Hovenweep to Arches, including Bonus State Colorado (Day 12)

Melissa took a conference call in her office for the morning, the Hovenweep National Monument campground. There was one other camper there.

Eroded Boulder House was everyone's favorite, I think.

Sometimes a kid will just not put on her coat.

From Hovenweep to the Arches National Park campground (our next stop), it was either 143 miles via Utah, or 144 miles via Colorado. Naturally we took the Colorado route. Why wouldn't we?

The whole area is pretty remote, remote enough that Colorado didn't put up a 'Welcome to Colorful Colorado' sign. Since Canyon of the Ancients National Monument's Western border is coterminous with the Utah-Colorado border, a cattle guard and this sign were our only immediate assurance we'd actually entered the Centennial State.

Just a few miles into Colorado Melissa spotted a turn for "Painted Hand". The road didn't look too terrible.

It turned out it was a pleasant, easy hike to this ruined tower which we could see from where we parked.

The Smaller One did her pre-hike stretches, as she'd seen some dude doing at the Grand Canyon the day before. Actually, that dude was doing it at the edge of a cliff, to scare his wife it looked like. She thought it was hilarious to imitate him.

In this ruin there were shelves and windows.

Some kids climb one way...

...some kids climb another way. This was the super-awesome way I climbed up and down that rock. Okay, maybe not super-awesome.

That's Shiprock, in New Mexico. It really is.

With that view of Shiprock, Ludwig has now been within sight of the one Western state he has yet to visit.

Just past Canyons of the Ancients, the sudden appearance of plowed fields like you'd see in Nebraska puzzled me.

The explanation was our proximity to Dove Creek Colorado, the pinto bean capital of the world.

Then back into Utah.

This is Church Rock, outside of Monticello Utah.

Ludwig was getting really messy on the inside by this point. Also, why isn't E wearing her seatbelt?

Wilson Arch

Some cool rock.

Our picture with the Arches National Park sign, and my elbow hurts 'cause I bonked it on the thing where we were filling up the water bottles. I think.

The Three Penguins

Balanced Rock. Sooo cool.

Looking back through the Park to the La Sal Mountains.

Arches doesn't take campsite reservations off-season. The month before I called and asked, "what're our chances of getting a spot if we show up on a Wednesday in early February?" The ranger replied, "Oh, as long as it's not 60 degrees and sunny that day, you'll be fine." 

Guess what the weather was like the day we arrived. We got one of the last five spots; the other four filled within an hour of our arrival.

miles 40579.9-40725.6