Arches National Park

near Moab, Utah Visited: April 19, 2005 NPS Site Visited: 192 of 353 NPS Website WHAT IS IT? 75,000+ scenic acres of red. Red dirt, red sandstone, red rocks and one of the world’s largest concentrations of natural arches. They are red, too. BEAUTY (8/10) The density of amazing rock formations and sandstone arches is [...]

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Zion National Park

near Springdale, Utah Visited: September 25, 2004 Second Visit: April 21, 2005 NPS Site Visited: 102 of 353 NPS Website; Local Website WHAT IS IT? 229 square miles of beautiful scenery centered around the profound steep gorges shaped by the Virgin River and its tributaries with a little help from geological uplift. BEAUTY (10/10) Zion [...]

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Canyonlands National Park

near Monticello, Utah Visited: April 14, 2005 NPS Site Visited: 191 of 353 NPS Website WHAT IS IT? Desolate, inhospitable land of tremendous beauty created by the Colorado plateau uplift and the incredible erosive powers of the Colorado and Green Rivers. The confluence of these two potent rivers splits the Park into three distinct areas: [...]

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Natural Bridges National Monument

near Blanding, Utah Visited: April 13, 2005 NPS Site Visited: 190 of 353 NPS Website WHAT IS IT? Three towering natural bridges, topographic anomalies caused by the erosive powers of swift moving rivers. Teddy Roosevelt named Natural Bridges Utah’s first National Park Site in 1908, a notable honor of distinction in a state so replete [...]

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Hovenweep National Monument

near Blanding, Utah Visited: April 13, 2005 NPS Site Visited: 189 of 353 NPS Website WHAT IS IT? A series of 1,000-year old Ancestral Pueblo ruins noted by an assortment of multi-shaped stone towers. BEAUTY (6/10) The Square Tower ruins (the only easily accessible ruins) line the rims of the shallow Little Ruin Canyon. The [...]

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Mesa Verde National Park

near Cortez, Colo. Visited: April 11, 2005 NPS Site Visited: 187 of 353 NPS Website; Local Website WHAT IS IT? Numerous Ancestral Puebloan ruins situated in, on and around towering mesas situated in a piñon and juniper forest. The Site and its ruins trace Native American life on the mesas from its humble beginnings in [...]

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Aztec Ruins National Monument

Aztec, N.Mex. Visited: April 8, 2005 NPS Site Visited: 186 of 353 NPS Website; Local Website WHAT IS IT? 11th-century ancestral Puebloan ruin influenced by the dominant architectures of the earlier Chacoan style and the later Mesa Verdean style. The Site is home to a massive reconstructed Great Kiva. BEAUTY (7/10) Aztec Ruins is located [...]

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Chaco Culture National Historical Park

northwestern N.Mex. Visited: April 7, 2005 NPS Site Visited: 185 of 353 NPS Website; Local Website WHAT IS IT? The place believed to be the center of the Ancestral Puebloan world for nearly 400 years, from the 9th through the 13th centuries. The Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, consists of numerous freestanding ruins displaying [...]

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Bandelier National Monument

near Los Alamos, N.Mex. Visited: April 6, 2005 NPS Site Visited: 184 of 353 NPS Website WHAT IS IT? Ruins of 12th through 16th-century Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings and freestanding villages situated at the bottom of Frijoles Canyon and tucked between the sheer cliffs of forested plateaus. BEAUTY (7/10) You approach Bandelier NM on New [...]

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Fort Union National Monument

Watrous, N.Mex. Visited: April 5, 2005 NPS Site Visited: 183 of 353 NPS Website WHAT IS IT? Ruins of a remote fort built in 1851 to protect travelers along the Santa Fe Trail from hostile Indians. BEAUTY (6/10) Fort Union NM is very photogenic, as evidenced by its appearance on the 2003 National Parks Pass. [...]

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