Exploring a Lesser-Known Gem of the American West: Colorado National Monument

Colorado National Monument (spot the photographer :-)

On the afternoon of the third day of my journey along the Colorado River, I visited Colorado National Monument. Although not technically a National Park, this hidden gem is a must-see on any road trip through the American West.

I learned that while National Monuments are part of the Park Service, they are established and managed differently than National Parks. In fact, it was only through the authority of President William Howard Taft that the Colorado National Monument came to be in 1911 after a bill to create a National Park failed to pass through Congress.

I made a breathtaking hike along a small stream that led me to a magical waterfall tucked away in a quiet corner of nature. This hike felt like spending a few hours in paradise, sunny but not too warm, discovering new views after every bend in the river, viewing the towering rock formations above, while seeing colorful butterflies above the water.

I’m making memories on this trip, and this will undoubtedly be one of them.

I stayed so much longer than planned in the park that I didn’t continue to Moab and decided to stay in Fruita, Colorado. The beauty and many sights of the American West would delay my progress more often in the following days.

I hiked to the “Devil’s Kitchen”

Inside the Devil’s Kitchen

I’m typing this while I’m still in Moab, while I should have been in Flagstaff, Arizona, by now. This also shows that my writing goes even slower than the progress on my journey, but I hope that will not be a problem for you. I can keep writing and sharing postcards when I’m back in Ottawa.

It will be a bit like the mail delivery of paper postcards in the good old days. You often received those holiday postcards long after your friends and family returned home.

Any suggestions of where to go or which photos you would like to see are always welcome.

I have dozens of photos, but I will stop here.

Since I have better wifi today to upload photos, I can share another picture of the colorfully decorated tree I mentioned in my last post. Rita was so kind to search for more information about it, which I will share from the comments on my previous post:

“ These are wish ribbons. Most were placed there by Annie Zancanella who lives just down the slope. In her two battles with cancer, she found solace in tying ribbons to the tree on which she played as a child. “I spent my childhood playing on the mountain and walking with my father on his evening stroll up there,” she told me. “Now that my family has all passed I still like to walk that trail daily and think of them and my happy childhood.”

She started putting ribbons on the tree, using them to represent her own wishes, dreams, and prayers in her fight against cancer. After participating in a successful, non-traditional treatment program at Northwestern University in Chicago, she traveled to cancer centers in the USA to share her success story with university hospital students. Collecting ribbons from young patients at those hospitals she brought them home and tied them to the tree”

I write this newsletter because I believe we can do better on this beautiful but fragile planet if we work together.

You can subscribe for free to receive this newsletter in your email, but please consider supporting this initiative by paying for a subscription. The paying subscribers make it possible for those who can't afford it to read for free.

And I’m starting something new on Patreon, still developing this but have a look:

Stay tuned: this trip is far from over yet.

Postcards from the Colorado River

More Postcards from the Colorado River: Following the Journey from the Source