Here in Grand Junction, we are lucky enough to be close to the Colorado National Monument, which turned 100 in 2011. John Otto, an explorer who settled in Grand Junction, began building trails and lobbying for the area to become a National Park in 1907. Although it never became a National Park, the canyons became a National Monument in 1911 when President Taft issued a proclamation creating the Colorado National Monument. Locally, it's simply known as "the Monument."
Now that the Monument was official, local residents worked on putting in the Serpents Trail, which was constructed from 1912 to 1921 and offered a road for cars into the Monument. Serpents Trail is still maintained as a hiking trail in the Monument, but cars now stick to the Rim Rock Drive.
Rim Rock Drive is 23 miles long and has spectacular views of the Monument. Construction on it began in 1931, and in 1933 crew from the Civilian Conservation Corps contributed work. Sections of Rim Rock were washed out in a particularly large flash flood in 1968, but don't worry! It's all open now. The Park Service does recommend watching out for Desert Bighorn Sheep.
The Monument is one of the great places to visit in western Colorado, and a reason it's great to live in Grand Junction.
