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Beginning January 2007, the National Parks Pass was replaced by an annual pass for all federal recreation lands – including national parks.

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Canyons of the Southwest

Visited Arches National Park, Black Canyon of The Gunnison National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Canyon De Chelly National Monument, Canyonlands National Park, Capulin Volcano National Monument, Cedar Breaks National Monument, Colorado National Monument, Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, Petroglyph National Monument, Zion National Park on May 29, 2008

We have traveled through the SW many times in the past and have visited Mesa Verde and the Grand Canyon numerous times. This year we decided to see some of the parks that we have missed in the past. We started with Capulin Volcano NM in NE New Mexico. We then stayed in Colorado for a couple of days and visited Florissant Fossil Beds, Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Colorado NM. From there we went to southern Utah and hiked through Arches and Canyonlands NP before heading to the southwest part of Utah. We have visited Bryce Canyon & Zion before, but this trip we had more time to spend and took several hikes. In spite of an approaching snow storm, we were able to see Cedar Breaks and the colorful formations were beautiful against the backdrop of dark clouds! After visiting family in San Diego we headed back toward Oklahoma. On the way home we decided to visit Hubbell Trading Post NHS where I purchased a Navajo weaving. Then we toured Canyon de Chelly. We didn't have time for horseback or jeep rides so we drove along both the north and south rims. We also hiked down to the White House Ruins. It is a drop of 600 ft and about 3 miles round trip! Bring plenty of water and start early if you take this hike in the summer months. Our last NPS site was in Albuquerque at the Petroglyph NM. It was exciting to see so many petroglyphs right next to the trail. It took about two weeks and 4500 miles to travel to all of these sights, plus we logged over 40 miles of hiking up and down mountains, but it was a great trip. In 26 years of marriage we have visited 97 of the 391 NPS sites. I can't decide which ones are my favorites since they are all special in their own ways!

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