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.
