On our last trip to Moab, Utah we decided to take a side trip through Col­orado National Mon­u­ment which is just out­side of Grand Junc­tion.  We’ve dri­ven by Grand Junc­tion many times and stopped for din­ner or lunch just off the free­way as we passed on by, but never really stopped to see Grand Junc­tion before. Pass­ing through the busy lit­tle com­mu­nity made me real­ize that Grand Junc­tion is a beau­ti­ful small city on the west­ern edge of the Col­orado Rock­ies. A short dis­tance from down­town Grand Junc­tion is Col­orado National Mon­u­ment.  I’ve been trav­el­ing and pho­tograph­ing Col­orado for many years now, but have never vis­ited this des­ti­na­tion in the National Park sys­tem.  Enter­ing the park and dri­ving up the switch­backs to the top of the rim we fell in love with its beauty and splen­dor along the Rim Rock Drive as the sun began to set. Tak­ing it slow as we drove into the sun, the road mean­ders along the edge of the rim with drop-offs of up to 500 feet and few guard rails. Stop­ping at many of the turnouts along the way gave us a chance to pho­to­graph one of Colorado’s hid­den gems. The sand­stone cliffs and huge mono­lithic spires ris­ing up from the canyon floor is rem­i­nis­cent of Mon­u­ment Val­ley in Ari­zona but instead dri­ving on the tops edges of the sand­stone cliffs. Col­orado National Mon­u­ment was estab­lished 100 years ago in 1911 with the help of John Ottos out­doors­man and pro­moter of this Col­orado nat­ural won­der. We only spent an overnight visit at Sad­dle­horn camp­ground, but then vowed we would return and explore more of this amaz­ing nat­ural won­der of Colorado’s end­less beauty.  So, if you’re in the Grand Junc­tion area don’t for­get to visit Col­orado National Monument.

Click on the photo below to view the slideshow of Col­orado National Monument.

Books on Col­orado National Monument

Colorado’s National Parks & Mon­u­ments [Hardcover]

Rim of Time: the Canyons of Col­orado National Mon­u­ment [Paperback]

A Guide to the Rim­rock Drive-Colorado National Mon­u­ment [Paperback]