The San Juan Skyway is a 236-mile Scenic Drive, a loop that winds its way through the rugged San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado. The road reaches an elevation of 11,018 feet at Red Mountain Pass. It connects the historic mining and mountain towns of Durango, Silverton, Ouray, and Telluride.

The 25-mile stretch between Ouray and Silverton is called the Million Dollar Highway; it’s a twisty, narrow road with cliff-hanging switchbacks, steep drop-offs and no guardrails. One section of the Highway has a posted speed limit of 15 mph. We decided to leave the RV at the Mancos campground and drive the entire route, stopping in Ouray overnight.

Colorado has 26 designated scenic byways, more than any other state.

The history of the Red Mountain Mining District is one of many stories of the boom-and-bust mining areas throughout the West. As ore deposits were discovered, a wave of miners, cooks, saloon keepers, boarding house operators, stable owners and families arrived seeking their fortunes. Six towns were established in the eight-square-mile area and the population swelled to 3,000 people. None of those towns exist today.

The robbery of the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride in 1889 was the first bank robbery for Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch. They got away with $20,750 – more than a half-million dollars in today’s money. Between 1889 and 1901, they pulled off some of the largest train and bank heists in Wild West history. Makes me want to rewatch “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”

We’re staying in a campground in Mancos, Colorado, just a mile outside of Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park contains over 5,000 documented archaeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Pueblo People.

The region was named Mesa Verde, green table in Spanish, by Spanish explorers when they saw the massive, flat-topped sandstone plateaus covered in piñon and juniper forests. The sight reminded them of giant green tables rising from the canyon floor.

Who were the Ancestral Pueblo People

About 1,500 years ago (about 500 C.E.) a group of Indigenous people arrived in the region that is today Mesa Verde. Historically, archaeologists referred to them as the Anasazi, what they believed was the Navajo word for “ancient ones.” But it was a mistranslation and actually means “enemy ancestors.” Modern Pueblo peoples find the term offensive as it disrespects their ancestors. In the late 20th century, archaeologists and cultural institutions began switching to the preferred term.

The introduction of corn, beans and squash through trade networks enabled the shift from a nomadic culture focused on hunting to a settled agricultural society. For more than 750 years, the Ancestral Pueblo People and their descendants flourished on the mesas and deep canyons of southwestern Colorado.

They began building permanent dwellings, starting with mostly underground pit houses, expanding to multiple room structures and then building elaborate, multi-story stone communities in the sheltered alcoves of the canyon walls.

The Ancestral Puebloans developed advanced skills in stone masonry, water management, farming in arid conditions, weaving, basket making and pottery. They found creative ways of trapping water and used pumice gravel as mulch to slow evaporation. Farming became so productive that it made up about 90% of their diet. All these skills were developed without advanced tools or pack animals to help with the heavy lifting. It’s truly remarkable to consider.

By 1300 C.E. the cliff dwellings were abandoned. It was long believed that the communities just disappeared. The exact reasons are unknown. Archaeologists and historians speculate that drought and conflict with nomadic tribes might have prompted their departure. Many of their Native descendants believe they traveled south to settle among kin already living there.

To learn more:
https://www.britannica.com/video/Cliff-dwellings-Pueblo-III-area-American-Southwest/-182519
https://youtu.be/ifY8gBIonAc?si=qwF4ATN3_JKxtveX

In 1888, the dwelling was discovered by local ranchers who used a large spruce tree to climb down from the mesa top; thus the name Spruce Tree House. Word spread quickly of the find and archaeologists and commercial “pot hunters” descended on the site looting artifacts and causing damage. Survey teams and other expeditions followed and other sites were discovered.

Alarmed by the destruction, conservationists lobbied the federal government to protect the historically valuable artificats. In 1906, Mesa Verde National Park was established to protect the cultural resources for future generations. It is the only national park created specifically to preserve human history and culture. The park was the inspiration for the Antiquities Act of 1906 that protects prehistoric ruins and artifacts.

Local Native American tribes always knew about the cliff dwellings, especially the modern Pueblo tribes who are descendants of the Ancestral Pueblo People. Stories about the cliff dwellers, including exact locations, were passed down through their rich oral tradition. The dwellings remain a sacred place for multiple Indigenous nations and a pilgrimage site for visiting their ancestors.

Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum

Housed in an historic building (built between 1922 – 1925) the museum is one of the oldest in the National Park System. It has extensive displays of Ancestral Puebloan artifacts, tools, baskets and pottery and lots of information on what’s known about the cliff dwellers. In the 20- minute film, “Footprints of Our Ancestors,” we hear from some of the descendants of the Ancestral Puebloans and the park’s significance to them. Mesa Verde is sacred land for 27 Pueblos and tribes.

Park Point Overlook

A short, but steep trail led up to the highest point in the park at an elevation of 8,572 feet. It offers a panoramic view of the Four Corners region. At the top of the point sits the fire lookout tower.

Constructed in 1939 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the lookout tower sits at the highest point in the park. It is still an essential part of the park’s fire management, staffed 7 days a week June – September.

Eighty percent of fires in the park are caused by lightning strike. Rangers in the tower track weather systems, spot early plumes of smoke and log lightning strikes. During the summer the park can receive up to 100 strikes in a 24 hour period. Nearly 75% of the park has burned since it was established in 1906. Modern firefighting can do irreparable damage to archaeological sites. Archaeologists with fire fighting skills work alongside firefighters to identify and minimize the damage.

Cliff dwellings

Three of the cliff dwellings can be viewed up close on a ranger led tour – but the tours are only for the able-bodied. They all require climbing ladders, steep climbs and narrow passageways. Michael’s booked a tour of the largest cliff dwelling in North America – Cliff Palace – for later this week. I’m looking forward to hearing all about it.

On our last day in Utah we took a drive along the Colorado. The Colorado River forms the southern boundary of Arches National Park. Following along the river is Utah State Route 128 originally built to connect the rural communities of eastern Utah. The highway is designated the Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway. Locals refer to it as “the river road.”

Lions Park and the Colorado

The scenic drive starts off with a riverside park named in honor of the Moab Lions Club for its contributions to making the park happen. The park has a pedestrian bridge that crosses the Colorado River.

Michael took the first four pictures.

Heading out of Moab

The Colorado River

Next stop: Mesa Verde National Park in southern Colorado. Goodbye Utah.

After Monday’s overnight rain storm and a couple of cloudy and cool days, the skies are blue again. And the day time temperatures are a pleasant high 70s – the perfect backdrop for admiring nature’s handiwork.

Arches National Park was officially designated a national park in 1971, protecting over 73,000 acres of high desert. The park ranges in elevation from 4,085 feet at the Visitor Center to 5,653 feet at its highest level.

Delicate Arch is a 52-foot-tall freestanding sandstone arch. It became a symbol of the American Southwest when it was on the cover of Life magazine in 1953. The picture and accompanying story is credited with introducing the world to the geological wonders of the region and sparking post-WWII tourism. It has its own postage stamp and is on the Utah license plate. And at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the torch relay passed through the arch itself.

The green rock is referred to as ferrous rock. It formed in Arches’ Jurassic Period, about 150 million years ago when rivers, floodplains and a nearby volcano were present. When volcanic ash landed underwater reducing the available iron, the rock was tinted green, instead of the red colored by iron oxide.

Rock features are always changing – many take form slowly, but they can disappear quickly. In one of the visitor center exhibits, someone was quoted as saying that “on the geologic timescale, rocks are as fluid as water.”

A geological arch is a rock formation with a visible opening completely through it, sculpted over millions of years by the weathering and erosion of rock layers. Arches are a relatively uncommon geological feature, requiring rare, highly specific conditions to form. Arches National Park contains the highest concentration of natural arches anywhere in the world. The park contains 2,000 documented arches.

We took a quick drive through the first part of the Park. We haven’t seen any prominent arches yet, but there were plenty of other stunning rock formations to admire.

Arches, Part 1 Cathie’s pics

Ute and Paiute people believe mountain peaks are places of power, surrounded by unobstructed views and closer to the creator. These sacred landmarks embody traditional knowledge passed down through generations.

Canyonlands National Park is the largest of the 5 Utah national parks at over 337,000 acres. The park is divided by the Green and Colorado Rivers into three distinct land districts that function as separate parks. There are no connecting roads inside the park between the districts. In addition, the Rivers District offers almost 100 miles of the Green and Colorado rivers for watersports.

The most visited district is called “Island in the Sky.” It’s the closest district to the town of Moab; the other 2 are more remote. Situated atop a massive sandstone mesa with steep, vertical cliffs, Island in the Sky  rises over 1,000 feet above the surrounding desert floor. A paved 34-mile round-trip scenic drive follows the rim of the mesa and opens up to stunning, layered canyon vistas. Several overlooks along the way allow for a closer look at the canyon features. Some overlooks have trails to get an even closer look.

As we looked for a place to pull over for lunch, the wind picked up and we could see storm clouds forming. It was particularly striking because, until today, we’d enjoyed blue skies with barely any clouds the whole time we’ve been in Utah. Sure enough, the rains came by evening and it rained all night and the temperature dropped.

Desert Flowers

We’re spending the week in Moab located in southeastern Utah. The town of Moab sits in the Moab Valley which lies between the Colorado River and the La Sal Mountains. Arches National Park is less than 5 miles away and Canyonlands is a 40 minute drive from our campground.

Known as the “Adventure Capital of the West”, Moab is home base for outdoor enthusiasts. Besides the 2 national parks, Dead Horse Point State Park – 2,000 feet above the Colorado River – is nearby. If you’ve seen the movie Thelma and Louise, you’ve gotten a glimpse of the state park – the movie’s final scene was shot in Dead Horse Point State Park. And if you haven’t seen the movie, why not?

Moab is also surrounded by over 1.8 million acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) public land. Our drive here from Torrey was mostly through BLM land. There are lots of opportunities for camping, (for free, but also no facilities) mountain biking, and off-roading on BLM land. BLM land is typically wild and rugged. National parks are a little more civilized.

Both BLM and NPS are federal agencies tasked with protecting our public land. NPS is focused on conserving and preserving natural and historic resources, while BLM is focused on protecting public lands for multipurpose use which could include commercial use. National Parks are more restrictive and use of the parks is highly regulated; BLM land is often remote and use of its land has few limitations.

All this makes Moab a mecca for adventurous souls. Whatever your pleasure – hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, white water rafting, rock climbing, off-roading, zip-lining – you’ll find it here, at all levels. And if adrenaline rush isn’t your thing, you can enjoy the sheer beauty of the landscape. And the skyscape, too. All 3 parks are Dark Sky preserves.

About Moab

• The Moab Valley has been inhabited by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Moab is situated on the ancestral homeland of the Utes, meaning “Land of the Sun”.
• Moab is home to over 90,000 documented petroglyphs and rock art panels – some dating back to 3500 B.C.E.
• In 1855, Brigham Young sent 41 men to establish a mission in the Moab Valley. They faced ongoing conflict with the Indigenous population and abandoned the settlement after 3 missionaries were killed.
• Following the discovery of uranium in 1952, Moab transformed from a sleepy farming and ranching community into a boomtown dubbed the “Uranium Capital of the World” during the 1950s.
• Today, Moab has a year round population of 5,300. It welcomes between 3 – 3.5 million tourists annually.

As we readied the car and RV to leave yesterday morning, I noticed this “Christmas tree” at our site.

As we were exploring the park I noticed black boulders scattered about that were different than the sedimentary rock of the Waterpocket Fold. It looked like volcanic rock to me. I asked the ranger at the geology presentation about them. Yes, those black rocks are volcanic. She explained that during the collision of tectonic plates that created the Fold, magma oozed out through the cracks, eventually forming the boulders. One mystery solved.

Goodbye Capitol Reef

We left yesterday morning for Moab to check out the final 2 Utah national parks: Canyonlands and Arches. If it had been up to me we wouldn’t have come to Utah, it was Michael’s desire to visit the national parks here. Utah never interested me, frankly, I never thought much about the state. But I’m so glad we’re here.

We set out on Route 24 heading east. The route cuts through Capitol Reef National Park, which we traveled on every time we went to the park. We retraced our steps and continued on past the park.

In the Park

I took all the following pictures from inside the car.

Driving beyond the Waterpocket Fold

As we left the park and continued on Utah-24, the landscape started to change.

The Utah “badlands” are a dramatic, heavily eroded desert landscape characterized by colorful clay-rich hills, deep ravines, and sparse vegetation. The badlands of North Dakota, as in Badlands National Park, is also stark, heavily eroded cliffs and canyons against mixed-grass praire landscape.

The San Rafael Swell is a massive uplift of the Earth’s surface that formed 40-70 million years ago, resulting in a domed kidney-shaped geologic area in roughly 2,000 square miles of high desert country in south-central Utah. As it eroded it left behind razor-sharp sandstone walls, spires, deep slot canyons, buttes and mesas.

Butte
Buttes are the smaller, weathered remnants of former mesas. They’re taller than they are wide and have steep, vertical sides.

We attended a Ranger program on the geology of the park. Ranger Shauna came prepared with props and gave an informative presentation on the formation of the Waterpocket Fold. I was pleased to know that most of what she presented I was familiar with. But I did learn that I had gotten one thing wrong.

What I thought were waterpockets are actually called solution cavities or tafoni. Both waterpockets and solution cavities are depressions in the rock surface, but there are key differences. Waterpockets are large basin-like depressions that form on horizontal or gently sloping surfaces through water erosion. Solution cavities are honeycomb-like holes on vertical rock walls or cliffs formed by salt crystals seeping into the rock.

Some final pictures

A Mormon community established in 1880 is now part of the Park. Fruita was a farming community of 10 families known for its lush orchards. When the last residents left in 1955, the National Park Service purchased the settlement with the goal of preserving the community’s unique cultural history. Known as the Fruita Historic District, it includes several of the original buildings. The Park Service maintains the orchards of 2,500 fruit trees.

Tomorrow we move on to the city of Moab and the final two Utah national parks: Canyonlands and Arches

We’re staying in Torrey, a town of less than 300 residents dubbed the gateway to Capitol Reef. We’re staying in a small, family owned campground surrounded by red rock cliffs. It has only 13 RV sites, the smallest campground we’ve ever stayed in. Torrey is a designated Dark Sky community.

We wandered down a side road after dinner our first night here and discovered this small, charming church. They don’t have a website and I couldn’t find any information about it. They do have a Facebook page with 18 followers.

The Park

Capitol Reef National Park was established in 1971. Its defining feature is the Waterpocket Fold. The Waterpocket Fold is a 100-mile long “wrinkle” or fold in the Earth’s crust where newer and older layers of earth fold in on each other. The Fold was created 65 million years ago by the same colliding continental plates that formed the Rockies.

Much of the Fold is contained within the park. Early Mormon settlers called the area Capitol Reef for the white dome-shaped sandstone formations that reminded them of the U.S. Capitol building.

The park’s landscape highlights more than 280 million years of geologic action. These processes – deposition of sediments, uplift of the land, faulting and folding, and erosion – continue to shape the park.

The Waterpocket Fold was a primary travel route for Native Americans, settlers and ranchers. But the rough and rugged terrain proved to be a challenging passage. In 1883, a group of Mormon settlers spent 8 days clearing boulders from a 3.5-mile section to improve wagon passage. Eventually the frontier trail was a key link to connecting isolated parts of Utah. In 1962, the last segment of Utah State Highway 24 was completed. The risk of flash flooding still makes parts of the highway dangerous.

One wayside sign reminded us that the exact landscape we see today will one day be gone: “Geology knows no such word as forever” (quote by author and historian Wallace Stegner.) In 1983, the Pulitzer Prize–winning Stegner declared that the national parks were “the best idea our nation ever had.”

Nine miles of Utah’s Scenic Byway 24 travels through the park giving you a close up look at the varied rock formations of the Waterpocket Fold. There are turn offs and trail heads where you can stop, some with informative wayside signs. At the southern end of the drive is a 2.5-mile unpaved dirt spur called the Capitol Gorge Road.

Waterpockets

These potholes, known geologically as waterpockets, are naturally formed depressions that fill with water. They’re formed by the erosion of flat sandstone. Common throughout Capitol Reef, they give the park’s fold its official name: the Waterpocket Fold.

Desert Varnish

Desert varnish is the thin coating of mineral deposits on bare rock surfaces. The coatings are compositionally distinct from the underlying bedrock. The streaks range in color from orange to dark brown or black.

Fremont Culture petroglyphs

From about 300 – 1300 C.E., Indigenous people made their home among the red-rocks. Archaeologists call them the Fremont Culture, for the 95-mile Fremont River that flows through Capitol Reef. The markings on the red rock face indicate this culture’s ability to flourish in these harsh conditions.

There is no evidence of the Fremont Culture after 1300 C.E. Some archaeologists believe they assimilated into other cultures. The detailed petroglyphs show carvings of bighorn sheep, anthropomorphic figures, and geometric shapes.

Desert Wildflowers

Desert wildflowers are hardy plants that thrive in arid conditions. They have adapted to their environment with features like deep roots and waxy leaves to conserve water. They often bloom after it rains.

Scenic Byway 12 in Utah is an All-American Road – a road designated by the U.S. Department of Transportation for having unique features that don’t exist anywhere else in the country. To date there are 37 All-American Roads, like the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina, the Acadia All-American Road in Maine and the Florida Keys Scenic Highway.

Utah’s Route 12 is 125 miles long and travels through red rock formations, canyons, alpine forest and desert plateaus. It links Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef National Parks. It’s also called the “Journey Through Time Scenic Byway” referring to Utah’s geological past and its human history.

We had already traveled the first few miles of Route 12 to get to Bryce Canyon National Park. Today, we drove the rest of it, about 115 miles, to get to Capitol Reef National Park.

The route is a winding, climbing then descending road; it climbs up to 9,600-feet on Boulder Mountain, before dropping sharply towards Capitol Reef. It was a roller coaster ride. (By the way, I don’t like roller coasters.)

A stretch of the road travels over a ridge with steep drops of about 1,000-feet on either side with no guard rails. That section is called “the Hogback.” Fortunately, Michael’s become very skilled at driving the RV (30-foot-long plus towing a car). There are several turn-offs along the way with stunning overlooks. The experience was a little hair-raising, but so worth it.

The Head of the Rock Overlook looks out over the Escalante Canyons with stretches of slickrock. Slickrock is the smooth, weathered sandstone surface of the canyon wall that can look polished.

The Grand Staircase has 5 steps of sedimentary rock layers; the oldest layer, the Chocolate Cliffs, can be found at the Grand Canyon’s North Rim. Then it “steps up” through the Vermilion Cliffs, the White Cliffs, the Gray Cliffs and the topmost layer, the Pink Cliffs of Bryce Canyon.

From the Homestead Overlook you can see the 9,400-foot peaks of the Henry Mountains in the distance and the blue on the left is the Lower Bowns Reservoir, a trout fishery used for fishing and boating.

We took a final drive into the park to catch the sun setting. The shuttles had stopped running and there were only a few people in the park. It was quiet and peaceful.

We saw a couple of pronghorn bounding in the distance. Often called American antelope, pronghorns aren’t antelope, but related to giraffes! They’re the fastest land animal in North America and 2nd to the cheetah in the world. They’re commonly seen in the park, specially as the day gets cooler.

The Mighty Five

We’re continuing our route through the Mighty Five. Launched in 2013 by the Utah Office of Tourism, the “Mighty Five” marketing campaign encouraged tourists to visit all 5 of Utah’s national parks in one trip. Driving from park to park is about 600 to 700 miles one way. The Office of Tourism recommends 7-10 days to cover all 5 parks.

The campaign has been undeniably successful with a 79% increase in visitors between 2011-2021. Following the record breaking tourism rate in 2021 – some refer to that year as “revenge travel” – there’s been a slight decline of 7-9%, particularly with foreign travelers. Last year saw a decrease in non-U.S. tourists, especially Canadians, but this year seems to be on the upswing; they’re projecting stable and maybe even a slight increase in visitors. Our personal anecdotal experience is that foreign travelers are coming back; we’ve heard lots of different languages spoken in the parks.

The main park road is 18 miles long from the park entrance in the north to the end of the road at Rainbow Point; the last 15 miles lies beyond the Bryce Amphitheater and is called the Southern Scenic Drive. The Drive has 9 scenic overlooks.

The park’s elevations increase the further south you travel, from 7,894 feet at the visitor center to over 9,000 feet at the end of the route. The change in elevation is due to uneven tectonic forces that uplifted this region over the last 20 million years.

Increasing elevation brings cooler temperatures. As you climb higher the forest community changes from ponderosa forest to a mixture of aspen trees and denser stands of white fir and Douglas-fir.

The Bridge Fire

On June 14, 2009 a lightning strike started the Bridge Fire that burned nearly 4,000 acres in the Park and neighboring Dixie National Forest. Years of fire suppression had created a crowded, diseased, and less diverse forest. Fire is a natural agent in the ecosystem; as the fire spread through the area, the forest was reborn. It may look like destruction, but a closer look reveals new growth. Fire plays an essential role in forest health and regeneration.

Rainbow Point, elevation 9115 ft.

Bryce Canyon is part of a larger region called the Colorado Plateau  – a layer cake of colorful sedimentary rocks.

The far mountains are the Tushar Mountains, the third-highest mountain range in Utah. The rocky middle section is the Paunsaugunt Plateau, home to hoodoos.

Black Birch Canyon, elevation 8750 ft.

Black Birch Canyon is one of the 20+ amphitheaters in the park, with Bryce Canyon being the largest. Black Birch trees don’t grow in the park; they’re native to the eastern United States. The site was likely named by early settlers who mistook the local Quaking Aspen for birch due to their similar white bark.

Ponderosa Point, elevation 8904 ft.

The area is named for the massive Ponderosa Pines growing on the canyon floor, some reaching over 150 feet in height.

Agua Canyon, elevation 8800 ft.

Named for the significant water runoff and erosion that shapes its landscape. The overlook is known for 2 prominent hoodoos  – “The Hunter” and “The Rabbit” (or Backpacker).

The “Hunter” is one of the most recognizable solo spires in the park, known for its towering profile that some say resembles a hunter looking out across the landscape. It is easily identified by the green limber pine trees growing on its top. Erosion and weathering continue to shape the hoodoos; this one likely more closely resembled a hunter when it was named.

The NPS avoids officially naming individual hoodoos, their ephemeral nature makes it hard to name them all. The Hunter and the Rabbit are notable exceptions, probably because they are so distinct. Instead, Park literature encourages visitors to use their own imagination to spot shapes, rather than just viewing an officially named, static list.

Natural Bridge, elevation 8627 ft.

Technically an arch, not a bridge, this 85-foot long arch is one of the most photographed viewpoints on the Southern Scenic Drive.

Farview Point, elevation 8819 ft.

Sweeping panoramic views that extend up to 160 miles on clear days. It provides a unique perspective of the “Grand Staircase” and distant landmarks like Navajo Mountain, a dome-shaped landform sacred to the Navajo people, and the Henry Mountains.

The Henry Mountains are famous for being the last mountain range in the contiguous U.S. to be mapped. They were named in 1872 for Joseph Henry, a physicist and the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

The Grand Staircase is the sequence of colorful sedimentary rock layers that form a giant geological “staircase” of cliffs, slopes and plateaus. It “steps up” from the Grand Canyon to Bryce Canyon, stretching 150 miles.