21" of Snow, 25F, overcast and still snowing: What to do?
Well, the ski area is closed, so that rules out that idea. Let's head for some sun.
That means heading down in altitude, and someplace. The place that we chose was Colorado National Monument, just outside of Grand Junction, a 3-hour drive, and a comfortable 65F. We had never been there before, so it was to be something new. It was something new, as well as being something old. It looked familiar.
The Colorado National Monument lies within the Colorado Plateau ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Plateau ) which is a geologic formation that spans over 4 states: CO, AZ, UT, and NM. The rock strata of the CNM is the same as that of many other parks: Grand Canyon, Zion, Arches, and many more. So, when we were looking at its features, we saw a lot that looked like other places that we have been to. So, it was new and it was "old" at the same time.
The dominant strata of the CNM were Wingate, Kayenta and Estrada and on the Wingate was a lot of "desert vanish"
During this trip, we encountered a large family of desert bighorn sheep with a bunch of newborns. The group was all female ( the males have big ram horns, while the females have more modest horns).
Anyway, I took too many pictures which I have included here. I figure that it is best to capture a bunch of pictures, so that people (you!) can see what the place is like. Mostly what you find are long glaciated canyons through rock strata. These canyons were all absolutely awesome! The flowers were nice, too.
The shot for the Facebook image -- always good to start with something nice.
The obligatory tourist shot. Well, this is real nice too, boy, I might be in trouble.
Rim Rock Road ascending to the rim
I called this "Wall Street"
Desert Varnish
Canyon View (the White rock is the Kayenta)
This is what most of the canyons look like
Local detail (desert varnish middle left on Wingate, topped by white Kayenta, the Estrada is the pinkish rock at the top)
Another canyon
Looking up at the start of a canyon
We called these "the owls"... Whooo goes there?
More pretty flowers ...
More scenery ...
We came across a single female bighorn, and I started getting close. She didn't care. So I just followed along for a while.
Then I spotted the newborns
Based on the growth of the horns it looks like 3 generations
Butt Shot -- I couldn't get ahead of them.. so deal with it!
Best shot of the newborns
A few more general shots
That means heading down in altitude, and someplace. The place that we chose was Colorado National Monument, just outside of Grand Junction, a 3-hour drive, and a comfortable 65F. We had never been there before, so it was to be something new. It was something new, as well as being something old. It looked familiar.
The Colorado National Monument lies within the Colorado Plateau ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Plateau ) which is a geologic formation that spans over 4 states: CO, AZ, UT, and NM. The rock strata of the CNM is the same as that of many other parks: Grand Canyon, Zion, Arches, and many more. So, when we were looking at its features, we saw a lot that looked like other places that we have been to. So, it was new and it was "old" at the same time.
The dominant strata of the CNM were Wingate, Kayenta and Estrada and on the Wingate was a lot of "desert vanish"
During this trip, we encountered a large family of desert bighorn sheep with a bunch of newborns. The group was all female ( the males have big ram horns, while the females have more modest horns).
Anyway, I took too many pictures which I have included here. I figure that it is best to capture a bunch of pictures, so that people (you!) can see what the place is like. Mostly what you find are long glaciated canyons through rock strata. These canyons were all absolutely awesome! The flowers were nice, too.
The shot for the Facebook image -- always good to start with something nice.
The obligatory tourist shot. Well, this is real nice too, boy, I might be in trouble.
Rim Rock Road ascending to the rim
I called this "Wall Street"
Desert Varnish
Canyon View (the White rock is the Kayenta)
This is what most of the canyons look like
Local detail (desert varnish middle left on Wingate, topped by white Kayenta, the Estrada is the pinkish rock at the top)
Another canyon
Looking up at the start of a canyon
We called these "the owls"... Whooo goes there?
More pretty flowers ...
More scenery ...
We came across a single female bighorn, and I started getting close. She didn't care. So I just followed along for a while.
Then I spotted the newborns
Based on the growth of the horns it looks like 3 generations
Butt Shot -- I couldn't get ahead of them.. so deal with it!
Best shot of the newborns
A few more general shots
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