Colorado National Monument
October 27 - We had been planning to visit Colorado National Monument but woke up to snow. We decided to go anyway. What’s a little snow? The Monument is about an hour north of our house and it is an easy drive. We entered via the east entrance which is a little weird as the road is through a housing development. They have a nice view from their houses!
I had seen a few photos online and the cliffs are a prominent feature of the landscape around Grand Junction, so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. There is only one road through the monument, Rim Road. It is only 23 miles long but has a lot of switchbacks and the road is narrow. There are no side roads. We were told it takes 45 minutes to drive the road one way but who just drives straight through without stopping? On entering the Monument, the road starts to climb then makes five switchbacks. We may have been on the second switchback when we noticed the view into the Grand Valley. To the south we could see Grand Mesa, and we were surrounded by sandstone cliffs. The view was impressive.
The cliff in front of us was sandstone but the hill farther down was striped red and grayish green. It was clearly not sandstone. As I have said elsewhere on this site, I’m not a geologist, or biologist, etc most people aren’t but I still find those subjects interesting. Here is a quick and very dirty explanation of the area's geology. At one point this area was ocean floor / beach, successive advancing and retreating of the ocean water deposited mud, in layers on the ocean floor. Creatures and plants fell to the ocean floor and became encased mud to be later become fossils. Reminders of wave action can also get caught in the layers. During periods when the ocean floor had low oxygen the mud turned grayish-green due to the oxidation state of the iron present. During periods of higher oxygen (when it was nearer the surface) the iron deposits turned red. Later, sand was deposited on top of the mud.
Layers of Mancos Shale under layers of Wingate Sandstone
All of it coming under pressure from the layers above, compressing the mud into shale (Mancos Shale after Mancos, Colorado) and the sand into sandstone (Wingate sandstone after Fort Wingate, New Mexico). As the ocean retreated layers of shale and sandstone were worn away by the flow of water, both wave action and flowing water. This erosion left the canyons of sandstone, which is harder to erode, hanging above the main valley of shale that is softer and easier to erode.
Evidence of Wave Action
Continuing the climb, it wasn’t long before we reached Serpents Trail. This used to be the main road between 1921 and 1950. It had over 50 switchbacks! I wouldn’t want to get car sick on that. But now Serpents Trail is only open to hiking. From where the trail leaves the Rim Road, you get an improved view to the east. Here you can see Grand Mesa on the distant right, Mount Garfield to the distant left and the tiniest bit of the Little Book Cliffs. You can also see the sandstone on the left and the shale foothills viewed in the earlier photograph, just from much higher.
Serpents Trail, Colorado National Monument, CO
I wonder how early tourist felt about that shelf road in their model A’s. I’m also curious if it had a guard rail back then. A sign at the entrance says that during the trail’s use as a road, many cars didn’t have fuel pumps so drivers had to back up steep sections so their engine could get fuel.
The road currently in use is also a shelf road and it still doesn’t have much of a guard rail. That little stone lip is just as short as it looks.
As we continued toward the West Entrance the view became more impressive. I was really glad we traveled from east to west. The best view points are near the West Entrance. If we had started on that end of the road, it would have been like reading the last chapter of the book first.
Fallen Rock, Colorado National Monument, CO
It was a pretty day and the snow was melting fast. There were other photographers out as well as people on bikes. It was actually busier than I expected for a snowy weekday in fall. At one viewpoint I took a photograph, then a moment later teased Dennis that he was not allowed to take the same photograph. It turned out not to be such a great photo anyway.
At another viewpoint, I saw a shot I want to take but another photographer then stepped into my field of view to take the same shot. It was then that I realized what I should have known. There are no original grand landscapes here. There is one road with small designated pullouts. This leaves few options for photos. If you see it, it’s been captured before. Even on a day under the best lighting conditions, it might look nice but someone else has already captured the same thing and probably better. I decided to look elsewhere. I did this by enjoying the view of the canyon in person but then looked across the road, away from the grand view, for any photo opportunities as well as looking for more seasonal interest. This is what I found.
Sandstone Cornice
Formed by Interesting Wave Action
Seasonal Interest
As we approached the main attraction, we began to realize that the canyons we had been seeing were actually side canyons.
We had started our trip just after breakfast but, it was well into the afternoon before we arrived at the Grand View. It lived up to its name.
The photos are misleading as only a panorama could capture all the spires in one place but then they would all be small and not well represented. Each spire is massive. And while you see the above structure on the right, there are more to the left. And most can be viewed from the overlook named Grand View.
And since I am not a landscape photographer, my favorite photo of the trip was of a cactus with a sandstone background.
Prickly Pear Cactus with Sandstone
If you happen to be in Grand Junction and have a day to spend, Colorado National Monument is well worth the drive. The road through the park isn’t long. If you only have a couple of hours you can still enjoy the view as you don’t have to get out of the car. But I wouldn’t come during peak tourist season as there might not be a place to park at the overlooks. We would like to come again when we can hike the Canyon Trail. I suspect most people drive through so the view from the bottom of the canyon is probably less crowded and has more opportunities for an interesting perspective. It is well worth the trip from either vantage point.