Seeing how close Durango was to Chaco Canyon, I chose to veer north and go check it out. I had heard a lot of good things about Durango as being a very cool, outdoorsy oriented town – not to mention the western terminus of the Colorado Trail – with close access to the San Juan range. So on the evening I left Chaco, I drove up to Durango and got a cheap motel room.

That morning I drove around town. Being March 2nd, there was still plenty of snow in the mountains.

A lot of vehicles had a coating of dirt on this Monday morning – weekend warriors?

I intended to head west toward Mesa Verde National Park, but wasn’t paying attention and inadvertently went north toward Silverton. The scenery was so beautiful that I didn’t realize my mistake for quite awhile, killing all the time I could have used to see Mesa Verde. I didn’t mind, it was worth it.

Back on the right track, this is the Ute Mountain range, far in the corner of southwestern Colorado. It’s sometimes called Sleeping Ute Mountain, said to resemble a sleeping Ute Chief, lying on his back. Can you see it?

…and on toward the Four Corners Monument, where Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico all come together to a point.

The monument is little more than what you see here, built out in the middle of the desert. I think the “entrance fee” for tourists to go up and take pictures was five dollars.