The Underappreciated Colorado National Monument

This is a park that is way underappreciated. You have Bryce, Zion, Canyonlands, Monument Valley but this one seems to be overlooked. We spent three days and still never exhausted the park. Amazing views around every corner. Not enough turnouts (or bathrooms !) to take more photos but those that were there were spectacular.  

Of course, you can click on a photo to see a larger version, then below, you'll see a "film strip" that you can click through all of them.

Here's the Rimrock road we travelled on while visiting the park.

Cap rocks that erode slower than layers underneath

Titled rock formation

Another tilted formation going into the earth

View of Grand Junction below...looking east.

Many many valleys that have been made by erosion over millions of years

The Rimrock Road travels above these so you can view them.

This illustration, at on overlook, shows how this very large rock slid instead of collapsing.

Here's the "slid rock"

...and a closer look.

Trail from below looking at the western entrance

There's a road above all that lighter rock

....and here's the road !

Trail led right down to one of these tall, tall rocks.

Looking at Independence Monument in the foreground

Here's the original route that was climbed

...and one climber near the top

almost there...

Closeup - About to get to the top 

You can see the person in red at the top...it's a lady and the man at the bottom belaying her in blue is her Dad

And here's what the rock looks like from our observation point.

Balanced Rock

Caused by years of water erosion

These are called the Coke Rocks because they resemble coke furnaces.

Cock Rocks from the other side

....and a closer look

Another boring magnificent valley

Now for some flora and nature shots...Spring is a great time to visit.

...and a few personal photos...

Katie using a fish-eye lens treatment

Man and his Dog

My Sweetie

Okay...that's it for this one...hope you enjoyed it.

Steve/Kim and Katie

Down the Colorado River in 2016

When we left Grand Junction, there was no availability in Moab so we decided to head to Green River, Utah...only about 90 miles away but....I decided to take a detour and go down the Colorado River road to Moab and then head up to Green River. It's a beautiful drive and only added about 50 miles to our journey. We're sure glad we did ! Once we got to the river, it was spectacular. At the end of the photos is a movie shot out our front window as we drove....worth watching.

Here's the route we took. At Agate we headed south.

The first 45 miles or so was a narrow 2-lane road..kinda rough so we just went slow and enjoyed the "scenery"

Stopped to read the signs.

...and found a large Prairie Dog community. This one was warning the others that we were near.

Heading south to State Highway 128

One in a rare moment, we let Katie ride with me as I drive.

Heading south to State Highway 128

Then we finally got to the road that travels along the Colorado River...enjoy the photos.

Imagine this rock coming down !

The "Castles"

A rest stop along the way.

These cliffs are waaaay above us.

You just don't get scenery like this back east.

MOVIE....About 50 seconds in, it gets real good.

...and our Katie photo....

Looking very attentive.

More Moab entries coming in the days to come....


Steve and Kim and Katie



Along the left side of the blog are past year's entries as well.

And remember...if you want to opt out, please let me know.