From Rifle Falls, Colorado to Hanksville, Utah

I've been trying to decide how much to share with you about our recent trip out West. Having just completed a rather lengthy account of our 2007 Alaska trip, I didn't want to bore you to death with another travelogue. But, of course, you know I can't resist sharing at least some of the highlights.

I've already written about Rifle Falls, Colorado here. That was our first place to do any sightseeing. Our next destination was Hanksville, Utah. Here are a few of the scenery highlights between Rifle and Hanksville.

Taken through the windshield between Rifle and Grand Junction, Colorado

Near Palisade, Colorado

The following pictures represent some of the scenery along Utah Highway 24, southbound from Interstate 70, en route to Hanksville.

This scenic pullout had these vertical posts, topped by small hollow horizontal pipes. Most of the posts had small signs on them with the names of some of the distant buttes. Not being the sharpest knives in the drawer, it took us awhile to figure out that, if we looked through the small hollow pipes, our eye was guided to a specific point on the horizon; and the sign on the post gave us the name of the butte that we were seeing. Pretty nifty, huh? Of course, some of those posts were a little too tall for us. The clever person who came up with the idea should have included a rock for vertically challenged people like us to stand on.

Whispering Sands Motel in Hanksville

Hanksville was a bit of a disappointment. We had booked a room at the Whispering Sands Motel for four days, planning to take our time in touring the area. But we found this tiny town all but abandoned. Our motel, pictured above, appeared to be the only motel in town still in operation. Our room was on the upper floor of the two-story building. The room itself was okay, but the town was depressing. We had seen a number of abandoned cars at the edge of town, and there were lots of abandoned and rotting buildings in the town itself. For restaurants, there were two burger joints and one sit-down restaurant that was operated in conjunction with an RV park.

As we sat in our room that first night, looking at our options and reworking our schedule, we decided that we could do a loop drive the next day that would include a visit to Canyonlands. Then, on the following day, we could visit Capitol Reef and stay that night in Torrey, Utah. Thus, we would be able to get by with only two nights in Hanksville. Our spirits lifted at that thought.