I wish I could remember who told me several years ago to visit Colorado National Monument. If it was you, let me know!
After dropping Jane off for her flight back to Chicago following several days of travel in New Mexico and Colorado, Chance and I headed toward Utah. First, on that earlier recommendation, we took a trip through Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction on the western edge of the state.
Ute Canyon, Colorado National Monument
This would be a quick visit across the park on the 23 mile Rim Rock road. Entering from the southeast entrance, one of the first great views is down Ute Canyon. I was fortunate to be there with great light and skies.
Highland viewpoint
One of the features pointed out at this stop is the large piece of the canyon wall that slipped off and stayed more or less upright. See it?
Coke Ovens view
These sandstone domes resemble the coke ovens early miners built to convert coal into coke which in turn was used to convert iron to steel.
Brushy Basin Member
This formation is made of mudstone. In a few days, I’d be driving through more colorful types of mudstone called bentonite. You can get a sense of the size of this formation if you can spot the car.
Independence Rock
This feature near the northwest part of the park is one of its most identified landmarks. This view is made into a diorama of high desert plant and animal life at the Natural History Museum in New York City. A couple days after my visit, a man fell to his death trying to climb this rock.
Driving back down to the plains off of Rim Rock Road, the dramatic rocks were gone, but the distant storms made up for it.