East to Durango

Upstream from Moab, the Colorado is approachable from the highway. I had explored downstream a bit on a prior trip, so , of course, I had to look around upstream.....the Entrada Sandstone walls are incredible and worth the jaunt. We went as far as the Fisher Towers and Castleton Tower. On the way to Monticello from Moab, you can head inland on a paved road into the lower part of Canyonlands. About 20 miles in, there is a wonderful flat slab of petroglyphs - Newspaper Rock. Equally impressive was the TP display in the biffies. Do you think they were concerned about running out? After passing through Monticello, we turned east into Colorado, across the "Great Sage Plain Valley" of Cortez and Dolores. The temperature dropped noticeably, and the amount of the snow on the ground doubled as we headed east. We passed through Dolores and Mancos, and over a high pass into Durango. Ever since my first trip to the Four Corners area, I had wanted to bring KR here and stay in the late-1880's Strater Hotel. We managed to get a nice room, despite the fact we were entering into the fringes of ski country.