Colorado Ntnl Monument

The view East, towards Grand Junction

The Colorado National Monument reminded me of a smaller Canyonlands National Park; huge views and and huge cliffs that the camera never does justice. A very scenic area that makes a great day-trip for the family. It is an easy off and back on from I-70 and worthy of the hour or so drive if you are passing by Grand Junction, CO.

There are some nice trails too, but the heat kept me from going down any of them… next time.

camp sweet camp

When I arrived it was already 5pm and all but one site was taken. I quickly laid my claim and setup camp (aka; parked and opened my doors). I road the bike down the road trying to find access to the river as I thought I might take a quick swim, but gave up after a short distance. Returning to the camp, I found numerous other people driving through looking for a site only to leave empty handed. I felt guilty that I was not even using half of this site while others were going without a site at all.

So I flagged down the next vehicle coming by looking for a site and let him know I have space and I’d be happy to share the site. Easy enough… it was only a 60-year old guy on a motorcycle with a tent. For the life of me I can not recall his name but he gave me half the cost of the camping site which is always a nice deal. We ended up drinking a few beers and talking for the next 4 hours before finally calling it a night around 10pm… which is where I am right now.

I’m not sure what I am doing in the morning. I think I will head up the road to this trail I saw on the map. It seemed like a cool trail into the slick-rock valleys around Moab. My camp-buddy confirmed that it was a trail worth doing as well.

Im off to take a wipe-bath and get some sleep. I will try to wake before the sun to decide on that trail or not…