Colorado National Monument is located near Grand Junction CO.  It was established by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1911 making it one of the oldest parks.  It features huge sandstone cliffs and steep canyons as well as towering pinnacles.  Its one of those second or third level parks that many of us have driven right by.  The name itself doesn’t tell you much of what you will see.  We were amazed at the views, the hiking, the wildlife.

Grand Junction from CONM

Pinnacles at the monument

Serpent’s Tail trail follows 1920s road

Big Horn Sheep

Elusive Collared Lizard

On the other side of the valley of the Colorado and Gunnison Rivers is the Grand Mesa. Grand Mesa is the largest flat top mountain in the world.  While the temperature was 93 in Grand Junction on a Sunday afternoon in July, it was 61 on top of Grand Mesa.  There are hundreds of natural lakes on the mesa and lots of beautiful hiking trails.  We thoroughly enjoyed our day on the mesa.

Grand view on the Grand Mesa

Hundreds of lakes

Lovely meadow

Wildflowrs on the trail

Alpine lake on the trail