Coming from Flaming Gorge, we spend the night in the National Forest, where we always find nice pitches that are kindly free of charge. We continue via Vernal to the Dinosaur National Monument. At the main entrance there is a visitor center and a museum with a dinosaur quarry where the sandstone with its exposed and preserved dinosaur fossils is protected by a glass building. In the museum are two dinosaur skeletons made from real and reconstructed bone parts. 

We spend the night at the park boundary and drive to the west entrance the next day. A 50 km long spur road leads us into an incredible landscape on the border between Utah and Colorado. The scenery at the various viewpoints is simply breathtaking. At the end of the Harpers Corner Trail, you stand on a rocky outcrop and see the Yampa and Green Rivers winding their way through the deep gorges 700m below. In dry weather, you can also take the Echo Park Road down into the canyon via an unpaved and very steep road with many hairpin bends. When it has rained, however, the road is impassable and turns into a slide. As dark clouds are already gathering in the sky, we forego this dubious pleasure and leave the park in the early afternoon. 

By now it's a good 35 degrees and we're glad that Douglas Pass is on our way and, at 2500m, offers slightly more moderate temperatures. Because it is so nice and cool, we stay two days before driving on to Grand Junction and from there to the Colorado National Monument, another canyon landscape with steep rock faces and picturesque monoliths. When unemployment was over 25% in the 1930s, President Roosevelt launched a civilian job creation program to put young and unmarried men who were struggling to find a job to work. From 1933 to 1942, more than 2.5 million young men participated in the program, which included building Rim Rock Drive in the Colorado National Monument. The 35 km long road was hewn out of the rock with jackhammers, pickaxes and wheelbarrows. Over 800 people were employed there, for whom the wake-up call sounded at 6 a.m. and the lights were switched off at 10 p.m. in the evening. Today it is a well-built tarred road with three tunnels that we can only drive through in the middle because the sides are only 3.3 m high. This reminds us a little of our hellish drive through the Canyon del Pato in Ecuador in 2014. The views into the canyon are once again breathtaking and we can't get enough of the various vantage points. We spend the night above the canyon in the outback at 2000 m. It's cool there and a good night's sleep is guaranteed before we head back down to Grand Junction in the morning.  

On the way to Durango, we take the route via the Grand Mesa National Forest. For MOMO, this means another climb up to a good 3200m. In winter, this is a ski area with the finest powder snow. Unfortunately, it is cold and rainy at 7 degrees and we don't see much of the area, but we do experience a fantastic sunset at our overnight stop. It rained all night and we were worried about getting out of this muddy wasteland again, but we managed without any problems apart from the driveway timbers, which had sunk in so deep that I had to dig them out with a shovel. 

In the morning we drive back down in the rain and thick fog. At 1500m, the sun is shining and we visit an old pioneer town in Cedaredge. The small town has created a museum on its own initiative, which depicts the historical period from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century. 24 buildings have been lovingly restored and the tour is a step back in time to life 150 years ago. 

Then it's on to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. We spend the night in front of the park entrance and the next morning we drive the 24km Scenic Drive along the South Rim with 12 viewpoints. Each stop offers a different spectacular view of the 700m deep canyon. We are quite busy for four hours and leave the park in the early afternoon. 

Now we need an eye break and turn off onto Owl Creek Pass. At 2600m we find a nice spot on a high plateau and finally see a black bear again. We stay there for two days and enjoy the peace and quiet and the cool nights with lots of rain and thunderstorms, which provide us with some beautiful photo opportunities. 

We continue on the 550 to the beautiful mountain town of Ouray, picturesquely situated between 3000m peaks and steep cliffs. Until Durango, the road now has the illustrious name Million Dollar Highway and leads over three passes of more than 3000m. There are still disused gold and silver mines everywhere, the legacy of which is visible everywhere. All that remains of the old silver mining town of Silverton are a few crooked buildings and the restored facades with their Wild West look are mainly intended for the tourists arriving daily on the Durango-Silverton Railroad. 

Karin really wanted to go to Durango because she worked in hotels and restaurants here for a few weeks 45 years ago. We actually wanted to stay here for one night and wander through the saloons in the evening. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a parking space for our vehicle in the city and the nearest campgrounds were too far out. So we took a stroll through the town and got a taste of the Wild West atmosphere. The tourist magnet is the old railroad that runs from Durango to Silverton and back every day. However, the seats are fully booked months in advance. In the afternoon we drive on towards Cortez and take a break for a few days in the National Forest. 

We visited the old rock pueblos in Mesa Verde a few years ago and instead visit the Ancients Canyon National Monument. At 35 degrees we walk a beautiful trail to a few remnants of old pueblos of which not much is left. 

In Bluff, we visit an old fort of the early Mormon settlers who settled here around 1880. A video tells the story of 70 families who conquered the steep slopes and gorges of the Colorado River under unimaginable hardship. Among other things, a route was carved into an almost vertical rock face to overcome it with horse and ox carts, known today as the Hole-in-the-Rock Trail. Amazingly, no one died on this 6-month journey and two children were born. A really interesting story that gives a small insight into the life of the settlers 150 years ago. 

Now that we have practically arrived in the lowlands at 1500m, the heat is relentless and it is almost unbearable without shade. We take a dirt road through the Valley of the Gods, where parts of the movie Forrest Gump were filmed many years ago. The scenery is similar to Monument Valley and the 35 km long road leads through a sensational landscape with the difference that, unlike Monument Valley, there is hardly anyone on the road here. 

At the end of the slope, you stand in front of a vertical rock face and involuntarily ask yourself how to continue. But unbelievably, the Moki Dugway has been carved into the rock here, overcoming the 400 meters of altitude over a distance of 5 km. At the top, you turn left immediately and drive 6 km to Muley Point. There are plenty of beautiful places to spend the night along the way with first-class views of the valley all the way to Monument Valley.

We don't really want to leave here, because where else can you get such a magnificent view for free? But we have to be in Las Vegas in a week and we still have a good 1000 km of highlights ahead of us. The next one is just around the corner. In the Natural Bridges National Monument, three impressive natural rock bridges await us, created over thousands of years by water and erosion. You can drive to various viewpoints on a loop road and short or long trails take you even closer to the action.

The campground in the park is very small and usually fully booked, but a few kilometers before the entrance there are good alternatives in the National Forest for an overnight stop. Then we continue on the 95 and this route to Hanksville is really awesome. Gigantic rock formations and deep canyons alternate and you don't even know where to look first. 

After Hanksville we continue on the 24 and after 30km we turn off onto a dirt road which takes us to the Skyline Rim after 15km. We are speechless at the view. From a steeply sloping cliff edge, we look out over a lunar landscape that presents itself in a variety of perspectives depending on the position of the sun. We are standing right on the edge with MOMO, it doesn't get any better than this. After the corrugated iron road to this spot, we thought we were alone, but unfortunately we were far from it. Every hour, people come to take photos and attempt the most adventurous stunts on the precipice for the best selfie. It gets really crowded again at sunrise, but the pictures make it easy to understand why. 

We continue on the 24 through the Capital Reef National Park with its magnificent rock formations. We had already been here a few years ago and didn't stay long. Near Boulder, we take a two-day break in the National Forest at 2500m. There we prepare our car for the six-week break. It's much more pleasant here than in Las Vegas, where temperatures are currently over 40 degrees. 

In view of the highlights on the conveyor belt, our capacity is largely exhausted, especially as we have been to this area before. That's why we don't take any major breaks at the magnificent Grand Staircase Escalante NM, the even more beautiful Bryce Canyon and Zion NP. Of course, it's enough for a few pictures. 

The interstate then takes us quickly to Las Vegas, where we park our car and move into a hotel for the night. Then we head home to Germany for our vacation. 

We will be back at the end of October to continue our journey. Until then, enjoy reading and looking at the pictures.