Tag Archives: Utah

Alamogordo

Roadtrip, Uncategorized,

Nothing to do with the Texas Alamo, but it’s where I ended up after driving from Mesa Verde.

Long drive (10 hrs) but now only 15 minutes from white sands national park.

Drove through Albuquerque today and could not help keeping an eye out for Walter or Jesse.

Did pass this billboard of the Salamanca nephews.

Tonight I will enjoy the Motel 6 luxury of a real bed, AC and probably the best meatloaf meal I’ve ever had at Lescombes. It was NM spiced and came with a local IPA.

For some weird reason my KPN phone provider does not want to link to New Mexico’s providers, so since this morning I was offline until I reached the M6 motel. Apparently there’s not a good deal between AT &T and the state of New Mexico, as having no connection seems to be a common thing.

After my visit to White Sands, I will head to Guadeloupe national park, which is in Texas, so there I should be connected again.

The Arches

Roadtrip

Close to Moab is the Arches National Park. As I also wanted to drive to Mesa Verde National park later today, I made this one mostly a driving trip.

Some clouds today but still nice weather.

Very scenic drive.

Dead Horse Point

Hiking, Roadtrip

Not an appealing name for a place. But it was much better than it sounds.

Dead Horse Point gets its name from a grim 19th‑century cowboy legend:

Cowboys used the narrow peninsula as a natural corral for wild mustangs. They would drive the horses across the 30‑yard‑wide “neck,” block it off with brush, and sort the herd. According to the story, one group of horses was accidentally left behind on the point — a place with no water. The animals died of thirst while looking down 2,000 feet at the Colorado River below, unable to reach it.

It’s not a place to be left at without water. You can see water, but can’t reach it. Although you can drive up to the furthest viewpoint, I decided to hike from the visitor center.

Pictures hardly ever do justice to the vast views

Zoomed in 2x

zoomed in 3xmaximum zoom. The water is green.

The hike was scenic but easy; mostly flat. I bet it looks even nice in spring when the ice melts into the Colorado river. 250 million years ago this area was flat. The water flowing from the Colorado river eroded this 2000ft (700m) deep canyon.

Monticello

Camping, Roadtrip

After my natural bridges hike I opted for a higher ground camp site, as they cool down nicely around this time of year.

So Monticello it is for tonight

What I like about this place is that it has both restaurants and grocery stores at walking distance.

Natural Bridges Utah

Camping, Hiking, Roadtrip

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