The Great SouthWest Road Trip

This is a day of storms and rain—but all the storms are far away, in the distance. They surround us on all horizons as we move through the land, always in the sun.

After taking pictures of the sunrise in Monument Valley, we leave Gouldings and head south on 163 to Arizona. Storm clouds flank us on the east and west. The clouds are white, with points of rain falling from them. Long plateaus of monuments follow us down the western side of the road. Kayenta lies in front of them. The tan mountains are dark with vegetation and cloud cover. Rain falls above them and also to the south now.

We turn northeast on 160 into a yellow-green plain. Some horses and cows graze to the south. A single, dark gray monument sits before us to the northeast, backed on the north by a very long, low mountain range of light red round-top tipped-up rocks. They are tipped high to the north, low toward us, and go on in a straight line for miles. This might be what they call Comb Ridge on the map, except that this comb is stubby and the teeth are fat!

South of the road, a small red monument range comes into view, with chimneys like Bryce facing our way. Several arms stick out, with many defunct tourist buildings sitting in front. This place is called Baby Rock. Several police cars with flashing lights drive toward us. They are escorting a giant dump-truck box from a T-Rex!

The plains are reddish rolling rock now, with very little vegetation. The land burns in the sun. A low, round-edged buff-colored canyon appears, running southwest to northeast under the road. It is Chinle Wash near Tes Nez Iah. People live near scattered trees and brush in the wide, flat wash bottom. Horses graze above on the southwest rim. (What are they eating, rocks?)

The road turns more easterly to Mexican Water. Pointed brown mountains rise up, which we pass through into another plain of yellow-green scrub. It slowly becomes more grassy, with a little red monument to the northeast. A small, curious town called Red Mesa sits in front of it near the road. The houses are metal, surrounded by a square metal wall around the entire town.

There are mountains on the south side of the road now. They look dark, back-lit by the sun, with white storm clouds drifting above them.

We come to Teec Nos Pos, very close to the New Mexico border. The dark mountains to the south are much bigger now. There are mountains to the north also, with bands of buff, mint green in the middle and pale purple on the bottom. The grass is more sparse here, with scattered juniper trees mixed in.

We turn north, seeing dark mountains in the distance, still on 160 to the Four Corners area. In front of us a stake truck is rolling along at 65 mph with two cows milling around in it! Too bad for the cows if anyone suddenly stops!

The Four Corners is a bare rock wasteland. Of course. That’s why we gave it to the Indians. The Navajos have made the place into a tourist trap, $3 per person to get in. Hey, they gotta make money somehow. What would you do if you were living on a rock?

There is a cement plaza circle with flags flying, marking the area where the four state corners meet. The plaza is surrounded by another circle containing a small tourist office and many wooden booths with Indians selling their wares. Mark told me that each tribe has to be in its own state. Most of the jewelry is quite nice with good prices.

We bought a dark red pot with black designs and turquoise painted bands. The carving is very neat with clean, straight lines. I thought it was the best pottery there. It was done by a Navajo artist, Freida Lee. I also bought a sand painting done on a sandstone rock by the artist Alfred Beyaue. It is an Indian on horseback hunting a buffalo, and again the work is very precise with clean lines. We think his sand paintings are the best and most imaginative in the group. He’s kind of a jokester, too. As he was writing the title on the back of the rock, he said to me, “How do you spell Indian? I….N….” I said, “If you don’t know how to spell Indian by now, I’m not going to tell you!” Mark also bought a decorated arrow, which he later hung in his workshop at home.

After the Four Corners, we turn more easterly on 160 into Colorado, passing over the San Juan River, filled with small, lush trees and actual running water! Quite a novelty for this part of the country. Most of the land we have traveled through today has been quite barren. This area is no exception, with many low, rounded sand-colored hills covered with short, pale gold grass.

We go north on 160/491, heading to Cortez. A light gray-brown monument lies east, with plateaus behind it. The plateau has a thick rock cap on top with sandy hills eroding down from it. The storms continue around the edges of the brilliant blue day, with much rain to the south of us right now.

As we approach Cortez, the sandy plateau draws near, skirting the eastern edge of the city. The dark mountains we saw in the north at the Four Corners are closer and bigger. Horses graze on large, grassy lots with short trees, and small houses and trailers mark the southern outskirts of the large, spread-out city. In the modern, central part we stop at Radio Shack to get another photo memory card for the camera. We look up to see storm clouds and rain covering the entire eastern horizon.

The plateau recedes from the city and ends as we turn east, still on 160, which is now running on the north side of the Mesa Verde Park. The Mesa Verde Mountains mark a change in the territory. They are more pointed, taller and darker than the sandy, rock-covered plateau near Cortez. The ground cover is a medium green with junipers on the southern Mesa Verde Mountains. We turn from 160 onto the park road, which runs south for 20 miles. We decide to explore the park first, before we go to our room at the main lodge.

You have to drive through the WHOLE park before you can see any of the cliff dwellings, which are at the very bottom. As we are going along, looking at the scenery, Mark and I both decide that, you know what, there really isn’t much to look at here! This park is merely a series of north-south rounded, low rock ridges covered with scrub and short bushy trees. And all of the trees have been burnt to a crisp! Fires have gone through the park continuously over the years. Actually, if the trees had not burned, you wouldn’t be able to see any of the park at all, because they are very close to the road. We decide that it would be better if nine-tenths of this park were turned into condos!

We go south to the Spruce Tree House, an interesting cliff dwelling that is easy to get to. There is a round subterranean room that you can climb down into via a wooden ladder. We walk back up the trail to the museum, also very nice.

We travel north about half way up the park road to the Main Lodge, Visitor Center and Far View Terrace gift shop. While we are buying souvenirs, we turn around and see the most exquisite pottery ever. And the artist, Bob Lansing, was there! He had just finished a demonstration of his carving techniques. He makes the pots, then etches the designs with an Exacto knife. The detail is so fine it looks like an engraving. He does patterns and animals that are just superb! We did buy some other souvenirs—two wine glasses with whimsical petroglyphs on them, and a sweater for me.

The Far View Lodge is a series of rectangular buildings facing south on a hill that overlooks the park. Now, there may have been a view at one time, but half the rooms don’t look at anything any more! Typical of most parks, they let the brush grow up, obstructing the view in many areas. Also, the more northerly buildings simply look into the backs of the south rooms! What a dumb design! The rooms don’t look like much from the outside, but our room at least had very nice western furniture inside, and a balcony with a view. All the rooms are built high up, with balconies on the south side. We went out on our balcony, looked down and saw a deer grazing right below us!

We went to the Main Lodge for a superb gourmet dinner. It’s a beautiful place, with white stucco, dark wood beams and posts and a view south to the park.

The next morning we wake up to a cool, clear day. We see deer again off our balcony. As we drive away from the parking lot, we see four bucks feeding at a large metal tub. The park is feeding the deer! That’s why they are hanging around the motel rooms!

We have decided not to see the other ruins. We’re not that interested in them, and the rest of the park is nothing special. I think this park would be a good place to go, just as long as you realize there is NOTHING here except for the ruins and the fine dining at the main lodge.