Letter 24 SW Colorado: Grand Mesa, Grand Junction, Unaweep/Tabaguache Scenic Byway

Tuesday, September 6 we picked up stakes and moved 75 miles to the Grand Mesa. Unfortunately it was socked in. The visitor center was not user friendly for campers so we had to blunder around to find a campground and a spot. The first campground we visited was very wet and the roads were narrow. We shopped the spots two times around. There were only three spots taken. All those empty spots and we couldn’t find one to suit. At one end of the road at the turn around we had a hard time negotiating all the rocks lining the road. GRRR!

We gave up and drove to the next campground and were we surprised. A wide road led us all around the campground. Each spot was graded and level. And a few spots had electricity. Were we glad we had been so picky at the first campground. This spot was 10,285’ above sea level!
This Mesa is the world’s largest flat-top mountain. The top of the mesa is 10,000’ so we moved slow to get our altitude legs. Since it was misty or raining we hibernated. This was a good time for Olivia to do some paperwork and Fred to take a nap. We had Susan Shirey’s instant potato soup and we pigged out.

Wednesday, September 7 dawned with a clear sky, but puffy clouds kept threatening our views. We drove out to Land’s End anticipating a clear view of the 5,000’ drop to the valley, but we could only see

a few feet. It was clear on top of the mesa with bursts of clouds coming up the side. In fact across the way they wereerupting.

We decided to drive north and off the mesa where we sawgood views to the north.

This mesa has over 300 lakes, many of which were created by immense slope failures commonly known as landslides, like we see on freeway embankments. Once stable the lakes form between the mesa top and the top of the landslide.
We could see land’s end from this drive. Arriving at the bottom, Fred’s desire for cappucino lead us down

down Plateau’s canyon to the freeway. Going back to the trailer we found a better view of Land’s End.

Thursday, September 8 was another move day as we retraced some of our steps. We started out by going back to Land’s End and viewed the valley below. Land we could not see two days ago, but compare some of the views.

We visited with a man we at first thought was a tourist. But, he stayed too long at the rim. Fred asked him if he had spotted his house and he said it was on the valley floor somewhere. He worked for one of the Grand Junction TV stations and was on the top of the mesa to meet another worker and then they would repair a generator at the base of their transmission tower several miles away. In winter he uses a snowmobile to climb the mesa. He says that isn’t too bad, except when there is fog. Then it is impossible to tell where the edge is. He uses his experience and luck as his guide!

Land’s end road wasvisible all the way down. There was no way Fred was going to take that road.

We packed up and drove down into Grand Junctions where we found a city ordinance against staying at Walmart, bummer as we had to set up camp in an RV park costing $31 a night, but Fred was glad to have electricity for the AC. The high was in the mid eighties.


Friday, September 9, we drove out to Colorado National Monument. We entered through

Fruita Canyon.

Fred said this is another place where people have named different shapes of rocks. Yes, it was and it was surprising what was in the string of mesa’s west of Grand Junction. The park included 23 miles of roadway to see all the striking canyons,

balanced rock, drive along the base of sandstone. Onefunny formation welcomed us to the campground road.

Independence Monument helped frame the city of Grand Junction in the background. Another overlook showed usmore vistas.

Below us we saw shapes called“Coke Ovens” and we were glad we had seen the real thing in Redstone.
The rocks have not eroded evenly. Some portions of the layers were more durable than others and have remained standing long after adjacent rock has disappeared. The resulting monoliths stand alone. Over the years people have found inspiration in the sandstone figures of the canyon; and the names are still remembered.

Ute Canyon walls were outstanding. How did God create thesehuge walls? From what was once a solid plateau. Compare with the trees. Rain? Ice? Wind? Water? Or related forces created this great chasm. All the rock that once filled the canyon has washed away.

All along this drive the road was camouflaged along the top of the bluffs in the tree line.
It didn’t take any imagination to name this stop.

Fallen Rock where a whole section had slowly dropped below it’s original location.
At both ends of the park the road descended with tunnels and switchbacks to the Grand Junction valley where we were back to reality and finished our big town shopping.

Saturday, September 10 as we started out south of Grand Junction we looked back to see theNational Monument mesa. In the far right of the picture you can see some of the named rock formations.
We started up theUnaweep Tabaguache Scenic Byway. The whole distance we were in one canyon after another.Each one different from the last. The Delores River Canyon, a little known sandstone canyon reaches the depths of 2,000 feet. The joy of this drive was we were on the bottom of the canyon looking up atstrange formations and
steep walls. At a rest stop we found a seep under the Cottonwood tree, then we looked straight up at therocks hanging over us.

Another stop brought us to the remains of ahanging flume. This water flume was built to channel water to the local gold mines.
It is on the National Register of Historic Places and on the Colorado Preservation annual list of most endangered historic places.

In 2004, a team of archaeologists, engineers and local researchers conducted an assessment of the site. They discovered as construction progressed, the builders used fewer materials such as nails, washers, etc. this economizing may have been due to the fact that financiers of the project were running out of money.

The darkstrip above the river on the wall of the canyon is the remains of this flume.

Just south of the flume is the former site of Uravan, which has an intriguing history of mining, but not of silver or gold. The uranium used in the once top-secret Manhattan Project was mined there.
We started looking for a place to spend the night and found a BLM Caddis Flats campground, along the San Miguel Creek. It had three campsites and a restroom and was only 16 miles

NW of Telluride. Sounded like a deal to us, especially since it was free!

This part of Colorado is proving more interesting than we expected, so we close and post this entry.
Next blog OR TWO will include Telluride, Ouray, Dolores, Mesa Verde, Durango, Train Ride, Vallecito Lake, and Silverton.

Please let us hear from you, where you have been, or not been, or what’s happening in your life.
Just click on Olivia@bobheck.com or Fredharrington@yahoo.com