How Delicate These Arches: Footnotes from the Four Corners

I can only imagine how unconnected so many travelers must feel passing through the desert Southwest. Their instinctual GPS steers them clear of any complex community encounters and heads them straight toward Utah’s Canyonlands, or parks them at the Four Corners Monument to take a photograph with their loved ones standing on the only point in the continental US where four state borders converge, then nudges them on toward that great dip in the road, the Grand Canyon. If you follow this itinerary, you may see the sights but sadly, you’ll miss the experience.