Colorado Trip

I spent last week back in Colorado visiting Andria's family and doing some back country hiking with Dave. We originally had planned to go backpacking in the Rockies for several days, but the weather there was forecast to be cold with periods of rain. We opted instead to drive west to the Colorado Plateau and set up our camp at Colorado National Monument, about 15 miles or so from Grand Junction.  We spent three nights there enjoying the sights, and did two hikes in the nearby McInnis Canyon National Conservation Area. The weather was mild, and we had no rain to speak of.

 On Sunday, we did a family hike to the top of Mt. Herman (elevation 9,063 ft.). The kids were great hikers on this short 2.2 mile but steep hike.

 On Tuesday, Dave and I headed out on our trip, crossing the Rockies headed west. We stopped in the town of Fairplay for lunch.  The town is at an elevation of 9,953 feet!

 Get your car insurance here!

 We stopped for a rest along the Colorado River.

 We were glad to have finally arrived at Colorado National Monument late in the afternoon. We did the 23 mile Rim Rock Drive that snakes along the edge of the canyon walls.

 Notice that huge chunk of cliff that has dropped off the side of the canyon wall.

 Views from Rim Rock Drive.

On Wednesday, we did a 7 mile hike up Devil's Canyon at McInnis Canyon National Conservation Area.

 We both love the rock formations of The Southwest.

 Our hike led up this canyon.  We missed the trail down below, and rather than backtrack a couple miles, we chose to plunge over a steep, semi talus slope down to the bottom.

 The scenery reminded us of our Canyonlands National Park backpacking trip of 2 years ago.

 The trail turnaround was at this old sheep herder's shack.

 In the shack.

 The road up to our campground passed through a couple tunnels through the sandstone.

 A look from our campground area.

On Thursday, we hiked the Rabbit's Ear Mesa Trail.  This 6 mile trail led up and around a large mesa overlooking the Colorado River.

 On the way down from our campground, a bighorn sheep ram crossed in front of us.

 The terrain on his hike headed up to the mesa top.

 We had lunch looking down at the Colorado River below.

 After the hike, we drove a few miles over dirt roads to another overlook area.

Throughout the trip, thunderstorm activity was never too far away. 

This area had many little side roads and trails to explore which would be fun in the future.

 Headed back up to camp, we came upon a group of female bighorn sheep and a ram.

 Friday morning and time to head back east to Colorado Springs.  Morning light.

On the drive back, we took a side trip to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.

 Perspective is deceptive here. The Gunnison River is 2,500 feet below the canyon rim.

The river below carved this canyon through hard schist at the rate of about one inch every hundred years.

It was great to spend time with the family and also get a dose of The Southwest.  Gail and I have loved getting acquainted with The Southwest while living in the San Diego area and miss our trips to the desert and red rock country.  We think that eastern Oregon might give us a taste of desert and interesting rock formations. We'll see!