July 10, 2007 Driving from Cortez to North Rim, Grand Canyon

After this humbling, peaceful experience at Cliff Pacace, Mesa Verde, we got into the car and drove 400 miles through some of the most boring, dry desert landscape. The roads were straight and the cars/trucks were sparse. There were no speed limit sides, so we drove as fast as we could without lifting the camper off the ground behind us. We went to the Four Corners, where Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Nevada come together. It could not be a more desolate, boring location. There were Native Americans selling their wears (jewelry and pottering mostly). We took a slight detour so we could drive through Monument Valley, which has amazing, huge geological formations. At one point, the temperature gage in my car said it was 104 outside. Luckily, as we heading upwards in elevation towards the North Side of the Grand Canyon the temperature went down to about 70 degrees! We arrived to the campground around 7:00 pm (only 11 hours of driving today!). We set up camp, made dinner and went to bed! The campground is lovely, the temperature is around the mid- 80 doing the day and we are in walking distance to the edge of the Grand Canyon. Huge ponderosa pine trees surround our campsite. ~Laura