"I came here last year and found these canyons, and they felt like the heart of the world to me. I'm going to stay and promote this place, because it should be a national park."
"Some folks think I'm crazy but I want to see this scenery opened up to all people."
Both of these quotes are from John Otto. Like me, you've probably never heard of him. Before planning this trip to Colorado, I'd never heard of the Colorado National Monument. But in the early 1900's, John Otto dedicated a big part of his life to protecting and promoting this area in southwest Colorado. His hard work and incredible determination paid off when President Taft signed off on creating the Colorado National Monument. I love history as much as I love exploring the beautiful places in our world. I enjoy researching the stories about the people who worked so hard to protect places like this one. Because of John Otto, I had an amazing afternoon in Colorado National Monument. Thank you John Otto. You can read about him here.
This morning was another foggy, rainy and dreary morning. We were going to drive the Grand Mesa Loop but it would have been pointless to drive 165 miles through fog. So we started our day at a local laundromat. Just as we were folding our still warm clothes, the sun popped out. We could see the Colorado National Monument from the parking lot. It was somewhat cloudy but unlike yesterday these were high clouds. On our way across Grand Junction, we stopped at Freddy's for lunch. We had tasty burgers and really good malts. I pretty much stopped here as a tribute to my Uncle Freddie who passed away last year. It was a good choice...maybe he was looking after me because blue skies were over the Colorado NM when we arrived at the East entrance.
Our first stop was at the Devil's Kitchen area.
There isn't much for me to add, the pictures tell the story. We drove along Rim Rock Drive.
We stopped along the way. Sometimes at overlooks, sometimes at trails.
We saw amazing views of the canyons and mesas. We also saw strange rock formations and millions of years of geological history.
Next stop Cold Shivers Point above Columbus Canyon.
Red Canyon Overlook
Obviously we are now at Ute Canyon. This seemed to be one of the bigger canyons in the park.
Same shot looking straight down over the cliff edge.
The storm clouds were moving toward us the afternoon moved toward evening.
The Upper Ute Canyon Overlook
I am pretty sure this is where you could yell across the canyon and your echo would bounce right back to you. Kennedy and I had fun with this.
Highland View
Artist Point looking into Monument Canyon
The weather turns quickly out here. As soon as it started to rain, the fog raised up from the canyon floor. Here is all we could see at Independence Monument.
Independence Monument in a fog....hmmm...seems appropriate considering the questionable leadership of our government nowadays.
We made it to the visitor's center. So over the past two days we have driven the full length of Rim Rock Drive.
Today's view is much clearer than yesterday's view. All I asked for was a few hours of no fog...and I was granted that wish. So thank you God or Mother Nature or my Uncle Freddie or John Otto.
It was raining as we drove out through the West entrance. Then the sun peaked out for a few wonderful minutes and we saw another incredible rainbow.
We celebrated another enjoyable adventure in Colorado at the Kannah Creek Brewing Company in Grand Junction.
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