Dear Maia, Isaac and Virtual Wanderers,

Today adventures in the 4-Corners included rock scrambling, stunning ruins, dirt roads, crossing the State line 5 times (I think), pizza, and an amazing sunset. I’m tired, though. Woke up a little grumpy. Camping has a lot of repetitive tasks that begin to wear me out – all with 3 dogs connected to me 24/7. Plus, I was unsettled about what to do with the day.

Fortunately, Cimarron refused to touch breakfast despite my adding treats. I was not in the mood, so the food got tossed and Cimarron got pilled. The fortune in that is that we bumped into Monument staff doing restroom duty. (The Visitor’s Center was closed today and yesterday, so i could not ask anyone for information.) He told me there is now a gravel road to the ruin I wanted to see – that instantly firmed up my schedule. I was less grumpy.

Today, we headed north to Painted Hand Pueblo. OMG it is graveled up to the trailhead. I was here once 10+ years ago, but had to hike in from the road. I found the long hike along with the rock scrambling a little too time consuming for 1 ruin. (If you like to rock scramble, I believe there is more you can see here. I have short legs and don’t enjoy it much.)

Painted Hand is stunning and worth the walk. You can see it from the overlook if you don’t want to hike the trail. I guess we were somewhere in between. The trail was marked but also a bit confusing. Was glad I had my GPS tracker.

Then, we continued up County Road 10 north 16 miles to our old favorite, Lowry Pueblo. It’s the first time I’ve gone from Hovenweep directly to Lowry. It’s really not far now that the road is paved.

Lowry is interesting because it’s a Chaco outlier and also has Mesa Verde structure. It’s interesting what we can tell about that from masonry style. They think different people lived there at different times. The Kiva with the Winter/Summer figurines in the floor is though to be a factor that drew different people in – the figurines remind me of Chaco Canyon.

Then, I debated about going to Utah for lunch, again. 120 mile round trip for a piece of pizza? The sun was too warm, the car was cool, my charger was charging, and I was hungry. Why not enjoy more 4-Corners vistas? The dogs enjoyed the cool grass at the park in Monticello where we munched on pizza.

We got back and still had an hour to relax before the dinner routine. The sunset was awesome.

We have visited 1 National Park, 4 National Monuments, 2 State Parks, and 3 other historic sites. Not bad for a trip I didn’t know I was taking a week before I left. Im ready to go home but feel like the trip is forever etched in my brain. These adventures make my world a happier, healthier place.

Love ya’, Cathy GM ❤️