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After you gathered all your clues, head east on Hwy 160 for 65 miles to Durango, your destination for the night. It’s one of those archetypal old Colorado mining towns filled with graceful old hotels and Victorian-era saloons; a place seemingly frozen in time. The waitress slinging drinks at the scarred wooden bar is dressed straight out of the early 19th century. The antique-laden inn and the musician pounding ragtime on worn ivory keys add to the surrealism. It usually takes stepping into a classy store or modern restaurant to break the spell of yesteryear, and realize it’s still the new ’00s, and you haven’t really traveled back two centuries to 1898. There’s a dining option poised to charm the most critical of palates and a store for any desire, from outdoor apparel to fancy jewelry or funky retro garb. Durango’s lovely old-world Strater Hotel is the best place to sleep. The museum-worthy interior features a Stradivarius violin and gold-plated commemorative Winchester in the lobby.

Head west to eastern Utah when you are finished exploring Durango. Nicknamed Canyon Country, this desolate corner of Utah is home to soaring snow-blanketed peaks towering over plunging red-rock river canyons. The terrain is so inhospitable that it was the last region to be mapped on continental US. Utah’s largest and wildest park is Canyonlands National Park. Over 65 million years, water carved serpentine, sheer-walled gorges along the course of the Colorado and Green Rivers, which now define the park’s three districts. Arches, bridges, needles, spires, craters, mesas, buttes – wherever you look there is evidence of crumbling, decaying beauty and a vision of ancient earth here. Hike, raft and 4WD (Cataract Canyon offers some of the wildest white water in the West), but be sure that you have plenty of gas, food and water before leaving the hub town of Moab. Difficult terrain and lack of water render this the least developed and visited of the major Southwestern national parks. The Island in the Sky district, 32 miles south of Moab off Hwy 191 and Hwy 313, is the easiest area to visit.

It’s about 50 miles from the Island in the Sky District to Arches National Park. Northeast of Moab, the park is home to the most crimson arches in the world. Consider a moonlight exploration, when it’s cooler and the rocks feel truly ghostly. Many arches are easily reached by paved roads and relatively short hiking trails. Highlights include Balanced Rock, the oft-photographed Delicate Arch (best captured in the late afternoon) and the spectacularly elongated Landscape Arch. As you casually stroll beneath these monuments to nature’s power, listen carefully, especially in winter, and you may hear spontaneous popping noises in distant rocks – the sound of arches forming.

Encircled by stunning orange rocks and the snow-capped La Sal Mountains, Moab lies between the two parks and is Utah’s adrenalin-junkie destination. In this active and outdoorsy town with legendary slickrock mountains, it seems as though every pedestrian clutches a Nalgene water bottle and every car totes a few dusty mountain bikes. Moab bills itself as Utah’s recreation capital, and it delivers. Get some rest at the Gonzo Inn, a fun and funky boutique with a gecko theme. Check out retro color splashes in the spacious rooms and suites, which also boast kitchenettes and cool patios.

Follow Hwy 191 south from Moab (it eventually becomes Hwy 163) for about 150 miles, dipping back into Arizona to see drop dead gorgeous Monument Valley. Home of western America’s most visceral landscape, it’s nearly impossible to visit this sacred place without feeling a serious sense of déjà vu. That’s because the flaming-red buttes and impossibly slender spires bursting to the heavens have starred in countless Hollywood Westerns. Great views of the rock formations are found all along Hwy 163, but to get up close and personal follow the signs to Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. From the visitor center, a rough and unpaved road goes through 17 miles of stunning valley views. Continuing