A Mountain Drive and Hiking in the Canyonlands National Park…

One thing I wanted to mention about our campsite in Monticello Utah was that we had a nesting bird in a tree in our front yard. We loved sitting outside and watching this baby Tree Swallow call for its mom. Mom would go out to catch some goodies and return to a wide open mouth which was lots of fun to watch!

Near the park is a nice lake that we walked around. Also close are some mountains that one afternoon we drove up as far up the dirt road as we could. The drive was harrowing at times for Sharon because of her fear of heights but the views from above were breathtaking. We sure liked the cooler temperatures up high.

We saw lots and lots of deer in the high country. It must have been a great year as there were lots of fawns and many of the does had twins in tow. Colorful birds such as the Western Tanager were flitting about the tall firs and pines in the forest. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.

Also a short drive away is another place we have visited before, Canyonlands National Park. Previously we visited the Needles area of the park so this time we visited the rest of the park on the other side of the river. However, before getting there we stopped along the roadside to view newspaper rock. It was a large boulder riddled with petroglyphs from a  bygone area.

We drove into the park to take in the sights close to the roads. Then we found a nice short hike (less than 3 miles) to enjoy. This hike took us across a lot of slickrock and we were rewarded with not only views but cool rock formations.

It was a bit toasty and we went through our water pretty fast. It was also smoky as the smoke from the fires in California were permeating the skies above. The haze made for poor photographs but we still tried to capture what we were seeing. All in all another great hike.

Our time in Monticello Utah is up and we will move back into New Mexico for our next stop…

NOTE:  We are currently in Winslow, Arizona until August 19h…