Visiting Colorado - Four Corners and Monument Valley

My favorite photo for this post.....


After leaving our Harvest Host free camp site at the Conquistador Golf Course in Cortez, New Mexico, we drove to Four Corners where the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah all meet.  It's possible to be in all four states at the same time!

The site is on Navajo Nation Indian land.

Al and I were there in the past and it was interesting to see how the area has improved over the years.  The structures surrounding the site were previously old shacks and now have been replaced with much more secure buildings.  It was nice to see the various jewelry items hand made by the Indian ladies.

Here is the line of people waiting to take a photo on the site where the four states meet. It was fun to see the creativity of others and their poses. 

Another reason to visit Four Corners was to get some Indian Fry Bread.

Fry Bread with Cinnamon and the other with Powdered Sugar

Unfortunately the fry bread we had this time was not as good as I remembered from our last trip.

After Four Corners we headed onward and passed through Mexican Hat, Utah.  The scenery was beautiful.

The Mexican Hat which the town was named after.

And then it was time for my favorite drive, the route in to Monument Valley, which is on the Utah and Arizona border also on Navajo Indian land.  I absolutely love this view!  It may look familiar to those who saw the Forrest Gump movie when he went out for a run.

In the past we stayed at a hotel in Kayenta, Arizona but this time we spent a couple of nights at a two year old KOA campground very close to the entrance to Monument Valley.  There are now three RV parks in the area with this new KOA being the newest. 

We had some great views from our site and amazing sunsets over the giant rock formations.

Okay, we'll stay out of the grasses and bushes to avoid the critters.

Sunset through the KOA office

On our full day in Monument Valley, we paid the $20 to the Navajo Tribe and entered the park.  In the past we've hired a Navajo native to take us on a tour and it's been worth the money.  This time we did the 17 mile road on our own with our 4x4 truck.  The road is not paved and many areas are pretty rough.  Of course we left the RV in the campground!

West Mitten and East Mitten

 

There are many places to pull off the road to get out of the truck and look around and of course take photos.

Check out that beautiful truck!

This is John Ford's Point.  John Ford was an American film director who filmed many western movies in this area including those staring John Wayne.

 

View from Artist Point

Across from the park is Gouldings Lodge and Trading Post which was established in the 1920's.  They have a hotel, restaurant, RV park, gas station, small grocery store, museum, and gift shop.

Monument Valley is not a national or state park but instead owned by the Navajo Nation Indian Tribe also had a Junior Ranger program so I completed that one too.

After leaving Monument Valley, we drove southwest on Rt 160 to Rt 89 to just north of Flagstaff where we spent three nights on Forest Service Land for free.  The temperature was perfect with warm days in the mid 80's and nights in the 60's.  It was so nice to be able to open all the windows of the RV and enjoy the fresh mountain air.

Next it was back to Boulder City to get ready for another week on Lake Mead.