day seven; black canyon of the gunnison and mesa verde national parks.

we arrived in colorado right after sun down the night before and would already be in new mexico before sunset of day seven. spending less than twenty four hours in such a beautiful state almost seems criminal, but so it goes. the day started in the misty morning dew as we packed up the tent we had hastily set up a mere eight hours ago in the woods of the black canyon of the gunnison national park.

we spent the morning hiking the rim trails of the canyon, an endless sea of green in front of us as far as the eye could see. a sight that reminded us of our childhood in the woods and mountains of new hampshire. and something that we haven't seen in two years as we've been fully immersed in exploring the dry and arid landscape of texas and the southwest.

driving out of the park was like entering a postcard. surrounded by rolling hills lush with pine trees, snow capped peaks can be seen in the distance and running parallel with our path is a roaring river fueled by the spring sun hitting those peaks that we are headed towards.

we drive up and down through the hills, the uncompahgre national forest on our right and the san juan national forest on our left. the hours fly by as we take turns behind the wheel so we both get a chance to get lost in the allure of the mountains

before we know it we are already pulling into mesa verde national park. after a brief chat with a ranger we decide which tour we are going to take and make our way over to the ancient cliff dwellings.

by four o'clock we are already back on the road. with the car pointed south we head towards new mexico.