Colorado National Monument

You can see a section of the Rim Rock Road below

Another view of the canyon from the trail along the rim from the Visitor's Center

We left early from Moab as it was a four hour drive to Fruita, Colorado where we had reservations at the James M. Robb State Park and wanted to spend the afternoon exploring the Colorado National Monument nearby. The following day was a long one over the Rockies to Denver so this was our only chance to spend time at this beautiful spot. The famous 23 mile long Rim Rock Drive was designed in 1932 and constructed almost entirely with manual labor from the WPA, the CCC and the Public Works Administration. At its height, the project employed more than 800 men and included three tunnels.

We walked along the Rim Trail from the Visitor's Center admiring not only the view but the Pinyon and Juniper trees. Many look like large Bonsai. Pinyon trees have been known to live 800 to 1000 and there are many old ones here in the Park.

I am not sitting on the edge of the cliff but a wall near it. Again it was sunny but had a high around 48 degrees.

This is an area of desert land high on the Colorado Plateau (the highest point in the park is 7,028 ft.) with pinyon and juniper forests. There is a wide range of wildlife including golden eagles, desert bighorn sheep and coyotes. Rock climbing is a big draw here and we saw several people up on the top of both Independence Monument and a smaller version closer to us - amazing! 

I spotted these climbers during our
hike. We yelled over our 
congratulations.

Scott took a close up. This is a smaller version of 
the famous Independence Monument below.

Here's a view from the other side
of the canyon of Independence
Monument. Several climbers can
be seen at the top!

The father of the park was John Otto who arrived in 1906 and fell in love with the area. He wrote, "I came here last year and found theses canyons and they felt like the heart of the world to me. I'm going to stay and promote this place, because if should be a national park." He did in fact do this. He was the Monument's first custodian, in which capacity he earned one dollar per month until leaving the post in 1929. He knew every inch of the park and carved a number of trails including the way up the Independence Monument, which he was the first to summit. He married Beatrice Famham on June 20, 1911 at a rustic alter in what is known as Wedding Canyon. Unfortunately the bride did not understand the living conditions he preferred and she left him only days later.

Here's a picture of their wedding and her 
explanation of why she had to leave.

We did the length of the road, ending up in Grand Junction and circling back to our campsite. The weather had turned warm enough to enjoy our drinks outside. There was a lovely sunset too. The next day we were off by 8:30 AM and had beautiful weather to cross the Rockies on Highway 70. This is a marvel of construction as well with one long tunnel dedicated to President Eisenhower and lots of gorgeous views over the mountains and down at the river. 

This view while having lunch ranks with the most
scenic we've experienced. 

We're leaving Baby at the Ridgeline at River Run, a 55+ Community (and RV park) while we fly to Palo Alto California to visit our daughter Zoë, son-in-law George and our two grandsons, Nick and Tommy.  We'll be back in a week and start east again. 

Scott would love to do a book on
the fabulous trees we've seen on our
trip!

Our site at the James M. Robb State Park at 
Fruita, CO

Lunch spot on the highway going over the Rockies