(20) Visiting the Four Corners; driving through Monument Valley, Utah/Arizona and Painted Desert, Arizona

There is one place in the U.S. where four states meet: Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. This place is called the Four Corners. When you go there, you can stand in the four states at the same time;) Click on the picture to read when it was established:

The Four Corners area used to belong to Mexico, from which it was acquired as a result of the 1848 American-Mexican war. Now the area belongs to the indigenous Navajo Nation and the Ute. You have to pay $3 to visit the place. The inscriptions under the names of the neighboring states suggest that it is a monument commemorating an agreement between the people inhabiting the area. The inscription goes as follows "Four States":

"Here Meet"
"In Freedom"

"Under God"

Here is what the Four Corners Monument looks like from a distance (the picture grows if you click on it):

The trip to the Four Corners allowed me to set foot in New Mexico, whose capital is Santa Fe although, as I have written elsewhere, the biggest city is Albuquerque. New Mexico is known for the biggest population of Hispanics in all U.S. states (43%).

The picture below was taken on the way to Monument Valley: note how the wind has carved blocks in the rock. I am already excited about what will come next;)

On the road to Monument Valley - the view of Dead Horse Point State Park: the beautiful red mesas make you feel as if you were entering a fairy world. Click on the picture to see all the shades of red:

Here is another breath-taking view of the wind's artistic ability to sculpt the soft rock and produce intricate shapes (click on the picture if you want):

Below is the left-hand side of the previous view from a different perspective:

Visible below is a nice meander of the San Juan River, which joins the Colorado River at Lake Powell.

And here is a classic road view of Monument Valley. The Valley, which lies on the border of Utah and Arizona, belongs to the Navajo Nation Reservation and is part of the Colorado Plateau. It is famous for the sandstone buttes, that is tall hills with vertical sides and relatively flat tops - miniature mesas, one might say;) We're driving along US 163 and approaching the Valley from the north. Click on the picture - we have still quite a distance to cover to get there:

We are approaching Monument Pass, slowly but successfully:

Natural forces (wind and rain) have eroded the land and created the wonderful sandstone formations which seem to defy gravity:

Below is another steep butte visible from the road leading now to the Painted Desert:

The Painted Desert (click on the picture) is a beautifully colored vast area of badlands, which we passed on the way from Monument Valley to Grand Canyon. The name of the desert derives from its many colors:

The Painted Desert wasn't on our itinerary, so we only drove by watching the area that looked like a multi-layered colored cake (clicking on the picture might help):

And below is the last glimpse of the beautiful desert. We are turning left now to get to Grand Canyon's South Rim. This will come next on the blog.

(19) Mesa Verde NP, Colorado

Situated in the southern part of Colorado, Mesa Verde NP allowed us to take a look at life in pre-Columbian America. Visible below is a huge mesa, that is a mountain with a flat top like a table.

The mountains offered shelter to an ancient people whom archeologists call Anasazi, which in Navajo means "the ancient foreigners". The Anasazi were originally located in the Four Corners region (next on the blog) and chose Mesa Verde for their home about 1,400 years ago, that is approximately in the year 600. Below is the picture of the largest village in Mesa Verde called Spruce Tree House:

The Anasazi lived in the area for about 700 years before they moved away in late 12 century. During the seven centuries of their Mesa Verde settlement they built communities sheltered in the stone caves of the mountains. As visible above, the Anasazi used nature to their advantage, building their dwellings under the overhanging cliffs that protected them from snow and rain and, most probably, from unexpected visitors, either human or predatory;)
Judging by the intricate alleys built for contemporary visitors, prospective ancient attackers must have found it difficult to get to the Anasazi dwelling place:

Well, if those aggressors managed to get down the cliff, they most probably died of poisoning, killed by local plants which may have served as natural "barbed wire";)

The Anasazi, ancient as they were, certainly mastered the art of architecture, which is evidenced by the remnants of their dwelling places made of sandstone. I couldn't help wondering how the hell they built such multilevel houses when they were literally hanging from the cliff...

I also had a chance to get down into a room which looked like a private family bedroom:

When I looked at the sunlit ancient blocks of flats, I concluded that the Anasazi must have spent a lot of time outside their dark alcoves in the warm sun in the open yard.

This well-shaped chamber cut in the rock may have served as a local center for religious rites and social gatherings. The hole in the middle may have been a fireplace...

Mesa Verde NP, which was created in 1906, is a surprisingly big plateau: over 30 km long and about 25 km wide. The impressive mesas are separated by deep canyons (click on the picture, it grows):

Another Anasazi dwelling - there are 600 cliff dwellings in the park, which means that quite a few Ancestral Puebloans, as they are now called, must have lived in the area. (Click on the picture to see more details)

The Anasazi were agricultural people: they hunted game on the mesa tops and grew crops there. Well, in order to function in this culture you had to be very fit: imagine a husband climbing to work in the field in the morning;)

Another Anasazi cliff dwelling:

Driving across a mesa: the trees destroyed by a fire add to the gloomy atmosphere of this long-dead settlement.

The legend below introduces tourists to the arcana of Anasazi sacral architecture (clicking on the picture might help):

A glimpse into the Sun Temple's interior:

One final shot of an amazing Anasazi village before we leave this peaceful area which was once home to a flourishing native American people (click on the picture if you want):

(18) Grand Teton NP; On the Road to Denver, Co; The Rocky Mountains

From Yellowstone I traveled south to Jackson Hole, which is a valley neighboring with the high Teton Mountains, hence the name of the park: Grand Teton NP. The area between Yellowstone and Grand Teton was donated to the Park by the Rockefeller family in 1950 (about 13 thousand hectares), so the picturesque 132-kilometer-long corridor of forests was named John D. Rockefeller Jr Memorial Parkway. Visible from a distance in the picture below are three granite towers: Grand Teton, Middle Teton and South Teton:

Grand Teton peaks are situated over huge Jackson Lake, which is the biggest of the many glacier lakes in the Park:

The upper sections of Grand Teton towers are covered with snow and ice, hence their blue-grey color. Those mountains are among the youngest ranges in the Rocky Mountains - they are about 20 million years younger than the Alps. Below them you can see the water of the Snake River (click on the picture and it grows):

The view of the valley was shot from Signal Mountain, which is situated on the other side of Jackson Lake and offers a vantage point from which to view both Grand Teton (the picture above) and the huge valleys lying to the south-east of the mountain.

Another view from Signal Mountain over the huge valley and the Snake River:

From Grand Teton NP we traveled south-east to Lander, where we spent the night. In the evening we had a substantial dinner in a local pizza restaurant and watched Michael Phelps win his seventh gold medal in swimming. When we left Lander on the next morning, the clouds looked ominous, as you can see in the picture below, and a storm seemed inevitable:

"The cloud stoops to kiss the mountain" was my diary caption for the view below. The atmosphere in the Rocky Mountains was very different from that offered by the Sierra Nevada:

Because the Rockies are so huge, a tourist relishes in admiring very diversified landscapes. The picture below was taken already in Colorado. The sunny weather promised a nice afternoon in Denver:

Unfortunately, Denver did not welcome us with sunny weather. Maybe because the city's elevation is about a mile above sea level and because it is situated practically on the borderline of the Rocky Mountains, it was cold, rainy and cloudy:

Since the weather was so unfriendly to tourists, I did not take many pictures of the city, only a snapshot or two of the City Center, which did not strike me as particularly original. Colorado advertises itself as a "colorful" state but I found the slogan misleading:

On the next morning, after we said goodbye to S, we continued our journey through the Rockies south to Cortez, which meant that we would have to cover a distance of about 690 km. In the picture below snow-covered peaks are shining far away:

The Rockies offered us an extreme experience of driving in a snowstorm in August. The flashes of lightning, the hail as big as rubble which bombarded the roof of the car, the slippery road which made it impossible to move faster than 10 miles per hour - all this made our trip in the Rockies quite dangerous and exciting (well, it actually felt exciting only after we got out of the sleet):

Such surprises caused by the weather are common in the Mountains; below you can see a ramp for trucks which get caught in snowstorms - it helps truck drivers stop the vehicle when brakes don't work on the slippery road:The Rockies are fairy mountains indeed. The picture shows the mountains after the storm: the water evaporates quickly and the steam looks like smoke from a fire:

Another snapshot of the Mountains after the rain - eerie:

Believe it or not, but the river visible below is the famous Rio Grande, the fourth largest river in the U.S. and a natural border between the U.S. and Mexico (known as the Rio Bravo there). Here it is still small, because the picture was taken very close to the River's spring, when we crossed the Rio Grande in Colorado, driving west along route 160. From here it took us a couple of hours to get to Mesa Verde NP, which will come next on the blog.

(17) Yellowstone NP, Wyoming (Part II)

One of the most famous views of Yellowstone is Old Faithful. The name of the geyser suggests that it is very reliable: it allows tourists to admire its spectacular eruptions every 90 minutes or so (S):

Old Faithful shoots boiling water to a height of about 45m. The eruption that I saw lasted about 2.5 minutes (S):

One more snapshot of Old Faithful's spectacular activity (S):

Midway Geyser Basin area is particularly interesting as it contains two largest hot springs, Excelsior Geyser and the unforgettable Grand Prismatic Spring. Below is the picture of a map of the area:

The steaming earth on the way to the hot springs promises a hellish spectacle. In my diary I labeled this view as an "angry earth";)

Walking on the ridge of Excelsior Geyser Crater felt like walking on the edge of the pit of hell. The last eruptions of this geyser were recorded at the end of the 19h century (there was also one in 1985, but it was totally unpredicted and isolated), but the steam and the noise produced by this once largest geyser in the world provide enough horror and excitement. No wonder Rudyard Kipling called the area "Hell's Half Acre" when he visited the Park in 1889 (S):

The water in the hot springs contains elements and mineral particles which add color to it. The yellow-green belts might as well be algae; however, I preferred to continue associating everything with hell, so for me they meant "sulfur";):

The hot water flowing from hot springs into the Firehole River makes it inaccessible to potential swimmers (though the temperature of the river's water must be inviting;)(S):

Finally, I'm approaching Grand Prismatic Spring. The legend contains all the necessary information:

Because of the size of the Spring, the pictures capture only fragments of the spectacular steaming lake. I loved the contrast between the oranges of the ridge and the turquoise water visible below the steam:

Another snapshot of Grand Prismatic Spring captures the richness of its colors. Mind you, the day was rather overcast, so I could only try to imagine what it would look like in the sun:

And, finally, a sort of panoramic view of the Spring's section - to give you an idea of its huge size (S):

Below is what I would have seen if I had flown in an aeroplane or a helicopter (not that I saw any hovering above) over Grand Prismatic Spring on a sunny day:

Yellowstone is not always so colorful: sometimes the area is grey and desolate, as if something poisonous contaminated the earth and killed all life here:

The cadaverous yellowish color of the water in the spring below may provide an answer:

On the second day of my peregrination through Yellowstone I traveled north to visit the area known as Mammoth Hot Springs. The map below explains that the springs are called "mammoth" because of their size and shapes:

Here is a picture of the most spectacular Mammoth Hot Spring, where the water trickles lazily, but the effect is that of the proverbial still waters that run deep:

Mammoth Hot Spring in close-up. I had to touch the water: it felt warm and didn't burn my hands but I didn't dare to taste it, though the view suggests it must contain a lot of minerals;)

Below Mammoth Hot Spring. Lucky me I didn't taste the water - look what it has done to the trees;) I have a sneaking suspicion though that the trees have not decayed because of some poison contained in the water (like in Poe's pond surrounding the House of Usher) but because the minerals created a crust which prevents water from soaking in the ground. The resulting landscape would fit a fairy-tale world:

The variety of views that Yellowstone offers reminds me of Death Valley, where a kaleidoscope of changing landscapes has a dazzling effect on a traveler:

A panoramic view of northern Yellowstone's beautiful meadows (S):

The picture below shows a very characteristic feature of Yellowstone: every now and then travelers can admire contrasts between the skeletons of burnt trees and the fresh green grass and new little trees, which will provide shelter for the Park's animals. Wildfires are a necessary element of Yellowstone's ecosystem not only because they burn old trees and allow new life to bud in the sunlit areas. Fire is also necessary for lodgepole pine trees to exist: it takes about 25 seconds for a tree to burn down and cones have to open within those precious 25 seconds and release the seeds. Well, timing is very important in nature;) (S):

The area visible in the picture below won't see fire for the next 50 years or so - it was probably burnt in the recent fires of 2001 or 2002. The average area destroyed by wildfires (that is those started by lightnings) amounts to a few hundred hectares. In 1988 massive wildfires, known as the Great Fires of 1988, swept through Yellowstone but - contrary to what some feared - the park began to renew itself very quickly. This view is then not sad but promising (S):

(16) A Trip to Yellowstone NP, Wyoming (Part I)

(S) In order to get to Yellowstone NP from Idaho, we set foot (or, rather: wheel) in Montana, where the western entrance to the Park is situated. Montana is the fourth biggest state in the U.S. (bigger than Poland), but its population is scarce: only about a million inhabitants. The most well-known city in this northern state is probably Billings, but the capital city is Helena. Montana is associated with one major historical event that may ring a bell to the Readers of this blog, namely the most famous battle in the Great Sioux War of 1876-77, the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

The map below (grows if you click on it) illustrates the most popular routes in Yellowstone NP, whose shape looks like an 8. We entered the Park from West Yellowstone and traveled down the lower loop on the first day and up the northern loop on the next day of our peregrination through vast Yellowstone (with the area of about 900 thousand hectares it's bigger than Rhode Island and Delaware taken together). We left the Park through its southern exit leading to Jackson Hole.

Visible in the picture below is the main street, called Yellowstone Avenue, in the tourist town of West Yellowstone, which lives solely on visitors to Yellowstone NP. The town is full of motels, souvenir shops and restaurants (well, diners). Despite the huge number of motels, it wasn't easy to find lodging for two nights but, at long last, we managed to get a shabby (and stinking) room for the extortionate price of over $160 per night! And we considered ourselves lucky because finding a room without prior reservation, when the Park is visited by 3 million tourists a year sounds like a miracle indeed;) (S):

The most striking feature of Yellowstone are its geysers (2/3 of the world's total number of geysers), which are the result of the fact that the Park is situated on a volcano boiling 6 km below the earth's surface. Because of this the earth emits heat, and geological processes can be observed in the Park's hot points. The first picture taken upon our entrance to the Park captures a strange view of steaming grass. (S):

The trip to the first area of geysers in Norris Geyser Basin was an unforgettable experience: the smell of sulphuric acid (like that of rotten eggs) was at first a nuisance, but one can easily get used to tolerating it when the view is so fabulous (S):

Walking among geysers is like walking on the precarious surface of a dormant volcano, hence tourists must walk along the network of wooden trails. The guardrails make sure that people do not fall off the bridges into the hot poisonous mud below (S):

Here is a spectacular outpour of steam getting out straight from the inside of the earth:

The Steamboat Geyser discharges fumes like a chimney on a boat:

Visible below is Dragon's Mouth - not an orchid but a hot spring which is only partially visible: the activity takes place in the cavern and tourist only hear the belching and see the steam over undulating muddy water:

Another mud volcano, still active, if you look closely. The earth around it is very dry:

Yellowstone takes its name after the Yellowstone River, which flows across it, carving a huge canyon in the soft yellow rocks. It seems that the river was named to celebrate the effect of its activity: the uncovered interior of the earth. Click on it to see how spectacular it is (S):

And, finally, the picture of the Yellowstone River's Falls taken from the vantage point situated a little bit lower (S). Everybody's reaction to the spectacle was: "WOW"! I stood amazed at this fairy-tale view and had to pinch myself to believe my eyes: the river's greenish color must be the effect of mixing the water's blue color with the yellow sediment carried from the rocky terrain.

The Yellowstone River's Lower Falls are 93 meters high, no wonder the water is tumbling down with great speed and rumble (S):

The view of the more peaceful section of the Yellowstone River (still speedy though) (S):

The Yellowstone is not the only river in the Park: its many rivers create over 300 spectacular waterfalls:

Yellowstone Lake is the largest body (over 350 square kilometers) of water situated so high (over 2 thousand meters). When you look at it on the map, you see it has a very irregular shape (S):

This picture of Yellowstone Lake was taken on the next day - the comparison of the sky with that visible in the previous picture gives you an idea how changeable the weather was (S):

Yellowstone is associated with bears, especially one very famous Yogi Bear;) However, I didn't see any bears in the area, although they do live in Yellowstone Park. For me, the most memorable encounter with the Park's inhabitants was that with bison (S):

Bison are the largest mammals in the Park and they have survived here since prehistoric times. It seems that Yellowstone's huge meadows providing enough space to graze on and the fact that the habitat has been protected since 1872 have contributed to the animals' growth in number (S).

The beautiful bison couple only looks so friendly and disinterested: you never know when they can become angry and dangerous (S).

Bison feel at home in Yellowstone: they treat vehicles as animals representing another species, dangerous only at night when, unfortunately, many bison get killed because of speedy driving (S).

A bison in close-up: can he mean anything evil? The young bull (I guess) looks friendly and docile, but when he almost put his head inside our vehicle through the open window, I got scared (S):

So, where does the buffalo roam in Yellowstone? Well, anywhere it wants - the buffalo is the king of this place after all, and we were just guests. Thank you, Mister, for your kindness and hospitality;) (S):

(15) Wendover, Utah/Nevada; Craters of the Moon NP, Idaho

Below is the picture of the main street in the little town of Wendover, which is situated literally on the border separating Utah from Nevada. We took a walk up the mountain visible on the left, from which we admired the panorama of the town and its environs (we had a beer or two on the top, but that's off the record;)( S)

(S) A view from the mountain: the plain (still Utah) bathed in the light of the setting sun. One can see a long row of wagons standing there, as if waiting for the engines (usually four) to pull them to their destination farther the West.

Wendover, with its population of slightly over 1500, owes its existence solely to the Transcontinental Railroad, as it served as a station stop on the Western Pacific Railroad (now Union Pacific). The town is quiet, the people living here are rather less than well-off. One might say: "nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes";) (S)

(S) Union Pacific wagons in close-up:

However, life seems to focus in the western part of the settlement, which makes up a separate town called West Wendover, easily confused with Wendover, Utah. West Wendover belongs to Nevada, so it prides itself on casinos and a bigger population of almost 5 thousand. The lights are already on, inviting gamblers from Utah, or simply those who want to DO SOMETHING in this sleepy area.

The biggest casino in West Wendover was so kitsch inside that it was beautiful;) And, to my surprise, it was full... of older people: pensioners searching for a thrill and an opportunity to spend their well-deserved pension money. We were the youngest visitors to this temple of hazard in the middle of nowhere.

After the night in a Wendover motel we traveled north: our next destination was Yellowstone NP, so we had to make a trip through Idaho (S):

In Idaho we visisted Craters of the Moon. The area was once described as "the surface of the moon as seen through a telescope". The area's weird landscape made President Coolidge establish Craters of the Moon National Monument in 1924. We took a scenic ride along the park loop road, as illustrated on the map.

The strange landscape in Craters of the Moon is of volcanic origin (not of meteorite impact, as the name would suggest). However, the lava did not spew from a volcano but from the "Great Rift" - long fissures across the Snake River Plain, where the NM is situated (S).

The lava which produced this vast sea of rock started surfacing about 15 000 years ago, but about 2,000 years ago there was another eruption. Geologists say it's not over;)

The bizarre shapes made of basalt: the blocks of lava grow from the surface like trees in an orchard, except that they look ominous (S):

A walk along accessible trails felt like a walk on the surface of the moon indeed - not that I know what the surface of the moon looks like, but the view was unearthly (S):

Surprisingly, the lava fields only look so barren: plants and trees are quite frequent here:

A walk up this cone took me about half an hour (when you get to the top you see another hill of equal height but steeper!). Exposed to the heat and thirsty (I did not take the water, thinking my trip would end soon), I finished the climb almost crawling, but it was worth the effort (S):

A final glimpse at the lunar surface, which some might find even depressing (S):

(14) Salt Lake City, Great Salt Lake (Desert), Utah

From Glen Canyon on the southern border of Utah we took road 89 up north and then Highway 15, which leads straight to Salt Lake City. So, covering the distance of over 620 kilometers we drove through two thirds of Utah territory. The name of the state comes from the Ute Indian language and means, according to Wikipedia, "people of the mountains". (S):

Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah and, with the population of over 180 thousand, it is the most populous city. However, Salt Lake City belongs to a larger urban area, called the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which is inhabited by over a million people. The city was founded by Mormons in the 1840s. Earlier, the area had been inhabited by Native American tribes of Shoshone, Ute and Paiute. The picture below shows the main street in Salt Lake City, called State Street, which leads to the Utah Capitol State building, visible here on the right at the end. (S)

Below is the picture of the Utah State Capitol, which is a house of the state legislature and the governor's office. The building is impressive: 123 m long, 73 m wide and 87 m high, its name and architecture resembling the US Capitol in Washington DC. It is situated on Capitol Hill, which is a vantage point from which the panorama of Salt Lake City can be admired. (S)

The Pioneer Memorial Museum contains memorabilia from the time of the first settlers. (S)

Despite the fact that it is a state capital, Salt Lake City looks very quiet. Its residential districts are full of greenery, and the bustle of the city does not disturb its citizens (S):

The beautiful and quaint houses look as if they remembered the first settlers. (S):

Utah's capital is situated on the shore of Great Salt Lake, visible immediately after one leaves the city and takes route 80 westward. Great Salt Lake is a closed basin, which means that the water does not flow out of it to rivers or oceans; it is also the largest salt lake in the western hemisphere, with the average area of about 4.5 thousand square km. The lake is very shallow, so its size changes depending on the amount of snow and rain. (S)

Great Salt Lake lies in the area that is very dry - Great Salt Lake Desert. Unfriendly to prospective settlers, the area is very scantily populated, with only snakes and scorpions thriving here. (S):

Great Salt Lake can sometimes cover 8.5 thousand square km, so when the water evaporates, huge areas covered with salt invite car drivers to test their vehicles' performance, which was the main reason why we traveled to Great Salt Lake. (S)

Visible below is the Great Salt Lake that we wanted to visit - Bonneville salt flats (S):

However, our destination was located further west, close to Utah's border with Nevada, so we had to drive along the straight road cutting through the desert - one may feel desolate in this landscape. (S)

Every now and then, however, a lonely traveler can stop and contemplate works of art on the desert - quite surreal, I must say;):

An interesting phenomenon is caught in the picture below: the dry bottom of Great Salt Lake looks as if it was covered with water - it's just a mirage, but I could swear I did see the sheet of water. Another bright conclusion of mine: "the desert is unbelievably deceptive";)

Finally, we've reached our destination: Bonneville Speedway - the area on which land speed records are set and broken. Click on it to learn more (S):

We're not the only visitors to the place: there seem to be quite a few amateurs of speedy driving (S):

And here's our vehicle standing on the speedway (about 16 km long): On your marks! Get set! Go! (S)
However, I prefer admiring the salt sparkling in the afternoon sun. You could swear it's snow (S):