Colorado National Monument
One of the great things about staying in Fruita Colorado is that the Colorado National Monument is right there. Like just a 10 minute drive from town. The wonderful thing about the monument is that it has something for everyone of all abilities. It can be a scenic drive with stops for those more closely linked to a car, or it can be a long elevation changing hike in canyons. And there is a lot of elevation change. Any trail that you take from the scenic road means you are going down first and then have to come back up. Something to think about before you just walk on-off.
Colorado National Monument was one of the first areas to be set aside for conservation. May 2021 is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the monument. Some of the road work and the buildings date back to the 1930s and the New deal infrastructure projects. Whoever doesn’t think that infrastructure improvement doesn’t have long-term benefits, is full of shit. Or they just might think that fossil fuel companies should be the only ones building roads.
The Monument drive loops from Fruita to Grand Junction, or the other way if you want. It is a fee area. Or the National Parks annual pass will also get you in.
Go early, which is always good advice. My partner and I always seem to be up early these days and beat the crowds. This time was the same. Driving up, and it’s a lot of up soon, we were only one of a handful of cars.
After last year and this, it’s a beautiful moment to have overlooks and parking lots to yourselves. Makes it worth it to go to bed early.
Deciding on a trail to hike took a few tries. Some of the trails down were closed. Seasonal closures due to wet and muddy conditions. The snow takes a while to leak down and out of the rocks.
We finally chose Independence Cap [check on that]. It had a nice sheltered parking lot off the road, with a vault toilet. Toilets seem to become more important as we get older. The trail dropped (?) feet to the other trailhead off the return road between Fruita and Grand Junction. Smart money would have parked there and gone up. That way it’s downhill on the return. We figured that we would only go so far.
After 2.5 miles in the trail starts to down fast. This is when we enjoyed the view and decided to turn around. By this time in western Colorado, the days get hot even in May.
The whole drive through Colorado National Monument is beautiful. The drive has places to stop, but it never seems to be in the place where you can get a great shot. There isn’t any room to pull off in most parts. The desert comes right up to the road. But get there early enough and you’ll still beat all the other tourists.
In my experience, anytime after 10 or 11 am is when they all start plowing in. But along with everything else 2020 brought us, it seems that more people are getting to the trailheads earlier. At this rate, some of us might be showing up at 4 in the morning. It’s a self-feeding cycle. Maybe we need to all stop sleeping.
Getting done early in the day also gets you out of the heat and the sun. Afternoons are great for resting and museums.