We headed across New Mexico on the very busy I-40, with a few side trips to see remnants of Route 66 and pick up a Frito pie for breakfast. By mid-morning we took the exit to the Petrified Forest National Park to have a look around. Even though we read about some lesser developed routes and trails we had difficulty finding them. It seems like the National Park Service wants to keep you on a short leash in this park. Still, we enjoyed the trees that have turned to rocks.
After a restless night listening to the huskies bark and howl and Mancos State Park we were headed south to New Mexico. We scaled back our New Mexico plans dramatically due to closures, but in order to complete our circle of the southwest we did pass through the northwestern corner. One area on the list that we would be near was the Bisti/Di-Na-Zin wilderness. There are at least two main trailheads into the area and because of the short days we didn’t waste any time and went to the one closest to us, which I believe is generally described as the Di-Na-Zin side of the wilderness. While the Bisti side apparently features the hoodoos the area is famous for, the Di-Na-Zin side did not disappoint and it was a great place to wander for an afternoon.
After several days spent near the Bears Ears area of southern Utah we were moving further west and by mid morning we found ourselves in Colorado. The title of this post may be somewhat misleading, as we did cross back into Utah for one more stop, but those lines on the map are pretty arbitrary anyway. Our one more stop was Hovenweep but we entered through Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, at the Lowry Pueblo.
