I stayed the night in Blanding UT with my first college roommate, Brent Flavel. He and his wife were fantastic hosts and tour guides. I told Brent that I'd leave it completely up to him to decide what we did and where we'd go today. At one point we were going to do some exploring via 4-wheeler, but the weather just turned too cold for that...so instead, he opted for a driving tour of two national monuments in SW Utah - Bears Ears NM and Natural Bridges NM. These were both fantastic picks!
The main focus of Bears Ears (at least the part that I saw) was ruins of Anasazi Native Americans. So, let's go there first.
This was nice compensation for not being able to go to Mesa Verde NP on this trip. We also did some really fun hiking around the hills above these ruins, and saw a natural bridge there as well.
From here, we went to Natural Bridges NM. Also incredibly beautiful, interesting, and enjoyable.
And as if that wasn't enough, Brent and Susan took me to a riverbed where you can see dinosaur footprints. Whoa! Cool! Each footprint was about the length of my foot, and the stride was about 3' - a pretty good stride.
So, the Mud Dragons and I owe a deep debt of gratitude to Brent and Susan for the great tour and warm hospitality. THANKS!
And to wrap up the day, I drove north to Moab UT where I'm staying the night so I can get an early start and increase my chances for easier access to Arches NP, and then Canyonlands NP after that.
But even more importantly, Moab is MY TOWN. How do I know...well, just check THIS out!
My Great-great-grandfather's brother and his family were part of the Hole-In-The-Rock expedition way back when to colonize SW Utah. His family relocated north to Moab shortly thereafter, and thus, the naming of this road.
Stay tuned for what happens next!
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