Colorado National Monument Park

Coloroado national monument

What else is there to say, but another spectacular park with rock formations, canyons, rock layers, bighorn sheep and a river at the bottom.  It’s just stunning!  We also happened to witness a great storm across the valley.

I don't have much else to say, I know, I know, that's rare, but let's take advantage of that and move right on. 😂

On to pics:

juniper holding on, on the mesa top

overlooking the canyon on a cloudy day

rays of sun highlighting bits of formations on a dark stormy day 

more juniper “berries”

I heard this guy singing and we followed him down the trail for at least a mile trying to get a pic. Finally everything aligned. 

black-throated gray warbler 

I forget what kind of pine this was, maybe a pinyon? But what I liked were the cones forming at the end of the branches. It made me think of lava, now stay with me you doubters, I'm going to explain. The green is like the red hot lava and the brown equates to the lava turning black and cracking as the surface cools, showing the red hot ( in this case it's green) lava underneath. See what I mean?  Anyway, I thought it was visually fascinating. I also thought they were interesting scientifically. I thought it was a curious way for a cone to form and wondered why and how it worked.

Independence Monument 

a close up on some of the interesting formations 

and a view of others from farther away

The Coke Ovens

The monument has one major canyon, Monument, which runs across the width of the park with many well known rich formations; Independence Monument, the Kissing Couple, and the Coke Ovens to name a few, and a few smaller canyons running perpendicular to monument canyon. They have great names like Wedding and Lizard! No lack of imagination in the naming here.

a distant shot across monument canyon 

artist’s point

another bighorn sheep

one of the smaller canyons opening to the valley below - (it looks just like a bracket, but placed horizontaly- teehee)

one of my favorite signs, haha

The weather was pretty questionable while we were there, rain, mostly cloudy, occasional sun followed by more storms. This is a high plains desert. I'm pretty sure we received their entire years worth of rain while we were there. However, it did allow for some pretty spectacular pics (and some that were less than spectacular 🙄)

storm in the mountains across the valley


Next stop:  Dinosaur National Monument, Utah

Obviously, a place to see dinosaur bones, right? Well, yes. Oh, but so much more …






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