National Parks

Driving in the rural west can be a learning experience. One thing you can learn is the meaning of the sign “Open Range”. As you see here, it means look out for cattle. We found this young critter in the middle of road. It was both brave and confused. It did not cede the road […]

Our second day at Capitol Reef began with a hike to Hickman Bridge. It is one of the top rated hikes in the park. It begins beside the Fremont River and ends under a large arch at the top of the climb. You can see the stairs that start the climb next to the creek

We arrived at Capitol Reef early in the morning on Memorial Day. We had to travel over a dirt road through Capitol Gorge to get to the trail head. Dire warnings about flash floods seemed silly on such a crystal clear day. After an exciting and bumpy car ride through the gorge, we arrived at

Our second day at Canyonlands began at the Grandview Overlook. The size and diversity of Canyonlands is laid out before you. The idea of a canyon within a canyon is even clearer from this overview. From this second viewpoint, you can see the Colorado River in the far background. After the overlook, we began our

Our first trip to Canyonlands was the first time we saw the full impact of open range ranching. It was a new experience to see cows so close to the road. The drive from Moab to Canyonlands National Park was mostly an uphill drive to higher elevations on a mesa. As we approached the park,

This was our last day at Arches National Park. We had an entry pass for an11 a.m. entry, so we had a shorter schedule for today. The first thing on the schedule was a 30 minute wait in line to gain entry into the park. Park Place was the only hike for the day. We

Our second day at Arches also had a 6am entry time. This time we arrived closer to 6 am. While the sun was up, it was low on the horizon. We got some interesting lighting effects while traveling to Devil’s Garden at the far end of the park. The sunshine and darkness contrast on these

Today we arrived at Arches National Park. We will be visiting here for the next three days. Because of the entry permit system, we must arrive in a specified hour time slot. Today that was 6 am to 7 am. We only had to wait for one other vehicle because of the early hour. We

We continued our review of cliff dwellings today. We moved to a different part of the park to see more sites. We started at Step House. At this site we were able to get closer to the cliff dwelling but were still blocked from entering the actual site. Seeing the site in more detail increased

We started today at the highest point in Mesa Verde National Park. At 8,500 feet, we could see over 50 miles away. There is a fire lookout at the top of the mountain. It is fully automated now. It scans the horizon for smoke or fire and will notify the appropriate people of the location