Colorado National Monument - Oct 6 - 8

Highway 139 Colorado .... This picture shows why we did not go this way!

By the time we got the coach tidied and ready for travel it was 9:30 am. Our destination to day is the Monument RV Park close to the entrance of Colorado National Monument in Fruita, CO. Ray decided to take a round about route through a valley to get to our destination as Highway 139 that went straight south, also when right up over a huge mountain and the road was reported to be very narrow, windy with lots of switchbacks and the pavement quite broken. We spoke to a camper behind us at Dinosaur National Monument who had just driven it in a car and said there was no way he would take our bus down it. :)

The route we took is from Dinosaur down to Rangley, over to Meeker and then south to Rifle getting on the I-70 into Grand Junction. Beautiful scenery but OMG. The road from Dinosaur to Rangley has tons of humps in the road, a very uncomfortable drive. Rangley to Meeker is better but still with some humps you must watch out for. Out of the 4 hour drive, 1 1/2 hours of it was steering wheel gripping for Ray and me holding myself in my chair. lol We actually bottomed out on our airbags once which sent all of our clothes off the hanger rod in the rear closet, first time ever! Once onto I-70, it is pretty bumpy in places too reminding us of the I-5 in California. lol

Here are some pictures I took with my phone as I was bumping along. First we followed the White River and then the Colorado River. 

Highway 64, Rangley to Meeker along the White River.

We stopped at a pull over and Ray took a picture of this lazy White River we followed for some time.

Heading on Highway 13 from Meeker to Rifle leaving the river bottom.

At Rifle we got onto the I-70 where we followed the Colorado River into Grand Junction and Fruita. The mountains kept getting bigger as we drove along. Spectacular. Ray's fingers were itching to be taking pictures himself. :)

Down into vineyards and fruit orchards.

We arrived at the Monument RV Park by 1:30 and set up and ate lunch. Unfortunately a bolt broke which attaches our door stair wing out motor to the chassis.  Now the stair is just hanging as we parked in our site! A 3/4" bolt failed. Ray stabilized it once we were set up so we can get in and out. Called a couple of RV mobile repair people and someone will be here Saturday morning to have a look. Fingers crossed it can be fixed easily. We leave Sunday so ?????

First thing is getting our laundry going, which is why we decided to be plugged in. The road up to the monument's campsite looked pretty windy on the map with lots of switchbacks which helped make our decision to stay down below.

Friday morning we were out the door at 8am to the Monument to see what we could see. lol Ray likes early morning light for his shots. A bunch of angles however he will have to go back in the late afternoon/evening for the sun to be in the right spot.

Our pictures do not do the views justice. They were so much more brilliant and expansive to the naked eye.

Colorado National Monument is a National Park Service unit near the city of Grand Junction, Colorado. Sheer-walled canyons cut deep into sandstone and granite–gneiss–schist rock formations. This is an area of desert land high on the Colorado Plateau, with pinyon and juniper forests on the plateau. Wikipedia

One of the grandest scenic drives in the American West, the 23-mile Rim Rock Drive offers redrock canyons, crisp blue skies, and glorious views along the way for motorists and bicyclists. The road is inseparable from the identity of the Monument.

The road up to the top of the monument is extremely windy and slow going. There also are 2 tunnels you go through on the way up and one tunnel at the other end when we went down. Here is a picture from google, there was no where for us to stop to get a picture.

We made the right decision not to camp up there. The road down at the other end was also extremely windy with lots of switchbacks, including the tunnel.

This picture is taken Saturday morning on Ray's trip back to the RV Park.

No driving off the road here!

First overlook we stopped at is the Historic Trails View Looking over Fruita along the Colorado River.

Redland View

Balanced Rock View

Looks like a face (maybe Brian Mulroney with the long chin) looking at Balanced Rock lol

Fruita Canyon Views. Shows part of the road coming up.

From here we drove through the campsite to Book Cliff View. They have a nice shade structure to enjoy the view from.

 

Window Rock

Just past the Visitor's Centre we saw a Bighorn Ram and a couple of Ewes. Only managed a picture of the Ram through my window with my phone before they moved on.

Independence Monument

Grand View Lookout

The next ones were taken Friday morning without the "golden light".

Monument View Overlook

This next picture is for you Dianne. lol Ray wanted you to see how far down it is from where he stood for this picture. :)

Lots of California Yucca's on the ledge.

Coke Ovens Overlook 

View of Coke Ovens from Artist Overlook

Artist Point, a bit of a hike down to the viewing area.

Upper Ute Canyon

The "Mummy"

We could hear people down below us on the Ute Canyon Trail.

Fallen Rock Overlook 

Ute Canyon View This was the highest point on the drive at 6640 ft elevation.

We could hear the hikers from here too but could not spot them.

Red Canyon Overlook

Cold Shivers Point, last overlook before heading down off the monument.

The road down at this end of Rim Rock Drive also winds down the monument, with several switch backs and a tunnel. We stopped at the pullover for Serpents Trail to get a picture of the road and amazingly I spotted a herd of Bighorn Sheep just lying down enjoying the sunshine, right between the switchback.

Look how the sheep blend in. They are in the middle of the grass between the switchback.

Our first cactus on this trip and blooming here too.

More East End views with more swithbacks coming down the monument.

This is the most incredible drive with all the amazing views. Ray headed back up later in the evening at 5 pm and again first thing Saturday morning at 7am to get all the "golden glow" shots he could. Most of the best views are at the West End in Fruita so he won't have to drive the whole road again.

Saturday morning after Ray got back from taking some more pictures, we moved to a site behind us as t a cancellation allowed us to stay another night with full hookups. The Mobile RV Tech showed up at 9:30 am to have a look at our stairs. Nope ... they are screwed. As Ray found, the bolt sheared off from the frame of the coach where the motor for moving them in and out is located. Looks like it will have to be drilled out and a "Tiffin Part" tacked back in and will have to be bought from Tiffin directly. So we now have a step stool to get outside. Scott secured the stairs with a rope and a cinch strap for the time being. This may not get fixed until we are back next March. We will be picking up a proper step from Camping World that is adjustable to tide us over. 

After the move, today was my cleaning day as we had so much dust and dirt from dry camping that needed to be taken care of. Of course 10 days of laundry also was done over the last couple of days. I had some rug scrubbing to do, as well. During our last servicing, we had new front brakes installed before our trip. The technician thought he lost his phone while taking the coach out for a test drive when he stomped on the brakes to make sure everything was ok. Well, he told us he spent over an hour looking for his phone inside which ended up not being here. Unfortunately with his shop boots, he left a bunch of greasy footprints on my white carpet on the slide floor .... Grrrrr. So today it was scrubbing time. I had cleaned it before we left but obviously not well enough.

Tomorrow it's back on the road to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.