We finally made it back to St John after hurricane Irma and Maria in 2017 and the reopening of the Westin St John Resort.

Just trying to figure out what that thing is…

Previous

10/03/2019 Muley Point

12/6/2019 St John USVI

They told us at the Bears Ears Education Center in Bluff that we had to head over to Muley Point for the great views of the San Juan River and Monument Valley. We were not disappointed…

Bear Ears –

Previous

10/03/2019 Valley of the Gods

Found at the Moab KOA

Next, we drove through the Valley of the Gods and up Moki Dugway along a section of the Trail of the Ancients that we hadn’t seen before.

Previous

10/03/2019 Friends of Cedar Mesa

10/03/2019 Muley Point

I had purchased maps and gotten good information from the Friends of Cedar Mesa and wanted to stop by their Bears Ears Education Center. They gave us some good ideas on what not to miss in the area.

Previous

10/02/2019 Hovenweep Outlier Units

10/03/2019 Valley of the Gods

After lunch we headed out to some of the outlying units of the monument.

First was a hike to the Horseshoe and Hackberry Groups

Then up the road to the Holly Group

Back at camp we caught the sunset over the canyon.

Previous

10/02/2019 Hovenweep National Monument

10/03/2019 Friends of Cedar Mesa

We did the Hovenweep Ruins Trail this morning, which was a very enjoyable loop right from the campground. We enjoyed the monument so much we decided to stay an extra night.

10/01/2019 Canyons of the Ancients National Monument

10/02/2019 Hovenweep Outlier Units

We left Mesa Verde and headed over to Canyons of the Ancients National Monument. Outside the monument visitor center we visited Dominquez Pueblo and Escalante Pueblo. Then headed north to Lowry Pueblo and west to our destination, Hovenweep National Monument, where we hoped to get a campsite. Hovenweep has dispersed camping but we lucked out and got a site in the small campground on the canyon edge.

Sleeping Ute Mountain

McPhee Reservior near Dolores CO

Escalante Pueblo

Our campsite and Hovenweep National Monument

9/30/2019 Mesa Verde National Park

10/02/2019 Hovenweep National Monument

We did a Ranger lead tour of Cliff Palace on Chapin Mesa in the morning. We had to do two different tours since we had Aragorn and didn’t feel good about leaving him in the car or camper. We hiked the Soda Canyon Overlook Trail to get a look at Balcony House. The Balcony House tour wasn’t being offered since it was off season. It was great that there were much fewer people which is why we decided to stay longer at Mesa Verde than we originally planned for.

We headed over to Wetherill Mesa in the afternoon to check out Long House which is another large house like Cliff Palace. The big loop there is a bike/hike road. We saw lots of burn areas as well.

Cedar Tree Tower

Cliff Palace

Balcony House

Long House

9/29/2019 Mesa Verde National Park

10/01/2019 Canyons of the Ancients National Monument

Today we did the Mesa Top Loop

On the road into the park, views from the mesa…

Spruce Tree House

Cliff Palace –

Square Tower House –

9/28/2019 Off to Mesa Verde

9/30/2019 Mesa Verde National Park