Great Sand Dunes NP, Mesa Verde NP and Monument Valley

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So, 3 amazing places in 1 blog; after leaving Colorado Springs we drove for a long time and ended up being right at the centre of a storm that we had to cook our tea in, but we had shelter and it was good to have something to watch over tea; better than TV. We made it to the Sand Dunes early evening; when driving through to find a campsite we came across Rangers clearing the roads of mud damage from the storm! We did the usual set up camp, early night with an early rise next morning; well we wanted to avoid walking on the dunes in the midday sun.

It was great fun walking on the dunes (well coming down was!); it was a tough 800ft climb to the top but the views were good up there. We got talking to a guy who offered to let Dim have a go on his snow/sand board; I managed to catch him on video but not at the point that he fell off and did several somersaults – I was laughing my head off whilst others were expressing concern; oops!!! We were jumping, running and roly-polying all the way back down the dunes; we enjoyed seeing these big humps of sand right at the bottom of the Rocky Mountains; quite surreal really!

We spent the rest of the morning driving to Mesa Verde and arrived early afternoon; this was a crazy place; some of the worlds oldest cave dwellings, built by the Early Puebloan people or the Anasazi; they inhabited the area from 550 -1300AD but most of the dwellings were from 1200’s. It was hot walking around the different caves and seeing others from view points around the canyon rim as they were too difficult to access; how people lived there I do not know!! The caves were so well preserved and the views of the surrounding area from up here were spectacular; a must visit in our opinion.

After we had been to Mesa we decided to do some of the driving towards Monument Valley. We planned to stop at 4 corners the place where you can stand in 4 states (Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico) we got there at 8.10pm and it closed at 8pm; great! We weren’t alone though as 2 other cars pulled up too. We saw an amazing sunset over the desert; definitely one of the best so far, but the realization set in that we were stupidly driving through the desert at night with not a campsite in sight; in parts there was a lot of sand blowing about and we both got paranoid that there was going to be a huge sandstorm like a huge one we had seen pictures of in Phoenix not too far from where we were!!!

We drove out of Colorado and into Arizona and then Utah and were near a small town when we were stopped by the police which was scary; apparently we did not completely stop and just gave way at a stop sign… He was a nice guy though and let us off. We found a campsite in the small town and after a hot night sleep, we woke bright and early again and this time we drove towards Monument Valley and watched the sunrise over the desert which looked glorious.

Monument Valley was a spectacular drive and it was not out of our way so at least we were making ground towards Flagstaff at the same time (we are both really tired of driving); the scenery was again outstanding. We arrived mid afternoon into Flagstaff and got a motel courtesy of Jane and the birthday money she had gave me – Thanks love! It was so nice to be able to relax away from the heat for the afternoon and catch up with people at home; we needed it, as tomorrow we are going on a 30+ hour journey to Houston on the Greyhound – nightmare!!!

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Photos

Blanca Peak
Sacred to the Navajo People

Mary in The Dunes
These were huge

Climbing the Peak
The Sand made it really hard going

Dim Sand Boarding
He had 3 go's. 2 were ace but one he fell and hurt his neck...he's not a kid anymore!!

Herron
This ame into the campsite

Our Campground
pretty rubbish, wireless didn't work!!

View from Park Point
Highest point in park - 8572 feet

Spruce's Tree House
The best preserved village

Hawk
There were loads circling around the park

Going In
This was an entrance to a Kiva

Sun Set in the Desert
This was beautiful