Colorado National Monument

4 of 12 – 2024 Fall Trip West Series. While at Glenwood Springs, CO for two nights Deanne rented a car that we all would use for our visits to National Parks in Utah, and we visited the Colorado National Monument.

iPhone_IMG_7158 — On our travel from Florissant Fossil Beds National Park to Glenwood Springs we saw some beautiful fall colors as the aspens turned bright yellow.

Below is a map of “US Terrain Regions” as mapped by the US Geological Survey. When we left Indianapolis in the Central Lowland Plains, traveling west through the Great Plains, then crossing the Rocky Mountain System, we arrived at the Colorado Plateau(s). I thought we were just headed to a bunch of National Parks in the Utah vicinity. I had no idea there was a name for this densely packed geological wonderland called “The Colorado Plateau”

Colorado National Monument_DAD2452-NR (1)

The Colorado Plateau – “the least tamed area of the lower 48 states.” The Colorado National Monument was the first of many National Parks all included in the Colorado Plateau.

Colorado National Monument_DAD2452-NR (18) — We visited all the National Parks shown on this map except Black Canyon (of the Gunnison) and Mesa Verde. We planned to visit Black Canyon but a bridge on the main road to the park was closed and the park itself was undergoing road repairs. We had seen Black Canyon on a previous trip so we skipped it. This gave us time to visit Colorado Monument which was a phenomenal treat.

There is only so much you can say about cool rocks and dramatic geology. Since that is what we would be seeing for most of this trip we will not be saying a lot about each picture. It’s a rock, a cool rock, but a rock.

Another map of the Colorado Plateau area; marked with places we visited for National Park Stamps. Starting September 20th at the upper right (Colorado National Monument) we traveled generally counter-clockwise, eventually arriving 20 days later at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta October 9th.

The Rental Car: We went to the airport in Grand Junction, CO to pick up a rental car. The first one they gave us had a serious alignment problem so we rejected that one and got an enormous GMC Denali.

Leaving the RV behind for the day, we took the rental car to spend the day driving through Colorado National Monument. It was an amazing day. Jennie had told us it was worth visiting but it does not get near as much publicity as the big Utah National Parks so I wasn’t expecting anything spectacular. It is spectacular.