Rockies

5:50AM, wake up!

This morning packing things is a little longer, we have to fold up the sleeping bags, make sure everything fits into our luggages. We manage to leave the campground at around 6:30.

In the brochures the old man gave us yesterday, we find some information about Mesa Verde Natl Park, and it looks interesting. So even if we have more than 400 miles to go back to Denver, we decide to give it a look.

Those villages were build a thousand years ago, and abandoned around 1200AD by the Ancestral Puebloans.

Then the long road begins, we arrive in Denver at around 8PM after crossing many passes above 11,000 feet. We didn’t choose the shortest road, but tried to compromise between wilderness and not too long roads.

Map of the day

We can’t wait for our next trip!

Fabulous, Magnificent, Splendid, Gorgeous… we could go on forever with this kind of words, it will still be not enough to give justice to those landscapes in the Wild Wild West! But it is quite exhausting too!

The END!!! (for now ;))

Canyonland

6AM. Wake up! Pierre manages to take half a hot shower, only to finish with cold water. Adie is less lucky, but still manages to take a short shower! We leave the motel as the sun is rising.

Very nice road to Canyonland Natl Park, even with the sun in the eyes…

First hike of the day to Mesa Arch. Oh my god!

Second one to Upheaval Dome.

Another view point from the South pointe of the Island in the Sky.

The park is so wonderful that we decide to exit it not by the normal paved road but by the Shafer Trail road, from the visitor center to Moab. Impressive trail, the first part goes down on a big rocky wall. The second part crosses smaller canyons but also rough and rocky. Adie is so scared that she has to go outside the car in the worst parts.

We survived! Beer and burger again in Moab in a local brewery. They do a pretty good ale! We even buy a cask of Scorpion Ale to keep us company at the next campground. The day goes on with Arches Natl Park. It is nice but there are way too many people!

At around 5PM we start heading South with the goal of spending the night around Canyon of the Ancients Natl Monument. We stop at 7PM in Blanding to get some info from a visitor center. And we were wandering why they call it Canyon of the Ancients… The only guy at the visitor center must be at least 90 years old! But he is as friendly and helpful as possible, he points us Hovenweep Natl Monument as a place to spend the night.

Again a fabulous sunset on the road.

We stop at Hovenweep at around 8:30PM. We are able to get a quiet place in the small campground. Time to dinner… Hum, beer (still cold!) and cashews, not really a dinner but the sky is so clear that the only thing that really matters are the stars. We even see two falling stars. Wonderfull stars watching evening!

Map of the day

Monument Valley

A really cold night again. Adie was fine in the new sleeping bag, but Pierre froze half the night.

At 6AM we take the trail again, which is in really good condition till the Johnson Canyon Road. From here we make our road toward Page.

At Page we fill the tank and coffee cups. Looking for a way to visit Antelope Canyon, we only find organized tours. We don’t like it so we decide to skip this canyon and replace it by a visit of an old mining village South of Lechee. There is almost nothing left.

By the way it’s again a non paved road! Sandy this time!

The road toward Monument Valley is pretty cool, plenty of nice views.

In Monument Valley we do a 17 miles loop in the sand to have an overview of the different monuments.

Map of the morning:

We then go on to Mexican Hat, and from there we head North to Natural Bridges Natl Monument. The road brings us in front of a wall of a thousand feet high, with only a small non paved road to pass it! But again, well worth it!

As we want a shower and a real bed tonight, we have to go at least to Greenriver, 200 miles North from here, so the Bridges visit is… really short… only a few pictures from the view point areas. We will have to come back another time to make the hikes, which must be really nice.

We then go throught Fry Canyon and White Canyon (Colorado river). This is not even a scenic road on our map, but… look at the pictures, it says it all.

Hanksville… Strangest gas station we ever come by. It’s in the mountain!

The crossing of the San Rafael Desert is priceless, fabulous sunset.

We end up in a small motel in Greenriver at around 8:30PM, and soon find our way to the local pub. Great beer, and best burger around! Time to sleep!

Map of the evening: