Our personal favourite national park out of the nine we had the chance to get a foot in was definitely the
Arches.
The early light was perfect, the morning temperatures still bearable, and so we gathered all our enthusiasm (not a morning person per say...) , and hiked to the Delicate Arch view point. Our legs felt like filled with lead, and we quickly became short of breath. We blamed it on the altitude, and lack of coffeine, not on our fitness. Again it was well worth the effort as we had nature's wonders all to ourselves.
As we had spent more time than planned at Arches, we could only make it a quick excursion to get a glimpse of the most accessible area of
Canyonlands. Moab, we will return one day!
Although running behind already we made a detour through
Monument Valley, which was nice but after all the previous impressions we felt a bit jaded.
Another Harley rider caught in the middle of the scenery... happened quite a bit while taking pictures.
As we were pretty close to Four Corners, what's another stretch of a couple of 100 miles, eh?
There we met a group of Dutch tourists on... bikes.
Now, been there, done that, moving on...
We went through the Southwest corner of Colorado, only because it was there... and didn't expect that this state would actually look like this:
Not much different from New Mexico:
Dead tired from today's impressions we picked one of the usual suspects of hotel chains in Farmington, New Mexico and called it a day.
So far it has been a hell of a trip!
So just to clarify......you have to pay to go to your national parks?
ReplyDeleteGreat pics.
Looks wonderful, especially as what appears to be the complete absence of hoards of tourists!
ReplyDeleteLooks wonderful, especially as what appears to be the complete absence of hoards of tourists!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely beautiful photos. That is a great shot of delicate arch. Are the 10th and 11th pictures (I think I'm counting correctly) taken from the same vantage point just zoomed in? That (the zoomed in one) may be my favorite picture. Great detail and colors.
ReplyDeleteI love the parks in Utah!
Richard
another set of outstanding pictures Sonja!
ReplyDeletedom
Redleg's Rides
Colorado Motorcycle Travel Examiner
More beautiful pictures.
ReplyDeleteLove, love, love the one of the tree silhouette.
Arches is a great NP. The colors and texture of the park are so rich. What a day you had! Thanks for sharing the photos.
ReplyDelete@Raftnn: Roger, no kidding. But it is a fairly small amount considering what you get, and most visitor centers have great information, and often museums.
ReplyDelete@Nikos: That's why we loved the Arches.
@RichardM: They are different pictures taken from the absolute straight road.
@Charlie6 and Trobairitz: Thanks guys, appreciate the comments.
@motoroz: We were indeed blessed with a wonderful day.
@Raftnn: Roger, no kidding. But it is a fairly small amount considering what you get, and most visitor centers have great information, and often museums.
ReplyDelete@Nikos: That's why we loved the Arches.
@RichardM: They are different pictures taken from the absolute straight road.
@Charlie6 and Trobairitz: Thanks guys, appreciate the comments.
@motoroz: We were indeed blessed with a wonderful day.
I am so pleased you saw Bryce Canyon at Dawn. It is a fabulous time of day to see the stunning beauty of the place. It is a small world - I stopped at the Kiva Coffeehouse as well, and admired the terrific views. More great pictures Sonja.
ReplyDelete