This is the third in a series of posts about visiting 12 national parks in Utah and Arizona over 9 days.

After a gourmet breakfast at Castle Valley Inn, we set off for the 32-mile drive to Canyonlands National Park. The vast preserve is divided into three regions. The Needles district is best explored by four-wheel drive or on foot; the Maze is even more remote. We visited Islands in the Sky, 2,200 breathtaking feet above the Colorado River. I mean “breathtaking” literally—the altitude and heat were taking a toll.

We followed the scenic drive to Grand View Point Overlook (the name says it all) and then to the trailhead for Upheaval Dome. This mile-wide crater was formed either by a salt dome or a meteorite (take your pick; the park service isn’t ready to commit). The trail was steep but short, and the view at the top was astounding. Beyond the crater, we could see for hundreds of miles across the Colorado Plateau.

After the climb, I was done. We abandoned our plans to return to Arches for an afternoon hike. Instead, we found a cool spot for lunch in Moab, a great little Thai place called Singha. Coconut soup and green curry tasted especially decadent after a week of cold turkey sandwiches. After lunch, we picked up a few souvenirs (Navajo baskets, little stone fetishes) and a bottle of wine. We spent the rest of the day relaxing on our porch in Castle Valley. Life doesn’t get any better.  
 
Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
Bidding a sad farewell to our hosts in Castle Valley, we left for Arizona. Two hours south of Moab, we made a quick stop at Natural Bridges National Monument, which protects three huge spans across the Colorado River. (Stop, read the sign, take a picture, go.)

Leaving park lands, we embarked on the wildest ride of the trip: SR 261. We wouldn’t see another car for hours, only cattle. The mountain road crested a ridge, and suddenly we were staring down at a gravel rollercoaster ride called the Moki Dugway. This unpaved road descends 1,100 feet in 3 miles, with steep switchbacks and no guardrails. My first thought was: There’s no way AAA Road Service will find us. (I mean, we were out there.) The dashboard had dents from my fingernails by the time we reached the bottom. Check out this YouTube video.

If you’ve never heard of Monument Valley Navaho Tribal Park, you’ve seen it as a backdrop in dozens of movies and commercials. The most iconic photo is a long, straight highway leading toward the red rock buttes. (It’s where Forrest Gump stopped running.) As we reached this famous spot on SR 163, and I jumped out with my camera, a dust storm whipped across the plains—end of photo opportunity. These crazy winds would devil us for the rest of the trip, casting a dull haze over the horizon.

Monument Valley is on Navajo tribal lands, and its new hotel had just opened the week we arrived. However modern the resort is, the park is undeveloped, and the dirt roads were jarring. Still, we drove the 17-mile loop through the buttes and mesas in all their isolated beauty. Despite the heat and dust, many tourists rode in open sightseeing trucks (perhaps thinking they were required to travel with a guide—not true). We spent the night at a new Hampton Inn in Kayenta, where it looked like nothing else had changed in decades. Asking where the locals ate, we had dinner at a Mexican restaurant that served delicious Navajo fry bread with refried beans.

Next: Petrified Forest National Park and Meteor Crater