Southwest destinations in the USA

South Rim, Coconino County, Arizona

Two billion years of stone stacked like a book, opened by the Colorado River.

36.1° N · 112.1° WOpen plate →

Navajo Nation, near Page, Arizona

Wind and flood wrote a corridor of fire-colored stone.

36.9° N · 111.4° WOpen plate →

Navajo Tribal Park, Utah / Arizona

Red buttes standing like ships on a sea of sage.

37.0° N · 110.1° WOpen plate →

Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah

A desert of windows punched through red rock.

38.7° N · 109.6° WOpen plate →

Zion National Park, Utah

A river walking through a cathedral of red walls.

37.3° N · 113.0° WOpen plate →

Tularosa Basin, New Mexico

A sea of gypsum that behaves like snow and light.

32.8° N · 106.3° WOpen plate →

Mojave & Great Basin, California

A basin so deep the air itself grows heavy.

36.5° N · 116.9° WOpen plate →

Chihuahuan Desert, Rio Grande, Texas

Where the river cuts a door through desert mountains.

29.2° N · 103.3° WOpen plate →

Paunsaugunt Plateau, Utah

A frozen congregation of stone, lit from within at sunrise.

37.6° N · 112.2° WOpen plate →

Glen Canyon, near Page, Arizona

The river turning back on itself in a perfect horseshoe of stone.

36.9° N · 111.5° WOpen plate →

Red Rock Country, Verde Valley, Arizona

Red rock that holds the last of the sun like a coal.

34.9° N · 111.8° WOpen plate →

Island in the Sky, Canyonlands, Utah

A stone eyelid that opens onto the whole plateau.

38.4° N · 109.9° WOpen plate →

Mojave & Colorado Deserts, California

A garden of stone and a tree that is not quite a tree.

33.9° N · 115.9° WOpen plate →

Mojave Desert, near Lake Mead, Nevada

A small desert of flame-colored stone, easily missed.

36.5° N · 114.5° WOpen plate →

Snake Range, near Baker, Nevada

The emptiest national park, and one of the oldest forests.

39.0° N · 114.3° WOpen plate →

San Rafael Desert, near Hanksville, Utah

A valley of stone figures that look as if they might walk at dusk.

38.6° N · 110.7° WOpen plate →

Canyonlands National Park, Needles District, Utah

A city of stone towers with almost no one in the streets.

38.1° N · 109.8° WOpen plate →

Canyonlands National Park, north mesa, Utah

A tableland with two rivers cutting the floor out from under it.

38.5° N · 109.8° WOpen plate →

Dead Horse Point State Park, near Moab, Utah

A peninsula of stone hanging over a river that has nowhere to hurry.

38.5° N · 109.7° WOpen plate →

Vermilion Cliffs, Paria Plateau, Arizona

A stone that looks poured, then frozen mid-pour.

37.0° N · 111.9° WOpen plate →

Capitol Reef National Park, north district, Utah

A desert nave with two red temples and no congregation.

38.5° N · 111.1° WOpen plate →

Markagunt Plateau, Utah

A Bryce that kept the altitude and lost the crowds.

37.6° N · 112.8° WOpen plate →

San Juan River, near Mexican Hat, Utah

A river that refused to straighten, and cut down instead.

37.2° N · 109.9° WOpen plate →

White Canyon, Cedar Mesa, Utah

A quieter Arches, cut by water instead of frost.

37.6° N · 110.0° WOpen plate →

Navajo Nation, near Chinle, Arizona

A canyon that is still a home, not only a view.

36.1° N · 109.5° WOpen plate →

Chiricahua Mountains, Sky Island, Arizona

A mountain that exploded, then learned to balance.

32.0° N · 109.4° WOpen plate →

Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

A hillside wearing the colors of a vanished river.

34.9° N · 109.8° WOpen plate →

Gila National Forest, Mogollon Mountains, New Mexico

The place the idea of wilderness was invented.

33.2° N · 108.3° WOpen plate →

Kaibab National Forest, North Rim country, Arizona

A yellow-pine forest standing on the canyon’s other door.

36.4° N · 112.1° WOpen plate →

Navajo Nation, San Juan County, New Mexico

A ship of stone, and a spine of dike.

36.7° N · 108.8° WOpen plate →

outside Abiquiu, New Mexico

A white garden the wind is still carving.

36.2° N · 106.3° WOpen plate →

Jemez volcanic field, near Cochiti, New Mexico

A canyon of tents the volcano pitched and left.

35.7° N · 106.4° WOpen plate →

San Juan Basin, New Mexico

A wilderness that learned to grow wings.

36.2° N · 107.9° WOpen plate →

east of Las Cruces, New Mexico

A mountain range that learned to be a spine.

32.3° N · 106.6° WOpen plate →

El Malpais National Monument, New Mexico

A window the lava never reached.

35.0° N · 107.9° WOpen plate →

Rio Puerco Valley, New Mexico

A mountain that is only the throat of one.

35.6° N · 107.1° WOpen plate →

the Bootheel, near Faywood, New Mexico

A town the ash built and the weather unbuilt.

32.6° N · 108.0° WOpen plate →

Carrizozo malpais, New Mexico

A fire that cooled in place and kept the shape.

33.7° N · 105.9° WOpen plate →

San Juan Basin, New Mexico

A wilderness that looks like another planet’s shore.

36.3° N · 108.2° WOpen plate →

north rim of the Grand Canyon, remote west, Arizona

The canyon without the crowd.

36.2° N · 113.1° WOpen plate →

Cedar Mesa, Utah

The valley the buses forgot.

37.3° N · 109.9° WOpen plate →

Grand Staircase–Escalante, near Big Water, Utah

A choir of white stone in an empty wash.

37.1° N · 111.5° WOpen plate →

Factory Bench, near Hanksville, Utah

A butte that looks like it belongs to another planet.

38.3° N · 110.9° WOpen plate →

eastern Nevada, near Panaca, Nevada

A church the weather built out of lakebed.

37.8° N · 114.4° WOpen plate →

Gold Butte, northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada

A red stone that learned to be lace.

36.4° N · 114.2° WOpen plate →

Elko County, Lamoille Canyon, Nevada

An alpine range hiding in a desert state.

40.6° N · 115.5° WOpen plate →

Searles Lake, near Ridgecrest, California

A stone forest that grew underwater, then the water left.

35.6° N · 117.4° WOpen plate →

Colorado Desert, Font’s Point, California

A desert that hides an ocean of folded earth.

33.3° N · 116.2° WOpen plate →

Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation, Nevada

A desert sea with a pyramid for an island.

40.0° N · 119.6° WOpen plate →

Spring Mountains, west of Las Vegas, Nevada

Red stone the city almost hid.

36.1° N · 115.4° WOpen plate →

Grand Staircase, near Cannonville, Utah

Stone chimneys named for a color of film.

37.5° N · 112.0° WOpen plate →

south of Mount Carmel Junction, Utah

Sand that is still the mountain, walking.

37.0° N · 112.7° WOpen plate →

Grand Staircase–Escalante, Utah

A waterfall the canyon kept for itself.

37.8° N · 111.4° WOpen plate →

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona

A cactus forest that barely crosses the border.

32.0° N · 112.8° WOpen plate →

west of Wendover, Great Salt Lake Desert, Utah

A lake that dried into a sheet of light.

40.8° N · 113.8° WOpen plate →

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Utah / Wyoming

A red gorge the river turned into a lake.

40.9° N · 109.4° WOpen plate →

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

A village the cliff still holds.

37.2° N · 108.5° WOpen plate →

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

A tower the alcove kept standing.

37.2° N · 108.5° WOpen plate →

west of Cortez, BLM, Colorado

Homes set into red stone west of Cortez.

37.4° N · 109.0° WOpen plate →

Fishlake National Forest, Utah

One tree that learned to be a forest.

38.5° N · 111.7° WOpen plate →

Henry Mountains, Utah

A mountain that rose alone from the desert floor.

38.1° N · 110.8° WOpen plate →

House Range, west of Delta, Utah

A limestone wall the desert stood on end.

39.1° N · 113.4° WOpen plate →

Sevier Desert, Utah

A small Sahara the basin kept.

39.7° N · 112.3° WOpen plate →

Green River, Utah

A river that kept its own distance.

39.5° N · 110.0° WOpen plate →

Snow Canyon State Park, Utah

Red stone and a black river of rock.

37.2° N · 113.6° WOpen plate →

Strike Valley Overlook, Capitol Reef, Utah

A hundred miles of stone stood on edge.

37.8° N · 111.0° WOpen plate →

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

An arch you look down through.

38.3° N · 111.2° WOpen plate →

Paria Canyon–Vermilion Cliffs, Utah

A slot that does not end soon.

37.0° N · 112.0° WOpen plate →

Dry Fork of Coyote Gulch, GSENM, Utah

A window the slot kept for itself.

37.5° N · 111.2° WOpen plate →

Neon Canyon, Glen Canyon NRA, Utah

A room the potholes lit from above.

37.7° N · 111.0° WOpen plate →

Devil's Garden, Grand Staircase–Escalante, Utah

A blade of stone the wind left standing.

37.6° N · 111.4° WOpen plate →

Grand Staircase–Escalante, Utah

Two windows in one cream wall.

37.5° N · 111.8° WOpen plate →

Zion National Park, north, Utah

Zion’s north wall, fingered into the plateau.

37.4° N · 113.2° WOpen plate →

Left Fork of North Creek, Zion, Utah

A tunnel the creek carved and kept.

37.3° N · 113.1° WOpen plate →

Paria Rimrocks, Utah

Capstones the rimrocks learned to balance.

37.5° N · 111.9° WOpen plate →

Circle Cliffs, Utah

A backway that looks down on its own hills.

37.9° N · 111.3° WOpen plate →

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

A cream bridge the wash walked under.

38.3° N · 111.2° WOpen plate →

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah

A chimney the Reef stood alone.

38.3° N · 111.3° WOpen plate →

North Fork Virgin River, Zion, Utah

A cathedral you walk in the river.

37.3° N · 112.9° WOpen plate →

Zion National Park, east, Utah

A hill the stone ruled into squares.

37.2° N · 112.9° WOpen plate →

Zion Canyon, Utah

A ridge that keeps only as much path as it must.

37.3° N · 112.9° WOpen plate →

Castle Valley, Utah

Towers the valley kept like a skyline.

38.7° N · 109.3° WOpen plate →

Moab backcountry, Utah

A crown the cliff wore and opened.

38.6° N · 109.6° WOpen plate →

The Maze, Canyonlands, Utah

A room of stone figures the Maze kept.

38.2° N · 109.9° WOpen plate →

Horseshoe Canyon, Canyonlands, Utah

Figures the canyon has held for a very long time.

38.5° N · 110.2° WOpen plate →

San Rafael Swell, Utah

A narrow walk the Swell cut for a horse.

38.6° N · 110.8° WOpen plate →

San Rafael Swell, Utah

A little Grand Canyon the Swell kept.

39.1° N · 110.7° WOpen plate →

Mule Canyon, Utah

Rooms the ceiling still seems to warm.

37.5° N · 109.7° WOpen plate →

Cedar Mesa rim, Utah

A rim that looks past the river’s turns.

37.2° N · 110.0° WOpen plate →

Hovenweep National Monument, Utah

Towers a community set on the rim.

37.4° N · 109.1° WOpen plate →

Lucin, Utah

Four tunnels that keep the sun’s appointments.

41.3° N · 113.9° WOpen plate →

Coyote Buttes North, Arizona

Stone that learned the motion of water.

37.0° N · 112.0° WOpen plate →

Havasupai Reservation, Arizona

A blue pool the red wall still holds.

36.3° N · 112.7° WOpen plate →

Sonoran Desert, Tucson, Arizona

Arms the desert learned to hold up to the sun.

32.2° N · 111.2° WOpen plate →

San Francisco Peaks, Arizona

The state’s high roof, still wearing snow.

35.3° N · 111.7° WOpen plate →

San Francisco Volcanic Field, Arizona

A cone the last fire left standing.

35.4° N · 111.5° WOpen plate →

Superstition Mountains, Arizona

A needle the Superstitions kept for a landmark.

33.4° N · 111.4° WOpen plate →

Tawa Point, Petrified Forest, Arizona

A desert that kept every color of old mud.

35.1° N · 109.8° WOpen plate →

Oak Creek, Sedona, Arizona

Spires the creek was asked to look up at.

34.8° N · 111.8° WOpen plate →

West Fork, Coconino National Forest, Arizona

A gold corridor the creek kept under stone.

35.0° N · 111.7° WOpen plate →

Coconino National Forest, Sedona, Arizona

A bridge the hollow left standing.

34.9° N · 111.8° WOpen plate →

Arizona–Utah corridor, Arizona

A river that kept both states for a hallway.

36.9° N · 111.7° WOpen plate →

Colorado River, Arizona

A marble-named trench the river kept narrow.

36.8° N · 111.6° WOpen plate →

North Rim, Grand Canyon, Arizona

The North Rim’s long look into the eastern gorge.

36.1° N · 111.9° WOpen plate →

Picacho Peak State Park, Arizona

A peak the basin raised like a warning.

32.6° N · 111.4° WOpen plate →

Mills Canyon, Canadian River, New Mexico

A river canyon the grassland hid.

36.0° N · 104.4° WOpen plate →

Raton Mesa, Colfax County, New Mexico

A green canyon the mesa kept.

36.9° N · 104.4° WOpen plate →

Wide Hollow, Escalante, Utah

A small forest the desert turned to stone.

37.8° N · 111.6° WOpen plate →

McCartys lava country, Cibola County, New Mexico

The bad country as lava, not as a window.

34.9° N · 108.1° WOpen plate →

Manti-La Sal NF, southeast of Moab, Utah

Snow peaks standing out of a desert sea.

38.4° N · 109.2° WOpen plate →

Truchas country, Santa Fe NF, New Mexico

A lake the Pecos high country still keeps.

35.9° N · 105.6° WOpen plate →

Mojave National Preserve, California

A singing dune sea under the Providence Mountains.

34.9° N · 115.7° WOpen plate →

Canyon Rims Recreation Area, Hatch Point, Utah

A Hatch Point balcony over a city of striped stone.

38.3° N · 109.7° WOpen plate →

Canyon Rims Recreation Area, Hatch Point, Utah

A river fold read from the opposite rim.

38.5° N · 109.6° WOpen plate →

Canyon Rims Recreation Area, Hatch Point, Utah

Island country read from the east rim.

38.4° N · 109.7° WOpen plate →

Scenic Byway 12, east of Escalante, Utah

Slickrock falling away under a black highway thread.

37.7° N · 111.5° WOpen plate →

Scenic Byway 12, Escalante River, Utah

A red canyon the highway has to cross.

37.8° N · 111.4° WOpen plate →

Scenic Byway 12, west of Escalante, Utah

Gray hills under a pink table of stone.

37.6° N · 111.8° WOpen plate →

Skyline Rim, Factory Bench (approx), Utah

Gray benches the Mancos kept after the sea left.

38.5° N · 110.8° WOpen plate →

Padre Bay cape, Glen Canyon NRA (approx), Utah

A stone table over a drowned canyon.

37.1° N · 111.3° WOpen plate →

Utah 261, Cedar Mesa switchbacks, Utah

A mesa wall the road learned to descend.

37.3° N · 109.9° WOpen plate →

Comb Wash at UT-95, San Juan County, Utah

A stone comb standing over its own wash.

37.5° N · 109.7° WOpen plate →

Burr Desert, Dirty Devil rim, Utah

A desert rim over a named dirty river.

38.2° N · 110.5° WOpen plate →

East Humboldt Range, Elko County, Nevada

A named tarn under Greys Peak.

41.0° N · 115.1° WOpen plate →

Toiyabe Range, Nye County, Nevada

The high point of the Toiyabe Range.

38.8° N · 117.4° WOpen plate →

Woods Canyon overlook, Apache-Sitgreaves, Arizona

Where the Colorado Plateau ends.

34.3° N · 110.9° WOpen plate →

Dark Canyon Wilderness, Manti-La Sal NF, Utah

A quiet cut behind the Needles.

37.9° N · 110.1° WOpen plate →