Moab is a city set at the foot of tan monoliths…the same mountainous structures prevalent in Arches National Park. I have a feeling Moab is primarily a tourist town. Within the town and Arches N.P. I heard more foreign languages than I ever had before on this trip. Japanese, Spanish, French…they were all there.
The drive from Moab to Four Corners was a lot of ranchland and a lot of nothingness. Desert areas stretched as far as the eye could see.
We stopped in Blanding to pick up some sandwiches at the local Shell Station. Its probably a good idea we did as the communities of Montezuma Creek and Aneth had virtually no services except for a lone gas station. As we traveled to Four Corners we crossed into a Navajo Indian reservation. You know what they say about Indian reservations being desolate? It’s completely true. Seeing several abandoned houses along the side of the road was a unusual site.
The Navajo and Ute Indian Reservations own the land that the Four Corners monument sits on. Therefore it’s upto them how they want to maintain it. It was $3 / person / no exceptions to get it (or so the sign said). We paid and parked the car. It was extremely hot outside, a far cry from some of the temperatures we’ve experienced on top of the Colorado mountains.
The monument to where Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico come together is known as Four Corners. it’s a geographic anomaly. Tourists were lining up to have their photo made at that spot and then realizing it’s hot outside. The available shade is along the square border by the booths manned by Indians. Trinkets and souvenirs consisted of t-shirts, jewelry, postcards, pottery. I spoke to a merchant who gave me a brief recent history of the place – how the booths had been upgraded last year and how they hope to have plumbing and electricity to the monument soon.
We ate lunch in the Arizona side and used the porta potties on the New Mexico side.
Next it was onto Mesa Verde – a group of Indian dwellings along the overhang of mountains. The drive up to the National Park was a journey in itself, with signs indicating “No Stopping.”
In order to visit the bottom of some monuments including the Cliff Palace you must pay to take a tour. We signed up for the 4:30PM tour. Since it was sprinkling rain we waited for the rain to cease before proceeding down to the tour waiting area.
Our tour guide was a Native American himself and gave use a unique perspective on the culture of the Native Americans. We learned how sometimes people take things away from Indian tribes in order to “save” their culture. Due to pillaging by an early explorer other artifacts of the cliff dwellings had been put in museums in Helsinki, Finland. Some other artifacts ended up in Denver. Our tour guide asked the question “Are you here just to get your passport stamped or are you going to take something home from this experience?”
I think at that point we realized that it was all about heritage and culture, rather than just getting ones photo made in front of an abandoned residence. This was someone’s home at one time. This was their whole life and now its some type of tourist attraction to some, a valuable site to man’s culture to others.