I spent the last week traversing the Southwest, from Salt Lake City, Utah to Dallas, Texas to pick up my friend Rachel for some adventures.
Quick plug- If you want email notifications of new blog posts, enter your email in the “subscribe to blog” section to the right, above “archives” (computer only, not mobile). My first stop was super chaotic. I went to Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, and was hoping to camp on BLM land nearby, but when I got there in the dark it was all farmland and I was having trouble finding where I wanted to be. I ended up just pulling over on the side of a road into a turn off behind some rocks, and slept in my car for safety. It may have been on the BLM land, I wasn’t sure, but it was nearly 9pm and I just wanted to end my day. I slept reclined in the drivers’ seat, and got a few hours of sleep. It was the first time I have done that on this trip! Not ideal, but I figured it would happen eventually. My hike in the monument the next day was awesome, I saw lots of remains of dwellings up high in the canyon walls. They were left from the Chaco people that lived there 800-1100 years ago. Pretty wild!
The next day I drove to Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. I was super excited to visit this park. Some of the largest pueblo remains from the Chaco people exist here. Massive “great houses”, that used to be up to 4 stories tall and house hundreds of people. I arrived at night and drove through the park, without seeing any of the sites, to a campsite that was 16 miles south of the park. I was alone and in the middle of nowhere, it was awesome. The park itself is super remote, making it an international dark sky park. Unfortunately, the next morning I was not even 3 minutes down the road from camp heading to the park, when I blew a tire. I put the spare on, but decided that seeing the park and driving another 40 miles on the bumpy dirt road wouldn’t be a good idea- if I got a second flat I’d be hours from town with no one around. I drove to the nearest body shop, 1.5 hours away. Long story short I got a used tire to replace the blown one, it cost $35, so all in all not too bad. I was just pretty disappointed to have missed seeing the amazing sites at Chaco Culture.
I spent the night camping on Cibola National Forest land, still in New Mexico. The next day I drove to a campground in Santa Fe National Forest, still in New Mexico. Who knew there was forest in New Mexico!? Both were super pretty, especially the Santa Fe area one. Fall colors were in full swing and the temperatures were ideal- highs of 80ish in the day and lows of 50ish at night. During my drive on this day I stopped at two National Historical Monuments- Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque and Pecos National Historical Park in the town of Pecos, near Santa Fe. More info about these monuments in the captions of photos below…
My next stop was Amarillo, Texas. I spent the day in Palo Duro Canyon State Park, which is the second biggest canyon in the U.S., after the Grand Canyon. It was over 100 degrees, welcome to Texas! I did the scenic drive then went on a short hike to experience the area. I landed in a $30 hotel room, which was only $15 more than it would have cost me to sleep on the ground next to my car, so I was happy with that. I got to watch the Celtics game, sleep in a bed, have a shower, and AC! Well worth it.
After Amarillo I headed to the Dallas area and camped at a nice campground on Lake Whitney, just over an hour outside of the city. The next morning (today) I arrived in Dallas.
Traveling through the southwest in the way that I just did was something I never thought I’d do. I’m a mountains girl at heart, which is why it was so cool to see such a wildly different landscape. The desert is nice, I haven’t pitched a tent in days. Sleeping under the stars is always a good time, especially when there is zero light pollution or clouds around! I learned a ton about the Chaco and Pueblo people, and, by extension, the people that live there still today such as the Navajo Nation. I always wonder what people did before smartphones and electric toothbrushes… but from my experience in the National Monuments on this drive, it appears they got along just fine! As I post this blog, I am in Dallas with my friend Rachel. We are headed to Big Bend National Park for the next few days. She is from Texas, with lots of local knowledge, so I am wicked excited to experience this amazing place with her! Comments are closed.
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