Four Corners Monument Navajo Tribal Park and Shiprock

Four Corners Monument Navajo Tribal Park is the only place in the U.S. where four states converge at one point: New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. It also marks the boundary between the semi-autonomous Native American governments of the Navajo Nation and the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation.

Surrounding the monument is a vendor market where native artwork, food, and souvenirs can be purchased directly from local Navajo and Ute artisans.

The history of the monument begins in 1868, when Ehud N. Darling surveyed and set markers to establish the border between the Colorado and New Mexico Territories at the 37th parallel of latitude north. In 1875, Chandler Robbins surveyed and marked the border between the Arizona and New Mexico Territories at the 32nd meridian of longitude west from Washington D.C. Where this border intersected with the Darling Line, he erected a sandstone shaft, marking the location of the Four Corners Monument.

In 1878, Rollin J. Reeves surveyed and marked the border between the newly created State of Colorado and the Utah Territory, starting at the Four Corners Monument and working northward. In 1901, Howard B. Carpenter surveyed and marked the border between Utah and the Arizona Territory, completing the survey of borders converging at the Four Corners Monument. The results of these surveys were later accepted as the legal boundaries between the various states.

Due to the primitive surveying techniques used, the borders sometimes stray away from the lines of parallel and meridian that they were intended to follow. As a result, New Mexico sued Colorado in 1919, which led to the 1925 Supreme Court ruling that the markers placed during the initial surveys were the actual borders, superseding the written description created when the territories were formed. Although the borders between these states may appear perfectly straight on a map, they often zigzag on the ground.

The U.S. National Geodetic Survey determined that the Four Corners Monument is located about 1,800 feet east of where the marker was originally intended to be in 1863, however, since the 1875 survey was accepted by all states, its markers, including the monument, are legally binding. Following its establishment in 1875, the Four Corners Monument has been replaced or upgraded in 1899, 1931, 1962, 1992 and 2010.

Shiprock is a mountain in the Navajo Nation of northwestern New Mexico located roughly 30 miles southeast of Four Corners Monument Navajo Tribal Park. Shiprock rises almost 1,583 feet above the surrounding high desert plain to a peak elevation of 7,177 feet above sea level. It formed roughly 27 million years ago after magma in a volcano 2,500-3,000 feet below the surface hardened and the softer rock around it eroded away over millions of years. The remaining volcanic neck has ridges of lava rock or "dikes" emanating from the center where veins of lava existed. Americans first called the peak "The Needle" starting in 1860, but by the 1870s, it had become known as "Shiprock" due to its resemblance to a 19th century clipper ship. In 1975, it was designated a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service.

Shiprock is sacred to the Navajo, or Diné people as they call themselves, and is known as Tsé Bitʼaʼí in the Navajo language, meaning "Rock With Wings" or "Winged Rock." According to legend, the ancestors of the Navajo far to the north were fleeing from another tribe so their shamans prayed for deliverance. Out of the ground formed a great bird that carried them south until landing to rest where Shiprock now stands. A giant dragon-like creature called Cliff Monster then built a nest on the back of the great bird, trapping it. Cliff Monster was killed by Monster Slayer, who cut off its head, heaving it to the east where it became Cabezon Peak. Some of the blood of Cliff Monster coagulated and formed the dikes. The great bird was fatally injured in the battle so Monster Slayer turned it to stone as a reminder of its sacrifice.

According to another legend, the Navajos once lived on Shiprock and only ever came down to farm and get water. One day, lightning struck and created a sheer cliff which trapped the women and children, who starved to death on the peak. People are thus forbidden from summitting the rock "for fear they might stir up the chį́įdii (ghosts), or rob their corpses." Climbing Shiprock was made explicitly illegal by the Navajo Nation after an accident that resulted in a death on the peak in 1970. The Navajo people ask that tourists stay away from the monolith and efforts to approach are made harder by the fact that the only existing means of access are unmaintained dirt roads.