Four Corners Monument

About forty minutes north of Shiprock, the only point in the United States where four states meet. The marker — a circular bronze and granite disc — sits at the corner of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado, and it is irresistible to pose with one limb in each state. The monument is on Navajo and Ute lands; an entry fee is collected.

There is little here besides the marker, a circle of stalls selling Navajo and Ute crafts, and fry-bread stands. Most visitors stay for half an hour. Bring small bills if you want to buy anything — the stalls are cash-only.

things to do sight
A story
Surveyors set the original marker in 1875. When the National Geodetic Survey checked it with GPS in 2009, the boundary was found to be about 1,800 feet east of where it should have been on a strict reading of the 19th-century enabling acts — but the law treats the placed monument as definitive, so the marker stays put.

Other places in Things to Do