Four Corners: Arizona

April 11, 2022: Crossing over into Lukachukai, we drive into Chinle along the northern rim of Canyon de Chelly, a network of canyons that form an ancient home for the Diné. After walking the canyon rim at several overlooks, we eat lunch in Chinle before driving the southern rim of the canyon. After checking in for an afternoon nap at the Thunderbird Lodge, we return to the canyon’s edge at Spider Rock Overlook for a magnificent sunset.

April 12, 2022: A cold morning with blowing winds, billowing dust, and dramatic storm clouds so typical of canyon country. We photograph a terrific sunrise on the south rim before leaving Chinle behind. Passing through curtains of rain showers, we cross the desert to the north, ascending the mesas surrounding Tsegi Canyon and hiking to an overlook of Betatakin at Navajo National Monument. After a picnic lunch, we retrace our steps to Kayenta and enter Monument Valley (Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii: “Valley between the Rocks”). We spend the afternoon driving the valley road that winds between the tribal park’s iconic redstone buttes and mesas and hiking a loop trail around the West Mitten. The hike is desolate, beautiful, and all the more enjoyable after several hours cooped up in the car and bouncing along dusty roads. After a bone-chillingly windy sunset, we eat dinner and fall asleep at Goulding’s Lodge.

Four Corners: Utah

April 13, 2022: After catching sunrise’s first colors on the buttes of Monument Valley, we pack up our motel room and head east out of the valley, into Utah. We make a brief stop at the Goosenecks to see the impressive, deep meanders of the San Juan River before ascending a steep gravel road to reach Cedar Mesa. With the Bears Ears looming over us to the north, we enter Natural Bridges National Monument and begin a steep descent from the canyon rim to the bottom of Sipapu Bridge - a beautiful trail replete with reflected light on the canyon walls, towering ponderosa pines, and a series of ladders for climbing up and down the slickrock. We bushwhack about a mile up the White Canyon, crossing over the wash multiple times, to reach a series of ancient ruins and pictographs hidden against the canyon wall. After a grueling ascent back to the car, we drive east to Blanding and get burgers at the Patio Diner before passing into a deep sleep.

April 14, 2022: In the morning, we return toward Cedar Mesa. On the east side of Comb Ridge, we take a brief walk to see the ruins overlooking Butler Wash before crossing the ridge and hiking up Mule Canyon to see a beautiful group of ruins, which appear to be ablaze from sunlight reflecting off the slickrock in mid-day. In our hour sitting in front of the ruin waiting for the light, we meet an indigenous guide who shows us a group of pictographs and handprints near the ruin, as well as several groups of hikers who share an appreciation for the natural and archeological heritage of the Colorado Plateau. At noon, we exit the canyon and stop at the well-developed Mule Canyon Ruins before returning to Blanding. We explore the Edge of the Cedars State Park and museum before eating lunch in town.

Four Corners: Colorado

April 14, 2022: After leaving Blanding, we cross the sagebrush country into southwest Colorado, stopping at Hovenweep National Monument in the afternoon to hike around Little Ruin Canyon. After circling the canyon and photographing the ancient watchtowers with Sleeping Ute Mountain looming in the backdrop, we drive east into Colorado and have dinner in Cortez before checking into our motel.

April 15, 2022: We leave Cortez in the early morning to enter Mesa Verde National Park and catch sunrise at the Mancos Valley Overlook; unfortunately, I forget my tripod at the overlook, and it is stolen in the intervening hour before we return from the top of Chapin Mesa. The rest of the morning (minus frantically backtracking to the overlook and then filing a lost item report with the NPS crew) is spent on Chapin Mesa, visiting the Square Tower House and Sun Temple, and viewing the Fire Temple and Cliff Palace from across the canyon. Unfortunately, the Cliff Palace loop is closed due to road repairs, and we are too early in the season for guided tours of the cliff dwellings, so our Mesa Verde experience is a perfunctory one. We hike the Petroglyph Trail along Spruce Canyon before returning down off the plateau and relaxing for the rest of the afternoon in Cortez.

April 16, 2022: After breakfast at our motel, we make the long drive from Cortez back to Albuquerque by way of Gallup. We stop at Malpais National Monument to photograph a large rock arch beneath the cliffs, before passing through Acoma and Laguna pueblos on our way back tothe city. We eat lunch in Old Town Albuquerque and buy chips with a jar of green chile salsa to enjoy in the motel. The next day, we fly back to Boston with a brief pit stop in Chicago, returning home late at night.