Grand Junction, CO

Leaving Moab, we traveled NE into Colorado and spent a week in the Grand Junction area.  The town name was based on the junction of the Grand River and Gunnison River (the Grand was later renamed the Colorado River).

Today it’s the key municipality in the area, with water for irrigation that supports ranching and farming – including orchards and vineyards. Unfortunately for us, we arrived too early for harvests from the orchards.

The James Robb Colorado River State Park has 4 sectors between Fruita, west of the city, and Palisades to the east; two have campgrounds. We found the campgrounds great for tents to big rigs. 

Island Acres - Canada Goose family

Both also had lakes for fishing and/or birdwatching. These geese were staying in the middle of the lake away from the fishermen.  We also saw a pair of bald eagles here, but no picture.  

Ravens seemed very interested in the top of our RV and we spent some time discouraging them!  White-throated swifts were just too fast for good pictures.

And, there were good trails along the river for the dogs.

Island Acres, with camping on the eastern side, near Palisades, was situated on an island in the river, but surrounded by tall canyon walls – beautiful, but absolutely NO Verizon coverage. 

The Fruita section was our first stop - located near shopping, the Colorado National Monument (CNM), and the Dinosaur Discovery Museum. As soon as we were set up and the dogs walked and ready for their nap, we drove a couple miles to the CNM.  

The man behind Colorado NM

A stop at the Visitors Center, driving the rim road and short hikes to overlooks kept us busy for an afternoon.

Independence Monument; a favorite of John Otto 

View from the NM rim road toward the Grand Valley

Formations from viewpoint along the rim road

The Dinosaur Journey Museum, “next door” to the Fruita campground, provided a great overview of the important dinosaur discoveries made in this area.

A Dino-mobile!

Within the museum were educational stations related to these discoveries AND behind glass walls in a laboratory were paleontologists working on specimens.  Visitors could speak with the scientists and ask questions, but no entrance into the actual working areas!

The Dinosaur National Monument is about a 2-3 hours drive north of Fruita, but we didn’t have time to make it up there (another trip?). 

However, near the entrance to CNM is “Dinosaur Hill” - the location of a major dinosaur discovery in 1900 by Elmer Riggs.  

Riggs discovered the first specimen of a Brontosaurus (70 foot, long neck, plant-eater).  

Following the trail around the hill, we learned more from interpretive materials at various stops, and also got more views of our campground and the CNM.  

The CO River, lakes within the Fruita campground

CNM in background from Dinosaur Hill

The Dinosaur Hill loop is well worth a visit!

After 3 days at Fruita, we moved up river to the Island Acres section, just a few miles east of Palisades.  

Island Acres campground, canyon area on CO River

 However, we did take a day and visited several wineries.  We were unaware that a large, advertised, self-guided tasting tour was also happening that day.  We persevered.

Finding the vineyards, we encountered a unique pattern for naming streets. Names were differentiated by fractions.  Perhaps, others are familiar with this naming system?

On the south side of the Island Acres was a particularly large cliff area.  Beyond it was the Grand Mesa – the largest flat-topped mountain in the world, covering 500 square miles and rising 6000 feet above the surrounding land areas. 

So, of course, we were curious and drove up to the top (~10,000’ elevation) to explore a bit.  The mesa has over 300 lakes, forests and (we hoped) the chance for some trails. 

View on the way to the mesa top

Hmmm - view as we got higher...

We decided to head across the mesa a bit to the Visitors Center to pick up some maps/info.  This trip turned out a bit different than expected.


The road was still clear, but the 300 lakes seemed to be iced and snow covered!  Where were those trails??  We did see signs for snowmobiles trails!! Guess that counts.

Visitors Center - closed with snow up to porch eves

Later, I spoke with a local fisherman at the campground - he stated that the snow stays on the Mesa until July!  Oh, well, it was a beautiful drive. 

  

 After spending another week touring between, or during, rainy weather, we were ready to move further south.