noellev13

Hello all,

You guys ROCK this Forum and I cannot tell you how helpful it is so "Thank you" in
advance with any help you can offer. My husband and I are from St. Louis, MO. We went to Zion and Bryce in the Fall of 2009...including Willis Creek and Lower Calf Creek falls.
We would now like to do a Four Corner trip in May 2010. I'm trying to stay away from the holiday crowd so I felt some time between May 10th and the 24th would be a good span to decide when to leave and get back. We want the trip to be 10 or 11 days total. There are two things I really want to do and both have certain dates they open for the season. The first is SoaringTree Top Adventures in Durango Colorado Mountains..the first day they open is May 14th. The 2nd is to go to Mesa Verde after the 15th of May because the Balcony House is open until 5:00 for tours (I know many will think that 2 extra hours is no big deal but I love photography and want to try to catch the best light.) I would plan on staying at least 2 days in Mesa Verde. We also hope to get to go to the following: Monument Valley (will try to get a room at The View hotel), Canyonland, Arches, Antelope Canyon if it isn't too far and any other places not too out of the way we wouldn't want to miss. I am very flexible with where we would fly in and out of (suggestions would be very helpful) and suggestions on the best route to get the most in. We love hiking and I LOVE photography!!!! Thanks guys...this forum is what helped us have the best vacation ever to Bryce and Zion

qwovadis

Personally would fly RT into ABQ in MAY in fact have done this

cheap www.carrentals.com head up to Durango

via Santa Fe Taos Raton Pass etc...

then over to www.mesaverde.com other 4 corners areas back down

classic.mapquest.com for directions and distances

plenty of off season deals on nice hotels than.

Happy Planning!

noellev13

thank you qwovadis...I was expecting ABQ would be the suggestion.

noellev13

I guess I should add, if we would do the zip lining (in Colorado) and Mesa Verde at the end of our trip, would you still suggest ABQ as our starting and ending point? Thank you!

sassy_cat

I just tried to plan a similar trip for September but we only had 5-6 days. To maximize our hiking and limit the time spent driving it was best to fly in and out of Grand Junction.

10-11 days will be wonderful!

mxstanl

I would highly suggest you work the drive over the "Million Dollar Highway. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idXrlV3aWgo
You could access that by flying into or out of Grand Junction. Take highway 50 south out of Grand Junction. That is a beautiful drive with numerous photo opps. In May there will be a lot of snow still around in the mountains, but the roads should be clear. 2 days in Mesa Verde should be perfect. I would not suggest more than that. There are very limited lodging options close to Mesa Verde. One town about 10 or 15 minutes east of Mesa Verde has an old school Motel. Pull up outside your room type. It is not fancy, but it is cheap and clean.

DebitNM

There are very limited lodging options close to Mesa Verde.
Not so - the closest town of "size" is Cortez. It is a 10 minute drive from the entrance/exit of Mesa Verde. There are several motel options to choose from as well as B&B's. There are several good restaurants too. The biggest draw back of spending 2 days, one night is that it takes a good 45 minutes to drive in and out of the park. I would suggest trying to get a room at Far View Lodge which is in the park. It isn't fancy, but it does save you time driving in and out. Their dining room, The Metate Room is quite nice.

Wetherill Mesa won't be open and that is too bad, since it is a great part of the park that most don't ever visit. There are several drives and hikes that offer great photographic opportunities.

The drive from ABQ to Durango is 3 hours, Grand Junction is quite a bit longer a drive. Southwest flies to ABQ and often has some great rates if you live near an airport that Southwest serves.

You can drive the Million Dollar Highway from Durango, there isn't a need to fly into Grand Junction to do that ride. It can be done in a VERY long day, but it can be done.

I have several threads on here for the area as we live there part-time on restaurants, etc.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...by-debitnm.cfm

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...by-debitnm.cfm

http://picasaweb.google.com/DebitNM/MesaVerdeMay2009

http://picasaweb.google.com/DebitNM/MesaVerdeInWinter

spirobulldog

We did soaring a couple of years ago and it was amazing.
They have added even more and longer zips since we were there. It is so worth the super expensive price.

Another amazing(even better than the zipping) is canyoneering with www.deserthighlights.com in Moab

I have flown into Grand Junction, Moab, and even Cortez. All a bit more expensive than a major hub, but puts you right in the middle of things. Grand Junction isn't much higher sometimes.

Monument Valley is my least favorite thing in the area, but it is still worth doing though.

I would definately go for the Far View Lodge in Mesa Verde. Food there is very good, the rooms are typical national park.

We enjoyed Natural Bridges National Monument. Sipapu Bridge is as impressive as any span at Arches. It is just massive. To get the full effect you must hike down under it, and it is a fairly easy trail.

Slightly out of your way at Moab, I wouldn't miss Goblin Valley. If you don't do Antelope Canyon- you might consider Little Wildhorse Canyon which is right near the Goblins.
Iv'e been three times over Memorial Day and have never found it bad at all for crowds. Little Wildhorse is probably just as good a slot canyon Antelope, but you won't get the lightint effects.

Photos of our last trip to Utah including Arches and Goblin Valley
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...0IatW7FqybsWGg

Photos of Mesa Verde, and Zipline over Memorial Day
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...0IatW7FqybsWGx

I don't have any good pictures of canyoneering in Utah, but I do have some of Oregon that is with the same company that is based in Moab. The Moab trip was equally as good as the Oregon Trip.

Personally, I think you might want to wait and go a couple of weeks later. It will be slightly warmer. We got a little cold on the ziplinning, but not bad. It snowed 2 or 3 inches on us at Mesa Verde, on Memorial day weekend. Plus, I didn't get to see Wetherill Mesa area and I think it would be great to see. See as many of the ruins/house as you can, they are all GREAT!

isabel

Just came back from there - trip report and photos forthcoming.

Drive from ABQ to Durango took us 4 hours, which is also what google maps says. Boring but painless.

We spent that night in Durango (tons of motel options there) and were at the Far View Visitor Center by 9:30 the next morning (just about an hour from middle of Durango to the Visitor Center (half hour to the entrance, then another half hour to the Visitor Center). We were sold tickets for Cliff Palace for 10 and Balcony House for 11:30 (no mention about choosing only one per day). Then we had lunch and did Spruce Tree House. We did spend the night at the Far View Lodge because we planned to do Wetherill Mesa the following day but if you are content with those three houses (plus we did the hike to Soda Çanyon overlook to view Balcony House) you could easily just go back to Durango for the night. The Far View Lodge is perfectly fine but pretty dated. We also felt one long day there was plenty so opted to go to Silverton the following day (even though we were already in Mesa Verde).

Cliff Palace gets afternoon sun. Balcony House gets morning sun.

noellev13

Thank you again for all of your insightful comments. I appreciate you taking time out of your day to help us make the most of our trip. You all brought up some great points!!!