Over Memorial Day, Samuel was moving back to Michigan from San Francisco so we got a chance to go on another fantastic, jam packed road trip hitting eight National Parks in four days. In my last post, we had just left Arches National Park on day three of our road trip and drove the 30 minutes to Canyonlands National Park. Despite the parks being located in close proximity, it is remarkable the differences in the landscapes.

Upon entering the Canyonlands, we marveled throughout the scenic drive as we headed to the Grand View Point Overlook.  We were a bit worried that due to Arches being closed that Canyonlands would be a mad house, however were pleasantly surprised that the crowds were minimal at best.  Upon arriving at the overlook we were a bit shocked at how much the wind picked up. It made venturing near the edge a bit of an adrenaline rush as the gusts were quite forceful. Regardless, the wind couldn’t detract from this beautiful, expansive landscape. There was so much to take in, along with the notion that from the bottom of the canyon, you’d have a totally different experience.

Mesa Arch

From the Grand View Point we made our way to the Mesa Arch that turned out to be one of our favorite spots of the trip.  If you peer down from the edge of the arch, the grown underneath you carves away in to a breath taking drop off.  Regardless of the picturesque arch, the views afforded from this position were equally as fascinating as the lookout we’d just left. The wind here was just as strong, only now mixed with sand, which resulted in getting a rough exfoliation for our skin and causing my contacts to be quite angry. In the last photo you can see me trying to escape the wind’s angry attack.

After Mesa Arch we left Canyonlands as we still had a two hour drive to reach Mesa Verde National Park where we were camping in Cortez, Colorado for the night.  Arriving in Cortez, it was the earliest we’d made camp of the trip and we were going to get up bright and early to explore Mesa Verde National Park.  As it was still ‘early’ and we had time that night, we ended up making the 9pm showing of the new Star Wars movie Solo, which was fantastic! samuel and I highly recommend it!