The Wheels on the Bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. : Grand Junction

When John Otto first saw the rugged red rock canyons south of Grand Junction in 1906, it was love at first sight. His enthusiasm was contagious. Many joined him in his efforts and deluged Washington politicians with letters of support. Finally on May 24, 1911, President Taft signed the proclamation that established Colorado National Monument. The Monument preserves one of the grand landscapes of the West. But this treasure is much more than a monument. Towering monoliths exist within a vast plateau and canyon panorama.

Built by local ranchers in the 1880's the cattle trail alongside the opposite canyon wall gave cowboys a route to move herds between winter and summer ranges. covering the many miles of trail with a herd of cattle sometimes took several long days and nights.

Independence Monument at 450 feet tall.

Initiated by John Otto, the tradition of raising the American flag atop Independence Monument on July 4th continues today.

In 1931 when National Park Service engineers designed a scenic drive to showcase features of the park, most of the actual road building was done by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) crews between 1933 and 1942.

Twenty-three mile Rim Rock Drive was built almost entirely by using picks, shovels, and sheer muscle to remove massive rock and debris. The engineering skill of the workers can be seen today in the tunnels and stonework. With construction came a high cost in human life, however. Nine men were killed in a single accident at Half-Tunnel when tons of rock suddenly fell from a cliff into their work area. Two other men died in separate accidents.

The Shapes of Erosion

Early visitors thought these shapes looked like man-made structures called coke ovens.

Do you see the "Egyptian Mummy?

On the far wall some see a rock formation that looks like the outline of a mummy.

Headed out Post Canyon

Dinner at Hot Tomato

We made a good choice. This place was crazy busy.

The pizza was great

If you look closely you can see one small pictograph

Castle Rock

Headed out McDonald Creek in search of petroglyphs

The dark spots is water seeping out of the rock wall

If you look closely you can see the chipmunk hanging upside down getting a drink

Train tracks right next to the Colorado River

Turns out Jeepers are not the only rock stackers. Rocks had been stacked to help you get up the tall ledge.

Lower Monument Canyon Trail

More petroglyphs

White Rocks

Long ago the Grand Valley area was used primarily by Fremont Indians for campsites, spiritual ceremonies and even farming.

Soaring Eagle rock formation

Echo Canyon

Interesting plant

Headed to Devils Kitchen

Looks more like an Indian than a Devil to me

Serpents Trail

Called "the crookedest road in the world," this historic trail has 16 switchbacks. The trail climbs steadily from east to west through Wingate Sandstone. Built in the early 1900s, this route was part of the main road through the park until Rim Rock Drive was completed in 1950.

Headed out this morning we saw three coyotes but of course we could only get a picture the little scrawny one.

Sieber Canyon is located in the McInnis Canyons National Conservation. Hiking in the canyon is very primitive with no official trails to follow. We took the route that takes you down a slide to get around a giant spillover and into the main wash of the canyon where it continues for 1 mile to a panel of petroglyphs that cover about an one hundred foot section of cliff. This hike is listed as strenuous but with the heat it was brutal. We were so busy watching for the trail that we didn't get many pictures. We did however notice lots of bear scat in the area.

The bighorn sheep skeleton marks the trail at the bottom of the canyon

We followed these cat prints for quite a ways

Looks like there might have been a granary up there

We have reached the petroglyphs

The bullet holes are said to be from cowboys

I found this little bit of shade and was going to sit down but this lizard was not budging

We spotted a couple of Collared lizards on our way out

The Skeleton marks our way out of the canyon

I was smart and brought my gloves

After the hike we showered and headed off to receive of 3rd Covid booster shot. While in town we decided to treat ourselves to dinner at The Goat and Clover Tavern.

Tabeguache Trail

Colorado River

Looked a little narrow from down below. Decided to pick another route.

Our last day we were headed out early for a big hike. We had been warned by the Ranger if it had rained we should not go down this road. When we arrived we found this young couple who had started down this road last night and started sliding. They had called AAA at 8pm and were still waiting.

We stayed up in the parking area and winched them out. We took this as a sign to do something else today as our trailhead was 12 miles down this road.