We’re on the road again, swinging a counterclockwise loop around the four corners states: Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah. We started in Mesa and headed up to our place on the rim. Everything is nice and green, and plenty of water all around. Filled the peanut feeder for the Stellar’s jays and the Abert’s squirrels before heading out.

We’ve been trying new paths in and out of Arizona. This time we drove on hwy 61 into New Mexico and the Zuni reservation. We stopped for the day at El Morro National Monument. The sandstone rock there has been the crossroads for travels for 100s of years.

Probably because it has a year-around water source in a pond at the base of the rock.

The trail on the rock was one of the more interesting trials we’ve hiked in all of the parks. There were ancient Zuni tribe ruins…

Ancient art…..

Etching from the Spanish when they controlled the area. This one from 1709…

One of the more recent ones from early Americans when they took control of the area. This one from 1866…

The path was carved in the sandstone in some places and two lines marked the path along the crest.

Woke up the next morning to snow on the ground.

We drove a little way east to El Malpais National Conservation Area. It is a volcanic area with large volcanic beds and craters over a large area. There were many volcanic lava tubes that were now caves and tunnels throughout the area.

At the visitor center we ran into a couple that was hiking the Continental Divide Trail from Mexico to Canada. This park is along that trail. It was their third year of hiking, having finished the Appalachia Trail and Pacific Crest Trail in the two previous years. Pam and I agreed that we would stick with the roamer – lol.

As we were exploring the area a blizzard blew through with alternating heavy snow and blue skies. Here is a picture from one of the look off points over the volcanic flow fields below…

Pam enjoyed the view from inside the roamer…

Then the skies cleared when we got to the arch located in the park ….

We then continued up through Santa Fe, New Mexico and the snow to southern Colorado. We camped just outside the Great Sand Dunes National Park there and awoke to some beautiful landscapes.

We headed over to the Dunes for a unique shot of the snow covered 700 foot dunes with the 10,000 foot mountains in the background.

From there we continued up the valley through Salida (a very neat town with a great restaurant named Laughing Ladies), over the front range mountains and into Longmont, Colorado. The roamer is getting its yearly tune-up for all of the camping systems at the Earthroamer factory in Dacono. We’ll be heading west with friends back to Arizona soon to complete the loop through western Colorado and Utah. Stay tuned…