Colorado National Monument

 

Greetings from Grand Junction, Colorado. It is a pretty big town, so I'm planning on doing some shopping and getting some chores done.

I'm also going to the Colorado National Monument. If you don't have the lifetime senior pass, it cost every carload $25 to enter the Monument. Not for me though – Free, Free, Free. The ranger actually thanked me for getting the lifetime pass. Never had that happen before. 

I entered the Monument on the western side, from the town of Fruita. It is a steady uphill climb on a very narrow road with big drop offs on the side of the road. This was not a small little uphill climb, we are talking 2300 feet of elevation gain. You have to share these narrow little roads with bikers. I was so impressed with them – can you imagine? When I got to the top, I talked to one biker. He was over seventy years old. He told me that two years and four months ago, to the day, he was in a wheelchair with meningitis and they told him that he would never be able to walk again. Holy cow, he had just gotten to the top of this huge climb. Inconceivable!!

Once you are on the top, the road goes for 23 miles along the rim of the Monument. There were quite a few turnouts to check out the view. I decided that I was going to hike every one of the short trails which ranged from a quarter of a mile to three-quarters of a mile one way. Double that for your mileage count. When I came through the ranger station, he told me it would take about an hour to drive the whole thing, including stopping at a few places. Six hours later, I finally left the Monument. With one exception, the trails were fairly easy as in they were pretty level. My main issue was that I am challenged with following trails – I tend to go right when I should go left and vice versa. It also seems my vertigo/fear of heights has gotten a lot worse since the last time I was high up.

The Road before it got all twisty turny

Independence Monument
John Otto, the father of this park. climbed this every Fourth of July and planted a US flag at the top

Coke Ovens

Independence Monument with the town of Fruita in the background

The hike to Devil's Kitchen was a pretty easy flat trail until the very end. You look up and you have to climb up some slick-rock. That part was OK, it was sort of fun. The problem though is that there was no trail on the rock. You had to figure out how to get up to the Kitchen on your own. I probably took three times as long as anybody else as I veered all over the rocks. But I made it.

Looking out from Devil's Kitchen

And yes, I did get another Junior Ranger badge.  Ranger Justine was a little tough.  Ranger Justine does not accept any half-ass job.  Do it right or go home.