FOUR CORNERS MONUMENT — How can you be in four places at once? Simple. Go to the Four Corners Monument, some 375 miles from Salt Lake City, the only point in the United States common to four states.
Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico all converge at Four Corners, a man-made, geographical oddity that creates a magical element for visitors.
Bend down on all fours, stretch your arms and legs and you can truly be in all four states at the same time.
Other variations are also possible. You could, for example, park your car in Utah, shop in Arizona, use the restrooms in New Mexico and picnic in Colorado — all within a few dozen yards of each other.
A surprising 400,000 visitors a year come to Four Corners. That's an average of more than 1,100 per day, according to San Juan County.
"It does attract a lot of visitors," said Peggy Humphreys, director of San Juan County Community Development and Visitor Services.
She's been amazed over the years at the contortions people pose in for photographs at the site, in order to be in the four different states at once.
May through September is the monument's busiest season.
Although the monument currently lacks electricity and running water, that's about to change.
Humphreys said $3 million has been allocated to construct an interpretive center. Architectural plans have been made, and the project will go to bid soon. It could be done as early as the end of this year, she said.
An organized effort by the Four Corners Heritage Council is credited with instigating the plans for the new interpretive center. Money for the project has been secured from a variety of sources — the National Parks System, American Indian tribes, plus state and nearby city funding.
Humphreys is also excited that American Indians in the area have realized that the monument is a perfect place to make personal contact with visitors. Native storytelling and dance are performed on an irregular basis at the site and American Indian vendors currently sell their wares at the perimeter of the monument. Items for sale include food and drink, even though water has to be hauled many miles to the site, from either Cortez, Colo., or Farmington, N.M.
"There's always at least one vendor there," Humphreys said, selling handmade jewelry, crafts and traditional foods.
Portable toilets and a very modest visitors center are the only such amenities there now.
Comments left in the guest book in the current small visitors center building range from asking for improved restrooms to all complimentary words — "great," "Awesome," "Beautiful" and "I like the shops."
Located in a rugged and remote area, Four Corners contains a natural beauty that's been mostly unchanged over the years.
Like Utah's remote Monument Valley, Four Corners is not accessible directly from Utah. Visitors must come from either Colorado or Arizona to reach it. (The actual entrance gate to the site is in Arizona.)
According to a history by the Utah Travel Council, as well as information found in the visitors center at Four Corners Monument, Four Corners was first surveyed by the U.S. Government Surveyors and Astronomers in 1868, during the initial survey of Colorado's southern boundary line. New Mexico's west boundary and Utah's east boundary followed in 1878. The northern boundary of Arizona was surveyed 23 years later in 1901. A small metal and cement marker was erected at Four Corners in 1912.
Before 1992, the Four Corners Monument was very simple. It had three steps up on a concrete pad, with a few posts and highway guard rails surrounding it. The monument was redone in 1992 and now includes a flat granite-and-brass monument and surrounding state flags and emblems.
An elevated platform makes for superb photo opportunities, though visitors may have to be both patient standing in line, as well as courteous to avoid intruding in the photographs of others.
To reach Four Corners: There is not a direct route from Utah — you have to go into Arizona or Colorado first. Either take U-163 east from Bluff. It turns into Colorado Highway 41. Turn southwest on U.S. 160. Four Corners is about 40 miles from Bluff.
Or take U.S. 191 south from Bluff into Arizona and turn east on U.S. 160 to the monument.
— Four Corners Monument is open year-round, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. The monument is administered by the Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation Department. Do not come at 4:45 p.m. because on slows days, the entrance gate may close early. Plan on at least 30 minutes to one hour for a visit.
Entrance fee is $3 per person. Visitors age 6 and under are admitted free.
For more information, call the San Juan Department of Community Development at 435-587-3235.
E-mail: lynn@desnews.com