I woke up and enjoyed a nice sunrise out my window on Saturday, October 18. I decided to get a hearty green chile breakfast burrito to go at the cafe next door, which I ate before heading on my solo adventure to Colorado National Monument, after my Paonia and Palisade adventures. The Monument is only 10 minutes from downtown Grand Junction, which makes it easy to get an early start.

Colorado National Monument has a 23-mile scenic drive. Starting at the Grand Junction side, I identified a couple of hikes I wanted to try in the morning before I completed the drive, where I would end up camping near the Fruita entrance.

I decided to try Devil’s Kitchen Trail first, which is .75 miles one way as the sign says (1.5 round trip). It was a beautiful morning and I was surprised to see some nice fall colors alongside the prickly pear cacti on the trail.

The trail was really beautiful but got confusing with a lot of “social trails” as I got closer to the rock formations. I tried to take it to the end, assuming I’d end up at the “Devil’s Kitchen” formation, but the trail kind of petered out. Anyways, I found a place to easily walk up to the rocks (no crazy scrambling/stepping on prickly pears required!) to get a closer look.

It was not very busy and I spent some time enjoying the rocks and taking pictures before heading back to my car for a snack and sunscreen application.

I wanted to do more hiking so I chose the nearby Serpent’s Trail, 1.75 miles (3.5 roundtrip). This is an old road once called the “crookedest road in the world” with 20 switchbacks that was converted to a hiking trail. This means it is flat and wide. You start climbing right away and quickly get great views of the scenic road and the trail.

I completed the whole trail with great views all the way up. It just kind of ends at another part of the road. I would definitely do it again, but even just the first mile up and back down would be worth it for the views.

It really started to warm up in the sun. The weather was really perfect, getting into the 60s and 70s. I think it’s a nice time of year to come- summer would be hot! Plus the fall colors contrasted with the rocks is gorgeous. I decided I was done with hiking, having done it during the coolest part of the day to warm up, and was ready to scenic drive to my campsite in the afternoon.

The scenic drive is a bit scary for those of us with a fear of heights, so I focused on my music, the road straight in front of me only sometimes, and stopped at nearly every stop to break up the drive and check out the views. It requires full attention as it’s popular with bikers as well. It’s definitely a must do if you visit! It reminds me a bit of Black Canyon of the Gunnison, which has various stops – some are viewpoints, some are short hikes, and some are trailheads for longer hikes.

“The heart of the world,” is what a man some called an eccentric drifter, John Otto, said about this place. He built trails on his own from 1907-1930s, and then the Civilian Conservation Corps built Rim Rock drive mostly by hand, which is truly remarkable.

One of my favorite moments of the afternoon was on Otto’s Trail, a very short trail to a lookout. There was only one other group, and they left, and I was able to have the place to myself. I sat for a while. The canyon is odd, and you can hear far away voices almost like they are near – that’s how I first realized there were climbers on Independence Monument, and spotted them far away (it’s the big rock formation on the left side in the picture below). John Otto was the first to climb this, of course, and climbers still use Otto’s Route. They continue his tradition of planting an American flag at the top every July 4th.

I enjoyed my meditative silence for a while, but was getting tired after a long day of hiking, driving, and exploring. Luckily, I was almost to Saddlehorn Campground. This is the only campsite within the monument, organized into three loops.

The campsite is really cool! The ground is hard so I used rocks for my tent (it was windy so I flied it out with rocks, Iceland style!). I got in some good reading time at my chair and made an early backpacking meal dinner.

I wanted to check out the sunset, and a viewpoint called Book Cliffs view was only a ten minute walk away. It’s an amazing place – there are trails leading to Window Rock and the Visitor’s center, and it’s easy to find some rocks to hang out on. I had grabbed a Big B’s Cider from my Paonia day, and had a peaceful happy hour watching the sun go down.

It’s fascinating to see how different everything looks in different light, and watch the birds, and listen for animal and people noises.

I headed back to camp and had my hot chocolate, did some more reading, and settled into my tent after checking out the stars. Despite the rocky ground, I slept very deeply. It did not even get too cold at night (my guess is 40s?), so I was very comfortable with my gear.

I set an alarm to ensure I did not miss the sunrise, and I had a plan. Why not head back to the same spot where I watched sunset to watch the sunrise? And, since I had a backpacking stove, I could make my coffee and oatmeal there.

As you can see from this unfiltered photo, the sunrise was gorgeous.

I decided once I was done with coffee to warm up more by hiking from Book Cliffs viewpoint over to Window Rock, a short distance.

After that, it was a short walk back to my campsite. It was nice out, so I enjoyed sitting and reading a bit more before packing up camp. I had a few more stops on the scenic drive on the way to Fruita.

As I was leaving the last stop, I realized I would get to Fruita a bit early for lunch as it was around 10 am. I saw there was a state park right near where I was, called James R Robb Colorado River State Park. They turned out to have a really nice sidewalk by the river perfect for a quick bike ride, with fall color and the Colorado National Monument in the background. I unfolded my bike and enjoyed a quick two miles.

My last stop before heading home Monday was Fruita, which has a nice small downtown. I had to put in a picture of my insane meal from Kamilla’s Kaffe, which had a lovely patio. I grabbed some coffee to go from an awesome place called Bestslope with a walk up window.

Overall, I loved camping at the monument. I definitely recommend the fall for a visit, as the weather was perfect, and hiking in the morning to beat the heat.

Covid-19 Safety: Overall, this section of my trip was very pandemic friendly. I was outside nearly the entire time with a lot of spacing on mostly wide trails, and saw a large amount of people with masks. I skipped a few viewpoints that had full parking lots, but had plenty of others to check out! Camping required no check in as I had reserved the site and the shared bathroom had its door open the whole time.