{"id":10207,"date":"2014-09-15T12:03:23","date_gmt":"2014-09-15T18:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/?p=10207"},"modified":"2014-09-15T12:03:23","modified_gmt":"2014-09-15T18:03:23","slug":"tr-colorado-national-monument-6-sept-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/tr-colorado-national-monument-6-sept-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"TR: Colorado National Monument (6 Sept 2014)"},"content":{"rendered":"

After my mom and I toured the Grand Mesa<\/a> the day before, we spent some time in Grand Junction and ended up in the scenic Colorado National Monument. I’d driven through it before, and had done some hikes up the canyons. But, that was many years ago. It was good to travel back to a very scenic spot!<\/p>\n

\"canyon
Looking up the canyon from the Visitor’s Center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We began our scenic drive from the northern entrance of the Colorado National Monument near Fruita. The road, called Rim Rock Drive, winds people through the Colorado National Monument and is amazing. Another one built by the CCC during the Great Depression of the 1930’s, this road was one of many New Deal projects commissioned by FDR. So many cool projects were built at that time that are still so useful today. <\/p>\n

\"Looking
Looking down the canyon from the Visitor’s Center overlook.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Enjoying
Enjoying the views from the Visitor’s Center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Red
Even though it is September, the foliage is still quite green and contrasts brightly against the red rock.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But, the conservation of the Colorado National Monument is really all due to one guy – John Otto. He wrote letters to President Taft and the Daily Sentinel, almost on a daily basis, promoting the conservation of this area. And, due to John Otto’s hard work, it became a National Monument in 1911. <\/p>\n

\"Looking
Looking down Wedding Canyon toward Fruita from Otto’s Trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The famed Independence Rock, with Monument Canyon behind and the Grand Mesa in the distance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Looking
Looking outward from the viewpoint at the end of Otto’s Trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Enjoying
Enjoying the desert scenes on Otto’s Trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Otto said he wanted the land to be a monument to honor American patriotism. Hence, he named many of the rock features with patriotic themes. But, the only one that has really stuck is the famed Independence Monument. Perhaps this is because John Otto and his wife inscribed the Declaration of Independence on a boulder below Independence Rock.<\/p>\n

\"Another
Another view of Independence Monument.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Independence
Independence Rock with Wedding Canyon on the left and Monument Canyon on the right.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The Coke Ovens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John Otto was a progressive man, fighting against racism & communism, and promoting women’s suffrage, the growth of scenic highways, and land conservation. He was so progressive, that eventually he was more or less forced to leave the Grand Valley and lived out his remaining years as more or less a hermit in California. Nonetheless, we owe John Otto a lot for recognizing and working to conserve what is today the Colorado National Monument. <\/p>\n

\"Columbus
Columbus Canyon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Columbus
Columbus Canyon creates the perfect frame for Grand Junction.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Colorado National Monument is certainly a special spot. I’d like to spend more time exploring it more as there are many scenic trails in the park. As temperatures are cooling in the mountains, perhaps some more desert trips are in store for the fall \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

For More Information<\/h2>\n

John Otto- Colorado National Monument Founder’s Great and Bold Legacy<\/a>
\nNational Park Service – Colorado National Monument<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After my mom and I toured the Grand Mesa the day before, we spent some time in Grand Junction and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10207"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10210,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10207\/revisions\/10210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/14erskiers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}