I took the dogs on a morning hike at dinosaur national monument. They have a trail between the two campgrounds where dogs are allowed, so we partook in the adventure. It wasn’t really long, a couple miles, but it was nice to get some good views. We packed up and headed to the visitor center to pick up a book about Josie Bennett, and I made breakfast in the parking lot. On the way out, we stopped to watch the herd of Hulk again for about a half an hour. It was cool seeing them battling in rut.
The drive to Colorado National Monument took about about three hours and climbed up and over a really beautiful pass. We stopped in a little farming town just before Fruita for fuel and a snack. It’s nice to see the diesel prices at around $3.50 a gallon when we stopped to fill up. We made it to the national monument around 2PM and checked out the visitor center. We couldn’t take the dogs on any of the trails so we drove the Rim Road, which is about 20 miles long and exits in the southern part of Grand Junction.
On the Rim drive we stopped to view three bighorn sheep next to the road. Further down the road and just before the exit there was a herd of 10 next to a popular serpentine hiking trail. We parked the truck and hiked a little ways up the trail to get some good photos. We have done some traveling in this area and it is incredibly beautiful. The whole area from Grand Junction over through Moab in the Canyonlands is one of my favorite spots. I miss having the FJ when driving around areas like this.
We spent about a half an hour, watching the sheep and then hike back to the truck. We found our way into Grand Junction, stopped at an AutoZone for some fuel additive, and then headed up I 70 to find a place to camp. The pickings in this area, pretty slim, but we did find a small piece of BLM land next to Rifle, CO that worked out for the evening.
The next week we’ll finish out our first leg of the journey. We are heading to cripple Creek, Colorado, to visit my son, Peyton, as well as some friends in the area. We may be able to make it over to great Sand dunes, national Monument, and Bent’s Fort as well. Will be in this area until Friday morning, when we’re going to continue south and try to visit a couple more parks. We should be back home by Sunday or early Monday. We will be there for 30 to 45 days before starting the next leg of our journey: Baja Mexico.
Here are some additional photos from the day.
https://www.overlandadventureexcursions.com/photos-albums/nggallery/album/20250928-colorado-national-monument