NV/AZ/UT Road Trip: The Monitor and the Merrimac

Note: We're days into the 2nd quarter of 2021 and with more and more people getting vaccinated, I am hopeful that with continuous adherance to social distancing and masking protocols we will be able to enjoy traveling again soon. And one year into the pandemic I am still slowly trying to finish this documentation of the last trip I took in May of 2019. How can that be possible? Anyway, I'll try my best to push this out so that I can make way for new travels; I am very optimistic I know.

On this Day 4 of the road trip we shook up our planned itinerary, thinking we could cram as many places as we could during daylight hours, given that both Arches and Canyonlands are basically next door neighbors. We initially planned on alloting one day for each park, but since we were also getting red-rock fatigue by this time (just my guess after the fact) we aspired to hit both parks in one day. If that was a good decision, we will know at the end of the day.

Getting our breakfast to go, courtesy of Arby's, we enjoyed the ride through Highway 70 and merging into Highway 191. The road is pretty scenic as you might expect especially towards the Grand Junction. We even missed the right turn to Canyonlands because we were mesmerized by the towering sandstones spanning miles creating a fencing on the freeway. It was truly spectacular sight that never seemed to end, and who would want it to end?

The first overlook that we came to had a front view of the two buttes, imposing structures that can be seen for miles, named Monitor and Merrimac. The lookout not only offered a wonderful view of the surroundings, it was even equipped with bathroom, which was very convenient. As a matter of fact, I was content staying on this spot for so much longer, because it's so peaceful (we were the only ones there) and the panoramic views are incredible, but there were too many places to see today and time is of essence. Seize the day while the sun was out, we were fearing that right might make an appearance (it didn't) due to looming clouds, but the day started really nice, some sun, some breeze, and mild temperature.