In 1891, the first train on the newly built cog railway reached the summit on Pikes Peak. Even after all the improvements made over 126 years of operation, in 2018, the cog was shut down for a major overhaul of track, equipment, and infrastructure. On May 27th, the first ride of the new railway reached the summit. We were lucky enough to get tickets for the last run of the day on the 29th. Even though overcast, the views were awesome. At the top, 14115 feet high, the temperature was brisk at 30 degrees. Also, the air is quite thin and we walked slowly around the walkway at the new visitors center. Then we descended thru thunder, lightning, and some hail.

The Royal Gorge, near Canon City Colorado, is a narrow canyon that is up to 1250 feet deep at some points. The Arkansas River spent 3 million years cutting the canyon as the Rockys were pushing up nearby. The Royal Gorge Railway runs several daily excursions thru the Gorge to view the canyon up close. About 100 years ago, a suspension bridge was built over the gorge which, at almost 1000 feet high, is one of the world’s highest suspension bridges. The park here at the bridge also has a cable car that crosses the gorge as well as a zipline. A third way to see the Gorge is via the Tunnel Trail. A short but steep hike up the trailhead leads to three tunnels that will let you walk along the cliffside.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park near Montrose, Colorado is a deep and narrow canyon that has areas that see less than an hour of sunlight per day. Some of the vertical rock walls attract rock climbers. Many types of vegetation attract bears, mule deer, porcupine, and beavers. There have even been recent eagle sightings. Combine all of this with great viewpoints and this is a must see!

From our RV park in Montrose, it is about a 90 minute drive to Silverton driving over the Million Dollar Highway. The MDH is 25 miles from Ouray to Silverton and crosses over Red Mountain Pass at over 11,000 feet. The spectacular sites along the way are tempered by the narrow lanes, tight switchbacks, sheer drops and no guard rails. Silverton, established about 150 years ago, is a mining town. The entire are is full of mining history but today is mostly shops and restaurants for the many tourists.

West of Moab on the other side of Poison Spyder Mesa lies Canyonlands National Park. The park has several distinct areas and one of them is Islands in the Sky. Like Dead Horse Point, there are many areas to stop and view these canyons created over the past million years. Paved roads take you to many overlooks and rim trails. Dirt and gravel roads let you descend to the canyon floor to see a whole different perspective. This was our last stop in Utah, but one sure to be remembered.

West of Moab lies this popular state park. Volcanos, oceans, and winds spent millions of years creating these mesas and buttes and the view from the top is quite a site. The canyon floor at the Colorado river is 2000 feet below and the view is awesome. I thought that it would have been nice to drive thru thru the valley below, but they do not broadcast where the access points are.

Continuing north thru eastern Utah, we arrived in Moab. Next morning we drove into Arches NP. Here, 100 million years, nature created over 2000 arches ranging from 3 to 300 feet wide. Many are visible driving thru the park, but many more are only visible by hiking deeper into the park.

Some would say that the Valley of the Gods is the equal of Monument Valley. Here, a 16 mile long dirt road (sometimes very rough) traverses thru this spectacular valley. The sandstone shapes, created over thousands of years, are fabulous carvings that only the Gods could make. This is an absolute must see in SE Utah.

Here in the four corner’s region, you are surrounded by Indian Reservations, mostly the Navaho Nation. Due to Covid, the drive thru Monument Valley is still closed, so we saw the lesser known sites. First, off to Goosenecks State Park. here, the San Juan River winds thru canyons cut over eons. Not as high as Horseshoe Bend in AZ, but still impressive.

Then we drove up the road a little to the Moki Dugway. Here Route 261 turns from two lane pavement to 1-2 lanes of dirt. On this three mile section of the Trail of the Ancients, you travel up a 10% grade with no guardrails. Scary but beautiful.

Around the corner of the Dugway is Muley Point and Muley East. This overlook is on the backside of Goosenecks SP and gives you some awesome canyon views.

Over the course of two days, we were able to stop at almost all of the view points along the south rim of the park. We also got to hike along the rim for a while and even started down a trail to the canyon floor, but didn’t get very far. We learned our lesson about how going down is easy while up is hard, more so in the AZ sun. In person, you realize the actual size of the Grand Canyon, not just how deep it is but how wide. The formations and the colors are striking. The secret to visiting here is to arrive early before it gets too crowded.