Four Corners Photo Gallery (1999)

After a conference in Denver (Colorado) in the Fall of 1999, my girlfriend (now wife) joined me on a 10 day trip of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, the so-called Four Corners States, named after the right-angled junction where they all meet. Here are some highlight images from that trip.

Our journey took us from Colorado to Utah, where we spent out first night. Imagine our surprise as we got out of the tent the next morning and discovered the beautiful scenery all around us!

Click on the images to see larger versions.

	View of wildlife a few kilometers north of Denver.		Abandoned ranch in Arches National Park in Utah.
	Picture of THE famous arch.		Jointed rocks jutting out. The arches are eventually wind-carved from these "fins".
	Landscape surrounding Arches National Park.		Another view of the "fins".

Our next stop was Bryce Canyon in southern Utah. The scenery here is also quite spectacular.

Looking over Bryce Canyon.

Hiking down into Bryce Canyon.

And, a short drive away from Bryce Canyon, we found the Mother of all canyons. Want to take a guess which one? We decided to camp on the north rim of the canyon, accessed only by a dirt road. It tooks us several hours to get there, but the effort was well worth it as we snagged a camping spot a few meters from the rim! Quite cool!

	Tabular cross-bedding so common in the sedimentary rocks of the area.		Warning! This could be fun!
	Weathered blocks of sedimentary rocks, which have very cool orientations.		View of the very brave girlfriend as she is lying mere centimeters away from a 800 m near-vertical drop!

After our "Grand" Grand Canyon experience, we drove south through Arizona and then east into New Mexico, stopping here and there along the way.

	Volcano in central Arizona. The whole area is covered with lava flows and volcanic dust.		View inside Carlsbad Caves in southern New Mexico.
	Mining shaft just outside of Socorro, New Mexico.

Another of our many stops in New Mexico were the Gila Cliff dwellings, which have been abandonned several hundred years ago.

View from outside the cliff dwellings. Notice the charred area above the entrance the served as an escape for the fire fumes.

View from inside the cliff dwellings.

Our last major stop was White Sands National Monument, a beautiful desert made up of gypsum sand.

	Hiking through the dunes.		Lost in dunes.
	Active dunes overriding older dunes (foreground).

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