Accidental Road Trip Detour to Colorado National Monument

Hwy 70, Colorado

Exactly 2 years ago, we were on this road on our way to Utah from Colorado. However, when we were at Grand Junction, the bridge at Hwy 70 that connects Utah and Colorado was suspected to collapse. As a result, we were asked to take a detour. Instead of continuing on Hwy 70, we were asked to take Hwy 340 until it meets Hwy 70 again past the problematic bridge. Somewhere on Hwy 340, the sun glittered on rocks, and instead on continuing on Hwy 340, we followed the call of the sun. We thought, after a detour, it won't hurt us if we will take another detour. At that point, we did not know anymore where we were going, all we know was, we will try to find out what is in there, for maybe, there was an accidental reason why we were asked to take detour. Serendipity!

Colorado National Monument, Grand Junction, Colorado

From an uncertainty, we ended up entering Colorado National Monument, and was greeted with a simply magnificent scenery. We pulled over, sat on the cliff overlooking the vastness of the valley right before our eyes, and contemplated with the thought, "shall we explore this place further, or shall me move now to Arches National Park in Moab, Utah?" Before we could answer "yes" or "no" to our question, we had to consult our GPS if how long the drive from the place we were sitting to Moab, and since it would only take us less than 2 hours to Moab, we decided to explore this place first that serendipity has made us discover.

As it turned out, we have learned that the Colorado National Monument preserves one of the great landscapes of the American West. The park offers different natural treasure surprises such as sheer walled canyons, towering monoliths and colorful formations. There are various activities within the park, which includes biking, hiking, backpacking, camping, and horseback riding.
Having not enough time to fully explore the park, because we already have made reservations in Utah and no more time to cancel or move the date, we chose to do the short hikes in the park instead, which were:

1. Window Rock Trail - a total of 0.5 mile walk roundtrip. The window rock trail is a level loop trail through pinyon-juniper woodland to overlook with monuments and wedding canyons (weddings have been held here),

and most of their rock formations including the Independece Monument.

Independence Monument 

2. Canyon Rim - 1 mile round trip. The canyon rim trail is a level trail following the cliff edge above colorful wedding canyons.

3. Coke Ovens Trail - 1 mile hike round trip. The Coke Ovens trail descends gradually to overlook above the massive rounded Coke Ovens.

Coke Ovens 

You can just take a look at them, and marvel at how nature formed these rocks.

" Most monuments are made by people, but the monoliths here were crafted by nature through differential erosion. Rocks erode at different rates. Soft rocks, like the sandstones that form the canyon walls wear away quickly. Harder rocks, like the one that caps the mesas erode slowly. Fractures are prone to decay. Most of the rocks that once filled the canyons have been dissolved and carried away by streams. But the hard capstones have protected them like roof, as exemplified by the Coke Ovens and Independence Monument. " - Colorado National Monument  

Sometimes, we do have to take detour in our lives, we may not know where the detour may lead us, but we trust there is a reason why we have to. A beautiful reason! Just like the reason why we had to take detour to discover the Colorado National Monument.

♥♥