Colorado Web Cams
Colorado National Monument
(Note: This page may need reloading on some browsers for new views)
The Colorado National Monument is
located west of the city of Grand Junction, near the northern rim of the Uncompahgre Plateau.
This 20,500 acre (32 square miles/83 square kilometers) area encompasses six canyons, each with distinctive cliffs and sandstone monoliths.
The sheer-walled canyons cut deep into the sandstone and granite–gneiss–schist rock formations.
The park hosts a wide range of wildlife, including red-tailed hawks, golden eagles, ravens, desert bighorn sheep, and
coyotes. Nearby are the Book Cliffs and the largest flat-topped mountain in the world, the Grand Mesa. The monument's feature attraction is
Monument Canyon, which runs the width of the park.
If you aren't the
hiking type, you could just drive through the Colorado National Monument. The average drive, without stops, takes 45 minutes to one hour.
But plan for more time if you would like to take photographs, or stop at the overlooks,
or if you decide to hike after checking out the Monument and want to see more. There is one entrance at each end of Rim Rock Drive. The west entrance is located off of Highway 340 in Fruita, CO.
Ecologically, Colorado National Monument sits on a large area of high desert
in Western Colorado, though under the Köppen climate classification, it is
classified as temperate semi-arid. Summers are hot and dry while winters are cold with
little snow. Temperatures
in summer reach 100°F (38°C) on 6.0 days per summer, 90°F (32°C) on another 62.3 days.
Highest ever temp was 107.2°F (42°C). So yes, it's hot here, but as we like to say in
Colorado - '"it's a dry heat!". In the winter, only 21.8 inches of snow falls
here (or 55.9 cm). Record all time low temp was −18°F
(−28°C), set in January of 1940.
View from the Saddlehorn Visitor Center
(from
NPS)
On most days you will see the red rock cliffs of Wedding and Monument canyons,
and in the distance, you will see the Grand Mesa.
- Map -