Introduction: The purpose of this diary is to announce an upcoming weekly series that mimics a road tour of the Southwest’s most scenic icons entitled, HIT THE ROAD TOUR SERIES. Mainly, we’ll be visiting national parks and monuments, state parks, and archeological ruins scattered throughout the Four Corners region where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah merge their corner boundaries. Also known as the Colorado Plateau Province due west of the Rockies, the information presented in the series focuses on the essentials of selected scenic destination (in alphabetical order). The series will be presented every Sunday morning, starting in early April. At times, special supplements will also be posted (i.e., hiking slot canyons, select subject matter relative to the Plateau such as ethnobotany, ecology, plate tectonics, notable hiking trails featured in some national parks).
About Moi: For those readers who used to read my diaries that were published for this community some four years ago, and authored under my legal name, Rich Holtzin, I needed to take time off and write some books to earn a living (because I blew up both kneecaps with too many thousands of miles of backpacking and hiking). These books are published under my real name and nom de plume, RK ALLEMAN. To date, there are eleven books published (www.richholtzin.com) and about six to eight more that should be finished by year’s end (2017). The Hit the Road Tour series is based on one of these books, entitled SCENIC DESTINATIONS OF THE SOUTHWEST. In this voluminous and comprehensive book (489 pages) are 85 destinations scattered throughout the Four Corners Region. There are also a number of major scenic icons off the grid such as Death Valley, Yosemite, and Rocky Mountain National Park.
As for the places we’ll be visiting in these upcoming literary tours and getaways, the complete list of featured destinations is provided at the close of this introduction.
That being said, the Hit the Road Tour series provides only the essentials of each destination. Otherwise, to present all the information would be too lengthy for a diary. Hence, the comprehensive geosciences, human and natural history, and recommended trails and other miscellaneous information is published in the soft cover book format as well as a Kindle format. There’s also an Android app available and is the only app of its kind on the planet (or so I’ve been told). Currently, I am still trying to figure out the machination of how to create an IOS app, as well; that is without resorting to a touch of madness and ongoing frustration. (Any forthcoming help from the DKos audience who knows something about the Apple app would be greatly appreciated.)
There is one more thing to mention in this introduction. As a longtime educator and instructor with the Grand Canyon Field Institute (some 20 years now; also, an instructor with Northern Arizona University and Yavapai College Elderhostel programs (now known as the “Road Scholar Program”), the trick to disseminating a plethora of information is piecemeal. Thus, a little here, a little there, and let the recipients decide for themselves how much or how little to grasp. Accordingly, the Hit the Road Tour series is presented in a layered format where the information graduates from the essentials to more informative details. Ergo, the reader decides what to read or skip over.
Here, then, is the layout of how the destinations will be presented in these forthcoming diaries:
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Geography (of the setting)
Snapshot (overview)
Spotlight (overview, plus)
Guided Tour Essentials (The essential how-what-when-why aspects)
Directions getting there
Contact Information
Recommended website (for the destination)
And that’s it and all about it, folks. If the community director’s board approves of these weekly offerings, I’ll see you in a week or so with the first installment. The destinations will also presented in alphabetical order.
Happy trails!
Rich Holtzin, Ph.D
(or RK Alleman. . .I use both)
SCENIC DESTINATIONS TABLE OF CONTENTS
(*** indicates ‘off the Colorado Plateau grid’)
1 ANCESTRAL PUEBLOANS: A Primer
2 ACOMA PUEBLO
3 ANASAZI HERITAGE CENTER
4 ANTELOPE CANYON
5 ARCHES NATIONAL PARK
6 AZTEC RUINS NATIONAL PARK
7 BANDELIER NATIONAL MONUMENT
8 BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK
9 BUTLER WASH RUINS
10 CANYON de CHELLY NATIONAL MONUMENT
11 CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK
12 CANYONS OF THE ANCIENTS NATIONAL MONUMENT
13 CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL PARK
14 CARLSBAD CAVERNS STATE PARK***
15 CASA GRANDE RUINS NATIONAL MONUMENT***
16 CASA Malpaís NATIONAL HISTORICAL LANDMARK
17 CEDAR BREAKS NATIONAL MONUMENT11
18 CHACO CULTURAL NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK108
19 CHIMNEY ROCK NATIONAL MONUMENT
20 COMB RIDGE AND COMB WASH
21 CORAL PINK SAND DUNES STATE PARK
22 CORONADO STATE MONUMENT––KUAUA RUINS
23 CROW CANYON ARCHEOLOGICAL CENTER
24 DEAD HORSE POINT STATE PARK
25 DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK***
26 Domínguez, Escalante and Lowry Ruins
27 EL Malpaís NATIONAL MONUMENT
28 EL MORRO NATIONAL MONUMENT
29 FISHER TOWERS RECREATIONAL SITE
30 GHOST RANCH/GEORGIA O’KEEFE***
31 GILA CLIFF DWELLINGS***
32 GLEN CANYON (LAKE POWELL
34 GOBLIN VALLEY STATE PARK
35 GOOSENECKS OF THE SAN JUAN STATE PARK
36 GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK
37 GRAND CANYON-PARASHANT NATIONAL MONUMENT
38 GRAND CANYON WEST: The Hualapai
39 GRAND FALLS OF THE LITTLE COLORADO RIVER
40 GRAND GULCH PRIMITIVE AREA
41 GRAND STAIRCASE––ESCALANTE NM
42 HOMOL'OVI RUINS STATE PARK
43 HORSESHOE BEND
44 HOVENWEEP NATIONAL MONUMENT
45 KARTCHNER CAVERNS STATE PARK***
46 KODACHROME BASIN STATE PARK
47 METEOR CRATER
48 MONTEZUMA CASTLE NATIONAL MONUMENT***
49 MONTEZUMA WELL NATIONAL MONUMENT***
50 MONUMENT and MYSTERY VALLEY TRIBAL PARK
51 MULEY POINT (on Cedar Mesa)
52 NATURAL BRIDGES NATIONAL MONUMENT
53 NAVAJO NATIONAL MONUMENT (Betatakin and Keet Seel)
54 NINE MILE CANYON
55 OLD ORAIBI (Third Mesa)
56 PAINTED ROCK PETROGLYPH SITE***
57 PECOS NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK***
58 PETROGLYPH NATIONAL MONUMENT***
59 PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK, Part I and II
60 PUEBLO GRANDE ARCHEOLOGICAL PARK***
61 PUYE CLIFF DWELLINGS
62 ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK***
63 SALINAS PUEBLO NATIONAL MONUMENT***
64 SALMON PUEBLO RUINS
65 SAN RAFAEL SWELL
66 SAND CANYON PUEBLO (on the Canyons of the Ancient NM)
67 SKUTUMPAH TERRACE: Grand Staircase, Part II
68 SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK***
69 SUNSET CRATER VOLCANO NATIONAL MONUMENT
70 SUPAI VILLAGE: The Havasupai
71 TAOS PUEBLO
72 THREE KIVA PUEBLO (and Cross, Squaw, Ruin Canyons
73 THREE RIVERS PETROGLYPHS
74 TONTO NATIONAL MONUMENT***
75 TUZIGOOT NATIONAL MONUMENT***
76 UTE MOUNTAIN TRIBAL PARK
77 VALLEY OF FIRE STATE PARK***
78 VALLEY OF THE GODS
79 VERMILION CLIFFS NATIONAL MONUMENT
80 VILLAGE OF THE GREAT KIVAS (Ancestral Home of the Zuñis
81 WALNUT CANYON NATIONAL MONUMENT
82 WHITE SANDS NATIONAL MONUMENT***
83 WUPATKI NATIONAL MONUMENT
84 YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK***
85 ZION NATIONAL PARK
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