We left Black Canyon early in the morning with our destination of the Colorado National Monument on the edge of the Colorado Plateau. It was recommended by a National Park Ranger taking a survey at World's End in Hingham as an unsung location with a classic western flavor.
Our first stop, however, was in Montrose, CO, only about 20 miles from Black Canyon. We stopped at Coffee Traders for coffee and Internet access. It seemed to be a local favorite based on the traffic in and out. I uploaded several days of Speedy Journal entries and photographs, while Ellen made a few calls to friends.
After that, we were in search of light bulbs. Two of our 12-volt reading lights had burned out the night before, the two we use most, of course. Unfortunately, they are German-made lamps and the bulb is an unusual 12-volt halogen bulb. Montrose is a fairly large town and we tried several hardware and auto supply stores without success. At the last we tried a Napa Auto, they gave us the Napa part number in case we passed another store on the way. Off we went on US 50 towards Colorado NM.
About 20 miles further on we passed though another town and it had a Napa store right on the highway. They didn't have the bulbs we needed either but the clerk checked to see if anyone else had them in stock. Through the wonder of computerized and networked inventory systems, they noted that the store in Grand Junction, CO, had them. Grand Junction was on our way. An hour later, we had replacements and two spares and can read in bed again. After also getting milk and bread, which we were out of, it was on to Fruita, CO, and the west entrance of Colorado NM. Unfortunately, we didn't know the east entrance was only four miles from Grand Junction and had driven many extra miles.
Colorado National Monument is at the edge of the Colorado Plateau, a huge uplifted mass of land that encompasses a significant portion of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. All of the big, spectacular national parks, Grand Canyon, Zion, Arches, etc. are on the Colorado Plateau. It is the land of big rocks and big canyons. Colorado National Monument is an appropriate gateway. It sits on the edge of Uncompahgre Uplift, part of the Colorado Plateau, above the flatlands of Fruita and Grand Junction, which lie on the Colorado River. Grand Junction is at the junction of the Colorado and Gunnison Rivers.
The National Monument is small, hot and very dry; it is riddled with deep red rock canyons and tall eroded sandstone spires and fins. Naturally, we arrived at lunch time, with bright sunshine and 90°+ temperatures. The Saddlehorn Campground, the only one, was very close to the visitor center. It is fairly small with two loops of about 30 sites each that were open. When we arrived, only two other sites were taken. After much driving around (with empty campgrounds we find it harder to decide on a site), we chose a site with a view to the north, overlooking Fruita.
While there are a few trails in the Monument, at 90°+ and little shade, it was a bit too hot to go hiking. We decided to drive the scenic road, Rim Rock Drive, which twists and turns for 23 miles along the rim of the canyons that make up the monument, stopping at the various turnouts and generally taking it easy ... as easy as one can take it while driving a twisty road along the rim of a canyon with several hundred foot drop-offs and few guardrails. We had entered the park at the west end and the rim road drive came out at the west end, the one only four miles from Grand Junction. Along the way we passed another Roadtrek, coming the other way, with its inhabitants waving wildly at us. We waved back, just a tad less enthusiastically.
After driving along the back roads that border the park, we returned to the west entrance and climbed back up to the campground. The back roads were a bit strange. They had great views back up to the canyons and cliffs of the park, but had many recent subdivisions full of overly large houses with little charm. It even had the obligatory golf course, in a vivid, unnatural green, being in the desert.
On returning to our campsite, we found that one of the other two occupied sites contained the Roadtrek that passed us. It was virtually identical to Speedy, another 2001 Roadtrek 190 Popular, but with blue trim, rather than sage. Its owners were a very enthusiastic retired couple, Bill and Patty, from Michigan, who have owned their Roadtrek since it was new. They love their Roadtrek, much for the same reasons as us, you can take it anywhere and it has all the necessities for reasonable comfort.
They had put only 60,000 miles on it in that time, compared to Speedy's 113,000, but they said they traveled about nine months of the year. This seemed strange until they mentioned that they also had a Bluebird bus conversion that they take to Florida every winter.
Needless to say, we spent much time comparing our experiences with the Roadtrek. I was assured that it was easy to remove the refrigerator to clean it and was even given good tips on what to look for and how to test it. Patty was entranced by our small flat screen TV, as they still had the original big CRT TV that takes up a whole cabinet.
They were hikers and paddlers and had a small, lightweight trailer with storage boxes under and kayaks on top. The next stop for them was Moab, where Patty was meeting friends to take a nearly two-week trip down the Green River to its confluence with the Colorado, while Bill flew home to get the Bluebird ready for Florida. Patty would then spend some more time paddling at Lake Powell, before driving their Roadtrek back to Michigan.
By the time we finished comparing vans and travels, it was dinner time. We settled down for dinner and watching the sun set over the river valley and watching the stars and the Milky Way gradually appear in the clear western sky.
Colorado National Monument Photos
No comments:
Post a Comment