It's been awhile since we've stopped in Grand Junction. According to my national park passport book, we were last in this area in 2016. Grand Junction touts itself as a less-crowded-but-still-pretty-spectacular area of Colorado. We agree. Of course, we're here at the end of October as opposed to summer. There's plenty of off-roading and mountain biking opportunities around here in addition to the usual hiking. In winter, there is downhill and cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, etc.
We spent one afternoon driving Grand Mesa Scenic Byway. We were a little nervous about road conditions. While our campground did not receive any snowfall the previous evening, just some rain, the higher elevations certainly had snowfall. It turned out to be a beautiful drive and the roads were clear for the majority of the trip.
The next day we took the Rim Rock Drive through Colorado National Monument. It is ever so pretty. The drive is rather steep though. You don't quite realize how much you've gained in elevation until you look down and see the entrance station. We saw more bighorn sheep up close here than we ever have elsewhere. They were beside the road and not too fearful of vehicles. We so enjoyed the smell of the junipers, quite refreshing. Again, we were glad to not be here in peak season with lots of bicyclists on the narrow, two-lane road and lots of vehicles fighting for parking in the small turnouts.
We were saying how we'd like to come back to this area for a longer time. There's plenty to do. Hey, there's only one Mike the Headless Chicken Festival. Yes, Mike, the headless chicken, really did exist.
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| Grand Mesa Scenic Byway -- October snowfall |
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| Spot the picnic table? |
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| Note the balanced rock on the right |
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| Balanced rock from the top |
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