the area selling the indian wares, trinkets, etc. Hit it and go....

MOVIN ON....MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK

We headed south out of Moab early in the morning. We took old highway 666 east toward Colorado to get to Mesa Verde National Park. Highway 666 is renamed to Rte 491 (I believe) due to the negative associations people have with the 666 designation. Right or wrong, this highway had a very high fatality rate as well.

Mesa Verde is a huge park. The entrance road is probably 30 or 40 miles to the visitor center along a very windy cliff-hugging road. It is well worth the ride. However, due to the length of our drive to get to the park, is was lunch time when we arrived.

Due to the limited time we had there, you have choices to make - you can't see all the cliff houses in a single afternoon. The choice is often made for you as some houses are more popular than others and the tours fill up. Also, in some, you have to be able to fit through a small tunnel - probably 36 inches square and about 4 feet long. I can assure you, I saw some people there that could not have gotten naked and greased up and fit through that tunnel. There are places where you need to climb log ladders - probably 10 feet at a time - to exit the ruins. I did not want to follow these same people up these ladders and fortunately did not have to.

Back to ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

One additional quick tour of Moab and Arches National Park. This place is crowded despite the heat. If the kids weren't so young, I would love to get off the beaten path to thin the crowd. Parking is limited in some of the more popular sections - an absolute at Delicate Arch. Going early in the morning and after dinner is a much better choice - both for temperature and crowd reasons.

CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK

Canyonlands National Park is just up the road from Arches National Park - both just north of downtown Moab, UT. (Deadhorse State Park is on the same access road as Canyonlands National Park).

Canyonlands has three entrances. We went in the main entrance due to limited time and could access most of the northern section of the park. The Maze and the Needles are accessible elsewhere and are more back-country and require some serious self preservation skills.

To say it was HOT here is to grab "understatement" by the throat. About half way into the park, the kids refused to leave the truck - it was like stepping into a furnace. Truly too hot to get excited about wandering too far for anything.

A couple of highlights are the Islands in the Sky Overlook (you barely have to get out of the car) and the Mesa Arch (probably a 1/4 mile hike but well worth it even with the heat). In the distance is "Washer Woman Arch" which looks like a woman washing clothes in a tub - front & center of one of these pictures.

THE HIKE TO DELICATE ARCH

We tried to leave early for the hike to Delicate Arch - Utah's icon. We didn't get going until close to 9am with the flat tire fiasco. When we started the hike, it was getting hot. The hike is probably 1.5 miles up hill to the arch. Mostly on "slick rock". The hike is considered moderately difficult, but it is made more difficult by the heat and anticipation (and that I had my 5 year old daughter on my shoulders the entire way). The last 100 yards is a narrow strip of slip rock with a steep cliff off to the left (see the picture here). By the time we returned, it was 104 degrees (F).

As I have said in some of my other blogs, the people you see doing these hikes are often in no condition to do anything beyond walking to their pantry and back. We passed one couple that averaged 270 lbs each, in long pants, long sleeves, and carrying a small dog in a dog carrier. They were just starting the hike around 1pm. I would bet a month's salary they never made it. Unbelievable!

EVENING IN ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

We made our way up RTE 24 north to I-70 east to 191 South. About 60 miles altogether. We arrived in time for dinner. After dinner, we discovered the first of two flat tires on the rental car - that was fun! (NOT!). After changing a tire, we went over to Arches National Park. The night was going to be a full moon. There is a full moon hike, but we really expected a long day tomorrow. Also, I would need to replace or repair the damaged tire. As we later discovered, it was unrepairable and had been previously repaired although it never should have been fixed.

GOBLIN VALLEY STATE PARK

We were leaving Capitol Reef and driving to Moab, UT to visit Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. En route, we were making a quick break to stretch our legs at Goblin Valley State Park. (http://www.utah.com/stateparks/goblin_valley.htm). This side trip is several miles of the main highway, but it was well worth it. I could have spent a lot of time at this park - otherworldly. I would absolutely recommend this side trip.

CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK

We returned and picked up the rest of the family for a trip to the rest of the park. I use the term loosely because unless you are willing to go "off road" it is basically a short ride along the road past the visitor center (which you then have to backtrack to get out).

There are a few places that are truly awesome for that off-road trip (if you so choose), but budget about 6 - 8 hours for the drive, fording a couple of rivers, etc. Temples of the Sun and Moon and a large gypsum hole are in the northern (off road) part of the park and worth visiting. Check with the Park Rangers at the Visitor Center before going off and make sure they (and others know your route and expected timeline).

Southern Capitol Reef National Park

I got up at 5:00 am before the sun for what I hoped would be a quick trip along the "burr trail". The Burr Trail is a mostly gravel road that runs through Capitol Reef NP. The scenery is spectacular and this part of the park is much less crowded as it is less accessible. I really wanted to view the "Waterpocket Fold" from the Strike Valley Overlook. Unfortunately, it was unaccessible due to a storm that had washed out the access road. It is visible in many online photo sites and quite a spectacular view.

The rental car we had through a top national brand ended up getting two flat tires, which when I tried to repair them was told that they had already been repaired but the original damage was so bad that they never should have been repaired. After traveling over 1000 miles on these tires, I was happy I would be getting home. If it had happened on the remote section of Capitol Reef, I would have been found a week later. I assume that the rental car company did the repair because most of their cars never leave the Vegas Strip. End result - they did not charge me for the rental car (a large SUV).

My night in Boulder, UT

I think that with the exception of the native Americans at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, Boulder, UT was the last place to stop getting mail by donkey. This place is out there. We stayed on a horse farm about 5 miles at the end of a dirt road. While it existed before the Internet as a B&B type spot, it is beyond me how anyone could find it.

Our hosts Gary & Sherry at the Boulder Mountain (horse) Ranch were great. We rented a couple of cabins for the whole clan - one slept 6, one slept 4. Very comfortable and quiet. And at night, VERY DARK. Zero light polution except for the full moon that night. You could go anywhere you wanted by moonlight.

Bryce Canyon to Capitol Reef National Park

Highway 12 from Bryce to Torrey, UT is referred to some as the most beautiful stretch of highway in the United States. It is spectacular, but having traveled a lot of highway in this country, I believe that the most beautiful stretch of highway belongs to Montana's Beartooth Highway from Red Lodge to Cooke City, MT near Yellowstone's northeast entrance.

Hwy 12 winds its way through the red rock country, briefly through Grand Staircase Escalante NM. This stretch of road winds up and down so much one of our passengers tossed their lunch in the back causing an emergency stop. A couple days later, after the car baked in the desert sun, that was a nice smell. We actually found large patches of snow along the highway - one of which proved to be a good stopping point for our snowball fight - in late JUNE (despite the fact we were melting only hours earlier in Bryce Canyon).

Just south of Boulder where we spent the night is the infamous "Hogback" stretch of road where the ground drops off sharply on both sides of the road - not a good time to be taking in the scenery. One wrong turn here and its "game over"!

More Bryce Canyon

Bryce offers a LOT of the famous Hoodoos. These sandstone features are the result of years of erosion and have created the appearance of thousands of sandstone people in the amphitheatre viewed from Bryce Point.

There are several unique features in the canyon that are also the result of erosion over the millenia.

Thor's Hammer, The Poodle (look closely at the pix), Natural Bridge, and the Amphitheatre are in these pictures.

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon offers a lot of different things to see and do in a fairly small national park. Don't miss the short side trip prior to going through the park service entrance to Fairyland Canyon. It is easy to miss with only a small sign on the left side of the road. Therefore, it is generally without the crowds you get at the other larger spots in the park.

We hiked down from Sunset point. The further down you go, the slimmer the crowd gets - figuratively and literally. This is a tough hike in June. By mid-day it was HOT. Make sure you carry a LOT of water. We had three kids with us and we went through our water on the way down. I had my daughter on my shoulders most of the way down and out again. A position I have been in before, and would be again on this trip. The climb out was steep, (at least as steep as it looks in the pictures), but well worth the trip. Did I say BRING WATER....well, bring water!