I visited Colorado National Monument for three days beginning Monday September 9. I arrived much later than planned, after 6PM. It was a long drive.
First, I drove the fifteen miles along Peak-to-Peak Highway from Kelly-Dahl Campground to Black Hawk-Central City. These two towns are “gambling” towns high in the mountains. Back in the 1990’s, Colorado legalized gambling here to rejuvenate the towns and add money to the state coffers. I was living in Boulder at the time and recall reading about it in the newspapers. It never appealed to me. From this mini-mecca of chance, I took the Central City Parkway, a four-lane highway to I-70 covering about seven miles.
I-70 through the mountains is an engineering marvel. Central City Parkway comes out on the interstate at around 7,000’. The road rises steadily through Georgetown and Idaho Springs. After Idaho Springs it is about twenty miles to Eisenhower Tunnel, where I-70 crosses the Continental Divide through the two-mile tunnel. One comes out on the west side and descends seven miles down a steep grade into Silverthorne and Dillion Reservoir.
The road continues past Frisco, where one could exit for Breckenridge, then passes Copper Valley Ski Area. It begins to climb again for several miles, goes over Vail Pass, then winds down a long descent into Vail, which is densely packed into a narrow valley. I used to come to Vail to run the Vail Hill Climb, running from downtown to the top of Vail Mountain on the 4th of July weekend, as well as the Vail Half Marathon which was usually a few weeks later. These were fun races that ended with energizing parties at the finish and camping overnight. I have not visited in Vail in many years.
In those days, trail running, and “hill climbs” in particular, had become my favorite type of running. Other places with these “climbs” were in Aspen, Black Canyon, and the big ones, Pikes Peak and, on return trips to the northeast, Mount Washington.
I stopped at Costco in Gypsum for gas, as it was 30 cents a gallon cheaper than the stations at the highway exit. Costco was about three miles out of the way, but I also had a slice of pizza! From Gypsum, the interstate enters Glenwood Canyon. It is a thirteen-mile meandering road accentuated with several engineering marvels as it narrowly negotiates the canyon along the banks of the Colorado River.
From there, it is still a couple hours’ drive to Fruita, a small but booming town at the west entrance of Colorado National Monument. Upon arriving there, I first went to the Fruita Community Center for a shower. In a serendipitous moment, I heard a couple next to me mention Silver Sneakers. Silver Sneakers is a program for seniors that promotes health and fitness activities. It happens to be one of the perks of my health insurance. I asked about it, and I obtained a free membership to the Community Center!
From the Community Center, via the West Entrance, it is about eight miles to Saddlehorn Campground in Colorado National Monument, which includes a winding, four-mile climb of about 1100” through multiple dramatic switchbacks and two tunnels carved into the sandstone rock. The views are spectacular, and I think this might be the “best” road of any the national parks I’ve visited in terms of amazing-ness. By this I mean the combination of geology, colors, cliffside views overlooking wide panoramas, big sky, and engineering. The road is literally carved out of rock much of the way to the top. It was constructed largely by the Civilian Conservation Corp 1933-1942, halted for WWII, then finally completed in 1951. The entire 23 mike Rimrock Road is on the National Historical Register.
On my first morning there, I walked down a short way to stand on the cliff edge and watch the sunrise. It was wonderful and thought provoking, energizing while enabling a sense of calm at the same time. The views of Fruita Canyon are remarkable, sensational, even mind-blowing. The 500’ cliffs. The sandstone colors, an artist’s palette blend of various shades of red, orange, pink, brown, and yellow. The expansiveness of the valley below reaching to the Bookcliff formation in the distance, another range of high cliffs. And to look down upon the road, again it’s just amazing they were able to put that road into place.
But perhaps the more important thing that occurs in these moments is the realization of wonder within oneself. The wonder and beauty one experiences through one’s senses is also present within. It manifests within.
The weather for these three days was hot and dry with a mix of sun and clouds, definitely more on the sunny side. It was hot during the day, high 80s, dipping down into the 60s at night. I found myself wishing for cooler weather. Once again, the locals told me this was unusually hot for this time of year.
I did a bike ride on Tuesday from the campground to the East Entrance. It was 37 miles out and back with over 3000’ of climbing. On Wednesday I did a shorter 20-mile ride, this time including the West Entrance. The climb at the West Entrance gains more elevation than the East Entrance, but it is also about half a mile longer, resulting in a slightly less steep climb. Still, they are both big hills with lots of switchbacks.
Later in the day, I walked up to the Visitor Center. They have great information on the animals and plants that make their home here, the geology, and the history of the park including Native Americans, early settlers from Europe and Spain, and the process of creating a national monument. After that, I did the mile-long Rim Trail down to a place called Window Rock. The trail hugs the cliffs of Wedding Canyon for most of the way. It also provides great views of the monuments for which Colorado National Monument is known, with Independence Monument being the most prominent. These are sandstone monoliths standing tall from the base of the canyons.
On my first night there, while on my evening walk, I met a couple who had just bought a house in Fruita. They had purchased it remotely, had not seen it until this very day, and they were quite happy. They said they had put bids on four other houses over the past few months, but had been outbid each time, until now. They said Fruita is booming and housing is crazy, like it seems to be just about everywhere. They had toured the house physically for the first time today, and they said it was even better than they imagined. They were currently living in the Midwest, though by their accent I would say they were European.
On another evening, I met a couple from the Salt Lake City area. They were here for a bicycling event the coming weekend, The Tour of the Moon! The Tour of the Moon is a bike circuit that passes through the park. I rode the route twice when I was here last year, once clockwise and once counterclockwise. The interesting thing about their participation is they ride a tandem bike, a bicycle built for two! It turns out I had seen them riding earlier in the day. You do not see that many tandems out there, and earlier on my ride I passed a couple on a tandem going the opposite direction as was speeding down a hill. One other note about the event, many years ago, back in the 1980s, there was a multiday professional bike race, a stage race, in Colorado called The Coors Classic. One of the stages took place in this area and it swept through the park. As I recall, that is where the “Tour of the Moon” name originated.
Have a good day!
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