Day 27

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States: Utah, Colorado, New Mexico
Miles driven: 253
Miles hiked: lots of short hikes/walks
Slept: In a sketchy industrial gravel lot I could barely find in the dead of night in New Mexico. I didn’t realize I’d even entered New Mexico until morning.
10 words or less: Closed the loop on the Grand Circle. Heading for home.

A final day of adventure

Sipapu Bridge, Natural Bridges National Monument

I have to admit, several times near the end of this journey I’d said to myself “I’m kind of over the whole rock thing.” I mean how many photos can you take of rocks, really? Too many, in my case. I tried to scale it back, but then there’d be something else that was totally awesome. Today would be the last day of exploring and where I’d close the loop and the Grand Circle of National Parks in and around Utah, Arizona and Colorado.

I drove to Natural Bridges National Park. Rock bridges. I drove to Hovenweep National Park. Rock ruins. I drove to Mesa Verde in Colorado. Rock bridges and ruins. The drive to Mesa Verde from Hovenweep was very nice. I took a scenic byway I’m too tired to go look up right now, but there were lots of cows, lamb and buffalo heards along the way. Oddly enough, as I was hauling ass from one park to the next, from one trail or vista point to the next this day, I was reminded of the girl on the trails in the Canyonlands that ran from sight to sight. I get it now! I was hell-bent on soaking as much in as I could as fast as I could.

Needless to say, I scaled back the photos on this last day. I missed some good stuff simply because I was tired and just wanted to start heading for home. I continued on and after dark made it to Durango and stopped for food. I decided to buck up and keep driving until I found a good spot to car camp for the night. There ain’t shit for ad hoc camp spots in Southwest Colorado! I finally found an big open gravel lot off the highway somewhere in New Mexico and called it quits there where random rabbits here or there would hop past.