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FOUR CORNERS MONUMENT
ARIZONA, COLORADO, NEW MEXICO & UTAH
The Four Corners Monument, also known as Four Corners Tribal Park, is the only unique landmark in the United States where four states intersect at one point. Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado meet at a granite and brass monument. The draw to this one-of-a-kind monument is that you can stand in one spot and have one hand in Colorado, the other in Utah, and a foot in New Mexico and Arizona! A must stop photo spot for visitors to southeast Utah!
Four Corners Monument has $5, cash only entry fee. Monument Hours 8 am - 5 pm Monday - Sunday
Four Corners can easily be visited while exploring the following areas; Natural Bridges, Monument Valley area, Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde and other parts of the Grand Circle. Four Corners Monument has a small visitor center, which is open year-round. Additional features include a Demonstration Center with Native American artisans. Vendors sell handmade jewelry, crafts and traditional foods nearby. Self-contained toilets are available.
HISTORY
For years, territorial squabbling between Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah kept the states' borders in flux. In 1912, when the dust settled and the final lines were drawn, a cement pad was built on-site to officially mark the spot where the states came together.
Everett H. Kimmell, another U.S. Surveyor, found the previous landmark stone had broken and he replaced it with a brass disc marker set in concrete. In 1962, the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs poured an elevated concrete pad around the 1931 brass marker; this pad included the state border lines and names in tile. The monument was completely rebuilt in 1992, and the 1931 brass marker was replaced with a disc shaped aluminum-bronze plate set in granite. The monument was again rebuilt in 2010, although the disc shaped plate from 1992 remained in place.
GETTING THERE FROM BLANDING:
Head south on Highway 191 for 24 Miles. Turn left onto CR-217 and follow for 3 miles. Turn left onto UT-163 and follow for 11 miles. Turn right and then take a left for UT 162 again, follow for 26 miles. Turn right onto US-160 and follow for 5.5 miles. Monument will be on your right, you cant miss it. Click Here For Driving Directions.
HOVENWEEP NATIONAL MONUMENT
MASONRY THAT HAS STOOD FOR CENTURIES
Hovenweep National Monument is land of beauty and culture, of sweeping desert horizon dotted with the remains of ancestral Puebloan villages. The towers of Hovenweep are a true testament to the skill and dedication of the stone masons who built them. Once home to over 2,500 people, Hovenweep includes six prehistoric villages built between A.D. 1200 and 1300. Explore a variety of structures, including multistory towers perched on canyon rims and balanced on boulders. The construction and attention to detail will leave you marveling at the skill and motivation of the builders.
The towers of Hovenweep were built by ancestral Puebloans, a sedentary farming culture that occupied the Four Corners area from about A.D. 500 to A.D. 1300. Similarities in architecture, masonry and pottery styles indicate that the inhabitants of Hovenweep were closely associated with groups living at Mesa Verde and other nearby sites.
NIGHT SKY
Several of the structures and rock art panels in the monument seem to have been designed to mark major heavenly events such as the summer and winter solstices. While this is largely conjecture, the open skies of Hovenweep certainly draw one's attention, and fortunately for night sky enthusiast the night sky is about as dark today as it was 800 years ago.
In some areas it's possible to see up to 15,000 stars throughout the night. By contrast, in urban environments, you might only see fewer than 500 stars. Due to its remote location surrounded by the Navajo Reservation and BLM public lands, Hovenweep preserves a primordial dark sky largely unaltered.
On July 1, 2014, the International Dark-Sky Association certified Hovenweep National Monument as the 17th International Dark Sky Park. Natural Bridges National Monument, which is also in the area, was the Nation's first Dark Sky Park.
GETTING THERE FROM BLANDING:
Head south on US 191 approximately 15 miles, turn left off US 191 to UT 262 for 8 miles, turn left off UT 262 to County Road 5099/401 for 16 miles (passing Hatch Trading Post), turn left at Hovenweep sign for 6 miles and turn right to enter the park. 45 miles to Hovenweep. Click Here For Driving Directions
