A couple years ago, I went to the Canadian Rockies and was blown away by the beauty. The only problem was the amount of people there. So I thought about it and decided I wanted to visit somewhere similar, but with less people. Without doing a ton of research, I decided that I should just continue on with that mountain range and visit the US rocky mountains. Here and there, I saw people post photos of Telluride Colorado and decided that was where I wanted to go! I originally was thinking of going from there and doing a road trip around Colorado, but I also really wanted to go to Monument Valley in Utah. Then I decided I’d rather not back-track up to Colorado for my flight home, so I might as well continue on. That brought me to pick a major airport since it was a lot cheaper than the regional one you fly into when going to Telluride. I picked Albuquerque airport since I visited New Mexico a few years ago and really loved it. From there, I found that there were a couple national parks/monuments that I would be close to so I decided to also stop at Mesa Verde and Canyon de Chelly. This road trip would take me through four states – Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico—and also the four corners monument where you can stand in four states at once. So this became my four corners road trip. You can see my itinerary here for the break down on the number of days spent in each place and the route.
COLORADO
The closest regional airport to Telluride is in Montrose, about an house and a half from Montrose. Flights are pretty limited and there aren’t any direct flights from the Maryland/Washington DC area, so it’s a pretty long travel day. It was about three and a half hours from Baltimore to Dallas and then two and a half hours to Montrose from Dallas plus the hour and a half drive to Telluride.
I booked my trip for labor day week, not realizing that was the same time that the Telluride film festival was happening. Finding accommodations was pretty tricky—even though I booked this trip nine months out, there was not a lot of availability left. Most hotels were booked except for a few that had prices around $1000 a night, when on normal weeks they ran for $300. Then a lot of airbnb’s were jacked up in price. Luckily, I found a reasonably priced Airbnb in Mountain Village after a couple other Airbnb owners did some bait and switch tactics.
Mountain village is a known ski town in winter. The town is located at an elevation of 9,545 feet and surrounded by the San Juan mountains. The area is truly stunning. It’s connected by a free gondola that takes you to the town of Telluride or up to the lifts during the winter. In general, I was putting off visiting Colorado for awhile because I was worried about the altitude. For this trip, I actually started taking Diamox which is supposed to help with altitude sickness. I did experience feeling very out of breath when walking up steps or hills and I would wake up with my heart racing. My nose would get really dry, too. I’m not sure if I would have experienced more severe symptoms like headaches or vomiting without the Diamox but don’t think I want to ever go to another high altitude destination without taking it.
OURAY
The first full day there, I drove over to neighboring Ouray, otherwise known as the Switzerland of America because of the mountain views. I ended up booking a tour through Alpine Scenic Tours to go through the San Juan Mountains because it is all off-roading and the car I rented was meant for our 400 mile road-trip and not specifically for just driving around the Colorado mountains. If I were just hanging around Colorado, I would for sure recommend renting a jeep or similar vehicle so you can drive yourself through the mountains. The tour was just okay, but the mountains were beautiful and it was interesting to see the remains of the little mining town. I would have liked to be able to hike for a bit on my own, but was still glad I got to go.
After the tour, we walked around the town of Ouray and had lunch and ice cream. I liked the town better than the main street in Telluride. A lot cuter shops and restaurants.
There was also the hot springs in Ouray that are really popular but it was pretty hot as is so we just decided to drive back to Telluride.
The drive between Ouray and Telluride is gorgeous, with the beautiful mountains and ranches. We drove by Ralph Lauren’s house on the way back and it was really pretty.
TELLURIDE
The next day, we spent in Telluride. Telluride is known for a lot of pretty hikes and waterfalls. I wanted to see Bridal Veil Falls, which is the tallest free-standing falls in Colorado. It’s about a 4 mile round trip hike, so in the interest of time, we decided to drive up the back way. It was a little tricky, especially when cars would be coming from the opposite direction, but is another option to see the falls if you don’t want to hike or don’t have the time.
After the falls, we walked around Telluride. I was surprised how empty it was. If you recall, this was the Telluride Film Festival time. All the hotels were booked 9 months out. I was expecting packed streets. But it was very peaceful and hardly any people. You would see different buildings used for various films and people outside doing security for those entering as well as random industry people in the restaurants and shops. But otherwise, very tame. Regular people can sign up to try to attend the various films, but that’s not really something I’m into so we just walked around, going to a coffee shop, lunch, ducking in to see a house for sale right where all the action was (and it was millions) and wandering around the park. A very chill area.
After exploring Telluride, we went back to the Airbnb to freshen up before dinner. There is a place called Allred Restaurant located up on top of the mountain with beautiful views. You take the gondola from either Mountain Village (where we were staying) or Telluride. The gondola system is really efficient how it connects Telluride and Mountain Village, which must come in handy during ski season. Its also free.
Dinner at the restaurant was pretty expensive but worth it for the view. Worth going, in my opinion.
MESA VERDE
The next day was pretty much a driving day on the way to Mesa Verde. We stopped at Alta Lake, which was supposed to be about a 10 mile detour, but the road to get there is very rugged. Definitely want to have an SUV to get there. The lake was really pretty though.
After that, we drove about two more hours to Mesa Verde and got tickets for a tour the next morning. You have to purchase tickets in person at the visitor center so you do risk the change of tickets being sold out. But to be able to access the actual cliff dwellings, you need to be on a tour.Mesa Verde is known for having some of the most preserved Native American “homes” that were occupied during the 13th century. We opted to purchase the Balcony House tour, which is a pretty basic one, but covers the famous Cliff Palace, that had about 150 rooms. After buying tickets, you can enter a self-driving portion through the park to see the cliff dwellings from afar and also some other random ruins from that time.
After that we stayed at the Far View Lodge which is located in the Mesa Verde Park and ate dinner there as well.
The next morning, we did our Balcony House tour. Our tour guide was great and it was awesome climbing around the area where the Native Americans lived. There are other tours given that are a little but more physical, but this one really only required climbing up a ladder and climbing up a bunch of steps. Pretty basic.
UTAH/ARIZONA
MONUMENT VALLEY
After the tour and lunch at the cafeteria, we were off again! We decided to drive a little out of the way to see four corners national monument. The Four Corners Monument marks the quadripoint in the Southwestern United States where the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. It is the only point in the United States shared by four states, leading to the area being named the Four Corners region. There is a spot naming all four states and its common to stand there so that you are in all four states at once.
There are a few shop stands in the area and some native people selling snacks like fry bread! Fry bread is sooo good. It’s pretty much like funnel cake—deep fried dough with various toppings like honey or powdered sugar. So we definitely had to pick that up.
About an hour and forty minutes from there was the best place! One of the most beautiful places in the United States, in my opinion-- Monument Valley! It’s so amazing how all of the structures were naturally made. There are red sandstone buttes all over, the largest one reaching 1,000 feet above the valley. We were lucky enough to actually stay at the hotel in the park called The View, which is fairly new. The best part about the area, I think, is watching how it changes with the sun. Within even just 10 minutes time, the whole valley looks completely different because of the change in the sun and what is currently highlighted. It’s just amazing how pretty it is.
I decided to do a tour at a place called Mystery Valley located about 20 minutes from Monument Valley. What drew me to it is the fact that it is seldom-visited since you need a guide since its located on tribal land. The valley has ancestral Puebloan ruins, natural arches, and box canyons. We had a private tour scheduled and only saw one other group the whole time.
After Mystery Valley, we went back to Monument Valley and did the self-driving tour. Everything was just stunning. Most of the monuments have specific names and history behind them. It took a few hours to go through the drive and stops before we parked back at the hotel.
There is another hotel located right outside of Monument Valley park called Gouldings. We stopped there for dinner that night and had the best fry bread before heading back to the hotel. Monument Valley was used as the setting for a lot of early Western movies and every night, they show one of the movies filmed there and project it on the hotel building so you can watch it outside with all of the monuments in the background.
CANYON DE CHELLY
Canyon de Chelly is a two and a half hour drive from Monument Valley. The national monument is known for its rock formations and cliff dwellings. The most popular rock formation is Spider The White House Ruins and Mummy Cave are remains of ancient Pueblo villages. I think on its own, it would have been more interesting, but coming directly from the place that has the most incredible rock formations, Monument Valley, and the place with the largest preserved cliff dwellings, Mesa Verde, it was a bit underwhelming. Plus it was around 100 degrees. Looking back, though, I appreciate it more and it really is a nice place but its just hard to follow Monument Valley.
The original plan was to spend the night in a hotel right outside of Canyon de Chelly, but since we didn’t spend too much time exploring it was still pretty early so we just decided to drive on. We were planning to be in Albuquerque the next day so we decided to drive that direction until we were tired. We started to get tired a little after the half way point but at that point, there weren’t really any towns along the way to stay the night so we just decided to push through and ended up making it all the way to the hotel we were supposed to stay at the following night. Luckily they just added on an extra day to our reservation. The total driving time from Canyon de Chelly to Albuquerque was about three and a half hours.
NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE
So there were two reasons why we ended up in Albuquerque during this trip. The first was the airport. It made more since just to drive to Albuquerque from Canyon de Chelly instead of backtracking back to Montrose. Montrose is a tiny regional airport that includes a layover and flights are expensive from there versus Albuquerque which has a direct flight and its half the price. The second reason was to celebrate my mom’s birthday. Four years ago, I did a New Mexico trip for my birthday and spent the day at the Ojo Caliente spa near Santa Fe. They are the only hot springs in the world with four different types of mineral water including lithia, iron, soda and arsenic. The twelve pools are filled with different types and combinations of these waters, with temperatures ranging from 80 - 106 degrees. They also had private pools, a mud pool, hikes, and treatments. This was probably the coolest spa I’ve ever been to. A couple years ago, Ojo Caliente opened a sister resort called Sunrise Springs so we decided to check it out. I liked Sunrise Springs because it had a lot of cold pools and was really pretty. Since it was hot, it was probably a better place to be than Ojo Caliente, but overall I enjoyed Ojo Caliente a lot better.
When I was there for my birthday, I had dinner at El Pinto in Albuquerque and thought it was one of the best Mexican restaurants I’ve ever been to. So during this trip, we ate dinner there again but for my mom’s birthday this time.
So that was my week. Monument Valley was definitely the highlight. Telluride was gorgeous and Mesa Verde was such a cool place to visit. I would have liked to visit Chaco Culture National Historic Park if I had an extra day, but was glad I got to go back to New Mexico. I have a New Mexico itinerary I made for my birthday when I spent a week there I might share at a later date.
