Having explored the part of Dinosaur NM that we were interested in, we decided to run down to Colorado National Monument today. We took the Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Scenic Highway from Jenson to Grand Junction (2.5 hours). The drive is beautiful, rolling through canyons before topping Douglas Pass and dropping down into a canyon on the other side popping out into the Grand Valley area of Colorado. If you are ever in Northwestern Colorado you need to do this drive. It was magnificent.
Just south of I-70 is the west entrance to Colorado NM (named in 1911). From the west entrance, the steep road climbs the northern escarpment to the top of the Colorado Plateau (this same plateau forms the start of the Grand Canyon NP, Arches NP and several others). There were two tunnels (that the Wanderer would not fit through), and several cyclist beating themselves against this climb. At the top was the visitor center. We stopped at the visitor center, collected our 36thPassport Stamp, watched the park movie, and talked with the ranger to check on the road conditions. The 28 mile Rim Rock Road cuts through the park along the rim of multiple canyons before dropping down the east side of the escarpment to Grand Junction. The original road was built between 1919 and 1923 on the east side of the park. It was a single lane gravel road cut out of the cliff by hand tools. During the Great Depression, the CCC built the present Rim Rock road using hand tools and dynamite (including three tunnels) between 1932 and 1942, from the west side across and down the east side (replacing the original road). Nine men lost their lives building the road. Construction was halted by WW2 but the road was finished after the war by 1950
We had Etta along, and dogs are not allowed on any of the trails in this NM (we even had to take turns going into the visitor center while one of us stayed outside with Etta). So we drove the Rim Rock Road, stopping at all the pullouts to take in the incredible views of the canyons below. The drop offs at the edges of the pullouts were 800 to 1000 feet! So no selfies at the edge! A highlight was Independence Monument and watching a climber reach the top and then go back down. This NM is all about the geography and the canyons. We usually left Etta in the truck with the air conditioner running (it was in the 80s). At the last pullout, we went a little ways off the trail along the rim and found where people had rubbed their names and dates into the soft sandstone. The oldest date we found was 1911 and several from the CCC construction period.
After leaving the park on the east side, we stopped in Grand Junction to do some shopping and to grab a quick dinner before heading back to Jenson the same way we had come down. When we filled up in Loma, David added a fuel additive, AR6200, to the tank before we topped off. The result was we got 2 miles per gallon better fuel mileage going back than on the trip down.
 |
| Entrance Sign |
 |
| Independence Monument (If you look close you can see the climber at the top) |
 |
| Coke Ovens rock formation |
 |
| Ute Canyon |
 |
| Sliding Rock |
No comments:
Post a Comment