7 November 2025

Quadripoint

 

In relation to earlier geographical posts, Bob Slatten and another American visitor informed me that there is a point in The United States where four of those states meet. I was intrigued and went away for a massage google. Indeed, the four states in question are Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah.  They meet on Native American lands in a remote, desert-like area.

The Four Corners Monument has become  a tourist attraction in recent years. There are stalls and concessions there plus "restrooms" (English: toilets) and plenty of car parking. See the image above that I snipped from Google Maps.

Above, a father and son have created an aerial image using a selfie stick at the very point where the four states meet and below Google imagery proves that some weird stuff happens out there. Perhaps there's an alien presence for we should remind ourselves of the wise old saying: "The camera never lies":-
The nearby main road is Highway 160 and below you can see the sign just ahead of the side road that eventually leads to Cortez, Colorado (population 9151)...
Another dusty side road off the road to Cortez leads you to the site of The Four Corners Monument - shimmering in a heat haze in the middle of nowhere.
Now that I have researched the location, I would love to go there but I do not suppose I ever will - especially with a deranged right wing tyrant occupying The White House.

By the way, there is also a quadripoint in Canada. It is even more remote than the place mentioned above. The two provinces and two territories that meet in central Canada are  Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North West Territories and Nunavut. 

The location is very hard to access as there are no roads nearby. Back in the 60s, a survey team placed a small aluminium obelisk at the spot. On the top - these words have been imprinted as a warning to Keith Kline, Nurse Pixie, Debra Who Seeks, Jenny O'Hara and other would-be Canadian souvenir hunters: "5 years imprisonment for removal"...

32 comments:

  1. I've heard of the US Four Corners and seen the Monument on TV. But the Canadian equvalent is news to me! I'm not surprised to learn there are no roads nearby. Judging from the photo, the survey team had to snowshoe in.

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    1. There is a lake very close by and visitors tend to fly there.

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  2. Wow! I didn't know about this. It would be difficult and costly to get there so why do they worry about damage to he sign.

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  3. I think the Canadian version is safe, I have no desire to travel that far, without roads, to steal something.

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  4. Not quite as exciting as the GMT line.

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    1. I thought that line would get you excited Andrew. Like Johnny Cash, you could "walk the line".

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  5. I find it interesting to think that someone at some time must have bent over and placed a foot and a hand in all four states at once. We don't have any of those in Australia, but my state, South Australia, does share borders with all other mainland states, Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

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    1. Yours must be the only state that does that. It could be a tourism lure... "VISIT SOUTH AUSTRALIA - IT TOUCHES EVERYWHERE"

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  6. I wonder if the UK has something similar. I suppose London has many counties surrounding it but you certainly wouldn't be able to put a hand or foot in each county at the same time!!

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    1. Our ancient county boundaries mean there can be no quadripoints. Our lines were not drawn by bureaucrats.

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  7. It really does seem to be in the middle of nowhere.

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    1. Maybe there should be a similar monument in the middle of The Isle of Man.

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  8. I hadn't heard of the Canadian spot before bute it sounds a bit too remote! Especially in winter

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    1. There's a lake very nearby and visitors tend to fly there.

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  9. We could do a blogger gathering in the four states at once and that would not be solid, liquid, gas and plasma.

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  10. I've visited the Four Corners, and yes, I lay down so bits of me were in all four states at the same time.

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  11. I visited Four Corners many, many years ago and as a youngster it was a boring drive to get there. I'm sue it's still a boring drive but my sense of adventure is much broader and more patient to get to a destination.

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    1. Agree with you about that…miles and miles of nothing

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    2. The Native American owners of the site realised its potential for extra income and that is why the site has been developed since you visited it Diaday.

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  12. More harsh and, for me, unsettling landscape. Miles and miles of it.

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    1. It is probably what your personal hell will be like Traveller when you cast off your mortal coil.

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  13. This is fascinating! I know I will never visit either place, but thanks to your research I now know about them.

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    1. Until a week ago I knew nothing about them either.

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  14. Kind of a strange monument, when you think about it. The underlying premise is completely imaginary in the real world -- these lines that we draw for legal purposes that mean nothing to the birds or armadillos or coyotes.

    I'm confused about the Canadian one, because Nunavut didn't exist until the 1990s. Before that, I think it was part of the Northwest Territories. So how could there have been a quadripoint back in the '60s to be marked by the obelisk? Or maybe it was a tri-point (?) at the time.

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    1. Yes. It was a tripoint at first. The line between Saskatchewan and Manitoba was simply extended north when Nunavut became official.

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  15. Supposedly from the top of Lookout Mountain in Tennessee, if the clarity is extremely good, you can SEE seven states. Not the same as being able to stand on four states but still pretty cool.

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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