This national park has 3 natural bridges, the highest concentration of natural bridges in the US. As I told the park ranger about my America the beautiful pass purchase, he stated he wished some of that extra money would actually go to national parks. Then adding that he’d better steer the conversation back to the park itself, as he could (even as a volunteer) get fired for making comments that would be considered political.
I decided to hike down two of them
If you know me a little you know I’m not a religious man. But the drive up this mountain was fun.
Video will be added later
Why? Just look at the picture
In the mornings it’s cool enough to drive with the top down.
Let me introduce you to Goosenecks state park Utah.
I’m standing right next to my mustang, and will actually camp here tonight.
Watch the video below
One of the best pioneer exhibitions I’ve seen and I’m not bluffing; it’s Bluff
First was welcomed and had a private showing of a movie of how the pioneers made it here.
Then there is the outdoors exhibition that has some original chinked log cabins and materials they used at the time.
Inside the tipi it looks like this
The one above is how the Navajo’s built their home.
And to finish it all off they serve the best Huckleberry/ Vanilla ice cream for just 2.50
Very nice place to stop at.
Well, actually, I’m in 4 states; Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. This is the only place in the US where 4 states meet.
it’s a native American run venue, noteworthy only because it is where 4 states meet.
I did a run around it and posted it on Strava 😊
After Chimney Rock I drove to Durango, a town in the mountains on the way to my next state; Utah
To be honest, I liked Santa Fe much better. Durango as a town is like many other American small towns.
But the campground is close to town yet fairly quiet.
There’s a small railroad track right next to my tent; tomorrow a steam train should pass
the train just came by;
I took a video:
Today I crossed another state line; Colorado. I made a stop at Chimney Rock where I also purchased an America the Beautiful pass, which thanks to a certain orange man now sets non citizens $250 back. As I pass for an American easily, the park ranger double checked that I’m not a US resident, and did not mean out of State. I asked the park staff that sold me if the price had gone up, to which she replied; “yes, since this year, but we’re not allowed an opinion on that”. I replied I had one, to which she chuckled and said “I’m sure you do”.
So now for the next 12 3/4 months I have access to all national parks (not state parks, those are separate) For US residents it’s only $100. But at least it’s valid for a while, so I’ll make sure to use it again.
Anyways, after getting the pass I could drive up to where the trail starts that leads to a 1000 year old building on top of the mountain, used for ceremonial purposes and to send smoke signals as far as Mesa Verde, 100 miles away
There you find remains of buildings.
From there the views around are very wide, which is always hard to capture in a photo. But as proof I went up, here’s a picture.
The chimneys look like this;
Before heading out to Heron Lake I visited Santa Fe. It’s a surprisingly pleasant town. Not a single high rise building and lots of Adobe style.
The downtown area is touristy but nice.
There’s an old cathedral, one of the oldest buildings in the US, built in the 1600’s
For lunch, I visited a traditional New Mexican restaurant.
They use locally sourced produce and especially well known for their blue corn.
Definitely the best enchiladas I ever had.
After my visit to Santa Fe I drove north to Heron Lake, which was a very scenic drive, but no safe places to pull over so no pics from that. At the lake, I found a spot at the Blanco sites.
Heron Lake suffers from the same problem as Canyon Lake did until recently;not enough rain.
This is the view of the lake, from a trail that normally is close to the water line.
This hike would normally take you into the water. Now it’s not even close. Below a picture from the furthest I walked, still a long way from the water line.
But Canyon lake proves that all it takes is a month of good rain and the lake could be restored to its full glory.