Colorado National Monument sits just to the south of Grand Junction, Colorado on the northern tip of the Uncompahgre Plateau. The park encompasses 23,000 acres.
Due largely to the tireless efforts of John Otto, Colorado National Monument was designated as a National Monument in 1911. The 23 mile Rim Rock Road was build through the park in the 1930s. The drive gives sightseers a wonderful view of grand sandstone towers and cliffs, as well as inspiring views of the Grand Valley below.
Colorado National Monument is open year round. In the summer months they pump water from the valley up to the campggrounds. They close off water to the campground in the winter; So you will need to bring your own water.
These are pictures that we took of Colorado National Monument in September 2002. We drove the Rim Rock Road from the east entrance from Grand Junction to the west entrance at Fruita, camping one night at the Saddlehorn Campground.
| Standstone Formations in The Colorado National Monument | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Formation | Era | Age | Note |
| Mancos Shale | Late Cretaceous | 80M | Slippery when wet |
| Dakota Sandstone | Â | Â | Â |
| Burro Canyon | Early Cretaceous | 115M | Â |
| Morrison Formation | Late Jurassic | 150M | Dinosaur Bones |
| Summerville | Mid Jurassic | 170M | Â |
| Entrada | Â | Â | Arches |
| Navajo | Missing | ||
| Kayenta | Â | Â | Hard surfaced Rim Rock |
| Wingate | Late Triassic | 210M | The large cliffs |
| Chinle Formation | Triassic | Â | Bottom of cliffs |
| Uncoformity | Missing | ||
| Precambrian | Â | Â | Old, extremely hard |
Context: Desert
- Grand Junction, Colorado (95 pictures) Colorado National Monument is on the northern tip of the Uncompadre Plateau, just south of Grand Junction.
- Colorado River (96 pictures) You can view the Colorado River from several places in the park. The River itself runs through the center of the Grand Valley, north of the Monument.
- Book Cliffs (5 pictures) Fruita is near the west entrance of Colorado National Monument.
- Dinosaur Hill (19 pictures) Dinosaur Hillis near the west entrance to the Park. It is an outcropping of the Morrison Layer and contain the fossilized skeleton of an Allosaurus.
- Museum of Western Colorado (15 pictures) On a clear day, you get a good view of the Colorado National Monument from the observation tower at the Museum of Western Colorado in downtown Grand Junction.