Colorado National Monument

One of the reasons I bought a National Parks Pass this summer was because I knew that Yellowstone would not be the only NPS site we would be passing.

The first site we came to after the St. Louis Arch (except for ones in Kansas that weren't open when we passed them) was Colorado National Monument.  I hadn't managed to connect with anyone in Grand Junction to see about meeting up for a few minutes or for lunch, so we decided to take a quick trip into the monument.  It was a hot day, but I was reminded how much more bearable the heat is in the west because it is dry.  It was ninety degrees, but it wasn't insufferable in the shade at all!

Colorado National Monument preserves one of the grand landscapes of the American West.  Bold, big, and brilliantly colored, this plateau-and-canyon country, with its towering masses of naturally sculpted rock, embraces 32 square miles of rugged, up-and-down terrain.  This is a special place, where you can contemplate glorious views that stretch to distant horizons; where you can discover solitude deep in a remote canyon; where you can delight in wild country where desert bighorns roam and golden eagles soar.  In the spirit of John Otto and others with the foresight to create Colorado National Monument in 1911, and the many since who have sought to protect it, please treat the park with respect so we can share in its grandeur tomorrow.--from Colorado National Monument NPS brochure

When we drove into the park I pulled out my pass for the first time.  When I'd purchased it they hadn't punched the month that it was obtained--which indicates when it will expire the next year.  The ranger who checked it insisted on punching it--but since I had purchased it on June 1 it will be valid through the end of June 2013--thirteen months instead of just twelve.

It was a winding drive up to the visitor center, but the scenery was beautiful.  I'm quite glad we came in at this entrance as the visitor center wasn't that far in (it is the only one in the park and much closer to the north-west entrance than the eastern entrance to the south).  I don't know that I've ever been to the monument before, but I definitely want to go back.  Of course Amy thinks it is all "snake country" even though we didn't see a single one the whole time.

The visitor center is a nice building that seems to blend in with the landscape.  I learned a bit about it by picking up a brochure about the landscape.

The Monument could no longer afford the expense of water to maintain the Kentucky bluegrass lawn that was once in front of the Visitor Center.  The grass died and left a barren greeting for all visitors.  In 2004, the Monument secured a grant for revegetation.  At the time Pete Larson was in charge of the revegetation and non-native plants management program in the Monument...  Pete began searching for suitable plants, rocks and other materials.  The result is a lasting tribute to his devotion by creating a place that people can enjoy as well as learn about and appreciate the beauty of a high desert natural landscape.
--from Pete Larson's Native Landscape

Of course I had to pick up more literature (it was where I got the native landscape brochure quoted above) including the park newspaper.  These are interesting to see at different sites as they have seasonal information and often more details than the basic brochure can provide.  From this I learned that the monument was 101 years old (having celebrated its centennial last year in 2011).  The interpretive signs inside were also quite interesting (and of course I took pictures of many of them).

I especially enjoy seeing interactive signs.  The ones below are part of pieces barely visible at the bottom of the picture above.  There is a display for each stone with a question that slides away to reveal the answer.

We didn't get to see any wildlife while we were visiting, but we didn't look around that much and didn't hike at all.  I think it is amazing that so much life exists in arid climates like this (and ones even drier)--all of which are a testament to the variety that God programmed into the various animal kinds.

I found a description of the Ute Creation story quite fascinating.  Is it a corruption of Genesis 11 and the account of the scattering of the nations from Babel?  I know flood stories are found around the globe--but I haven't heard about scattering tales also.

The Ute Creation Story
In the beginning there were no people on the Earth.  One day, Sinawavf, the Creator, cut sticks and placed them in a large bag. 

Sinawavf told Coyote to take the bag to teh mountains.  When he got to the mountains, Coyote became curious and opened the bag.  many people came out of the bag, and as they ran away, they were all speaking the same language. 

When Sinawavf discovered what Coyote had done, only a few people were still in the bag.  He was very angry that the people had scattered across the land.  His plan had been to distribute them equally.  Sinawavf took the people remaining in the bag and placed them in the mountains. 

Of the people remaining in the bag, Sinawavf said, "This small tribe of people shall be Ute.  They will be very brave and able to protect the rest."  And so, the Ute People were placed in the mountains of Colorado.

I remember seeing quite a bit of cactus when I visited my grandparents in Tucson over the years, so I enjoy seeing it now.  There isn't too much here in the east, ;-).

The cactus model above was part of a fascinating display with many native species and signs explaining each of them--signs that are of course not out in the wild.  It would be an excellent primer if you were going to go hiking and wanted to be able to identify many species.

In addition to the many plant species in the park there are also desert bighorn sheep, golden eagles, collard lizards, Jerusalem crickets and more!  I like one line in the brochure talking about appreciating these creatures: "Examine scat (with a stick!) to learn about an animal's eating habits."

Of course the caution was also given to enjoy the animals from a distance.  I do not understand why people find this injunction so hard to follow.  In Yellowstone we saw tourists getting far too close to bison--and they're large and dangerous critters!  People are killed by them frequently, or by animals that can bite or otherwise attack when feeling threatened.

You can always get my attention with a map!

After we started driving out I stopped at a couple points to take pictures of the awe-inspiring landscape.  We did drive down into the campground.  I'm not sure I'd enjoy it in a tent as it was very dry and there was little shade.  I'm sure it cools down at night, but until then it would be very dry and hot.

What to Call a Monolith (Besides Big) 

Curious visitors to Colorado National Monument often ask, "Like, where's the monument?" Park rangers are often tempted to say, "You're, like, looking at it."
That would leave many visitors scratching their heads.  People from as near as Denver and as far as Denmark get confused upon arrival.  they expect to find a shiny bronze plaque bolted to a big chunk of hand-carved stone, something resembling Webster's definition of monument: "a tablet, statue, pillar, or building." 

But Colorado National Monument is a 20,000-acre park unit.  And within that park unit rises a 450-foot sandstone monolith (a large free standing rock formation) named Independence Monument.  A pair of monuments, both with names that have become familiar to locals, continue to confuse newcomers.  no wonder visitors scratch their heads. 

If neither Colorado National Monument nor the monolith fits our conventional image of "monument," that's OK.  There is nothing conventional about this extraordinary place.  It is truly unconventional, just like John Otto, the Monument's founder.  This rugged conservationist in his cowboy hat and droopy mustache labored alone among the geological wonders that became Colorado National Monument in 1911.  This special place not only changed his life--he changed it too.  Otto lived in the canyons, carved trails with iron tools, erected barbed wire fences, and chiseled handholds for climbing Wingate sandstone walls. 

He also took it upon himself to name many of the monoliths.  Names such as "Needle's Eye," "King Apple's Castle," and "Temple Rock," were all his doing.  He christened Monument Canyon's iconic spire "Independence."  Otto, a proud patriot, honored Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, McKinley and Wilson by naming monoliths after them.
--from Colorado national Monument Visitor Guide

When I saw the balancing rock I had to stage a picture with Amy.  It took a few tries, but we finally managed one shot that turned out rather well I think.  She promised that she wouldn't actually tip it over.

Here is just a little bit of the scenery.

If you looked down you could see the road that climbed up to our location--it had quite a few twists and turns.

~Matt

PS All of the pictures above (and many more) are in the slideshow below.  You can click on any of the pictures to go visit the album and see all of the pictures.

Colorado Traveling

After leaving Denver on our big trip last month, Amy and I headed across Colorado on Interstate 70.  Our original plan had been to drive north from Denver and cut through the southern portion of Wyoming.  But then I realized that we would miss the Eisenhower tunnel and all of the beautiful mountain scenery that I loved from Colorado.

I'm so glad that we ended up going the way we did as I got to show Amy many sights I recognized as well as seeing new things.  We also got great gas mileage as we came down out of the mountains towards the west.

But before we headed down out of the mountains we had to climb up the mountains from Denver.  I had to shift gears, of course, but it was a breathtakingly beautiful drive into the mountains.  I really love Colorado's mountains, and mountains in general (note, the so-called "mountains" of eastern North America don't really count in my mind--they're far too low, ;-))!  Before the summit we filled up in Georgetown, and I was happy to get ten cents off at Shell.  Kroger owns at least two grocery store chains in Colorado, so they have extended their 10 cents off at Shell deal to that state.

We also pulled off and looked around at one scenic overlook in Summit County.  The first picture above came from that stop.  We were at 9,150 feet when I took that picture, looking at mountains that towered several thousand feet higher.

Amy has seen Colorado before, but not frequently, so I was excited to be able to show her part of this wonderful state.  I'm really looking forward to future trips back out west.

One of the main reasons that I wanted to go across Colorado on I-70 was so that we could go through the Eisenhower Tunnel.  I remember going through it several times as a kid.  Once I remember I was even a pain about it--my parents had decided to take the longer, scenic route over Loveland Pass, but I really wanted to go through the tunnel.  My dad ended up driving through the tunnel twice (once through and then he had to come back) so that I could see it.  It is a very impressive piece of work:

The Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel is located approximately sixty miles west of Denver, Colorado on Interstate 70.  It is the highest vehicular tunnel in the world, located at an elevation of 11,013 feet at the East Portal and 11,158 feet at the West Portal.  The Tunnel traverses through the Continental Divide at an average elevation of 11,112 feet.

The Tunnel was originally designed as a twin bore tunnel.  Construction on the westbound bore (North Tunnel) began March 15, 1968 and was completed five years later on March 8, 1973.  This bore was originally called the Straight Creek Tunnel, and later was officially named the Eisenhower Memorial Bore.  Construction on the second bore began August 18, 1975 and was completed four years later on December 21, 1979.  This eastbound bore was named after Edwin C. Johnson, a past Governor and U.S. Senator who had actively supported an interstate highway system across Colorado. 

You can read more about the tunnel at the Colorado Department of Transportation website, where the above quotes came from.  I never knew before I started researching for this blog post that only the westbound lane was the Eisenhower Bore--but that was the one we went through, so we did indeed go through the Eisenhower Tunnel.

After going through the tunnel we stopped at a rest area before passing Vail.  Even the rest areas have great views in the Rockies, ;-).  Of course I also had to take pictures of the informational signs.

I also got a good picture of the view outside from inside the building.  As you can see, it is a neat rock building.  I'm pretty sure I'd stopped there before as it was somewhat familiar.  I think it is also a place hikers can come to in the winter.

After this short stop we kept going.  The next time I drive through the area I want to stop in some of the mountain towns along the way--but without any advance plans we didn't know where would be a good place to stop, so we just kept driving.  Eventually we came to Glenwood Canyon and more beautiful scenery.  I especially love the highway as it was constructed through the canyon--the engineers did such a great job of blending it into the scenery.  I found a website that tells quite a bit about the history of transportation through the canyon--including the pre-interstate roads:

When Colorado got into state highway road building in the early 20th Century the road through the canyon became part of SH 4. When the US Highway routes were developed in 1926, the route through Glenwood Canyon was proposed to be part of US 46, but that highway was scrapped and it instead was part of US 40S when the routes were implemented in 1927. In 1936 US 40S was renumbered to be part of US 24. Then in 1937 US 6 was lengthened westward from Denver and was comarked with US 24 through Glenwood Canyon. In the 1920s the roadway through the canyon was only graded and graveled, but during the Depression U.S. Representative Edward Taylor obtained $1.5 million for widening and paving of the canyon road. The improvements were opened August 1, 1938. 

US 6-24 through Glenwood Canyon remained pretty much unchanged until the 1960s. In 1960 the federal government approved a proposed extension for I-70 to go west from Denver to Utah. The first divided section of highway was complete in 1965, and went from Glenwood Springs east to No Name. This included the two bores for the No Name Tunnels and bypassed the Horseshoe Curve section of the canyon. East of the canyon (Dotsero) I-70 was built by 1982, but the section from No Name to Dotsero would be the most troublesome to complete.

I hadn't realized that construction wasn't finished until 1992.  I started going to Colorado in 1982 (actually my mother was pregnant with me the first summer she and my dad cooked at Twin Peaks Bible Camp.  I do remember going to Glenwood Hot Springs and driving through the canyon several times.

Here is another tidbit from the website concerning the entire I-70 project in the canyon, which a sign at a canyon rest area labeled the toughest 12 miles of I-70:

Glenwood Canyon is on I-70 in western Colorado, about 150 miles west of Denver and 90 miles east of Grand Junction. The 16 mile-long canyon is on the Colorado River between the towns of Glenwood Springs and Gypsum. A huge engineering challenge was undertaken starting in the 1980s to complete one of the last stretches of Interstate Highway through the canyon. Transportation, environmental, recreational and economic considerations all had to be taking into account before the completed highway opened in 1992. In the end, the canyon ended up with a freeway snaking through its length using bridges, tunnels and retaining walls to create a highway that did not hurt, and even contributed to, the canyon's appearance.

We didn't end up going to the hot springs, though I'm definitely going to take Amy there one of these days on another trip to Colorado.  We did however, stop at one of the canyon rest areas and walk around for a bit.  We even got to see a train pass by across the river from where we were standing.


I think we ended up stopping (or at least reading about on the signs) No Name Rest Area, which just sounded like a fascinating place.

Yes, if I recall correctly, we did stop at No Name just so I could take some pictures of it.  But sadly there were no signs explaining the name--though the rest area did have a very nice building.

After Glenwood we started getting into areas that I really remember.  I spent every summer of my childhood (at least the month of July) in the western part of Colorado, mostly on the slopes of the Grand Mesa.  It was a thrill to recognize the Mesa from a distance.  My favorite picture though was of the Praying Bear.  This rock formation is right by the highway, and I remember seeing it many times--especially as we drove towards Grand Junction.  I don't think I've ever been able to get a good picture of it before--so this was exciting to see it, show it to Amy, and capture a picture!

The next post will be about Colorado National Monument--and then the trip moves into Utah!

~Matt

PS Here is a slideshow of all of the album pictures:

Denver Science

On the second day of our trip we had some time to kill at the end of the day.  We got into Denver a bit earlier than expected, so we decided to go to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  We got free admission to the museum because of my staff membership at the Cincinnati Museum Center, which has reciprocity through the Association of Science and Technology Centers.  We didn't have much time, but since admission was free I figured that the visit would be worth it.

We came through a storm on our way into Denver (I did really enjoy smelling the storm coming as we drove into it) but it wasn't raining (or not too hard) by the time we got to the Museum.  I thought that the outside ticket purchase was pretty interesting.  I wonder if it was for early mornings before the museum opens or for days with really long lines.

The entrance area was quite large.  It appeared to be part of an expansion onto the original building (or buildings) to expand the inside surface area.  I've seen the ticket sales areas at a good number of museums, and I thought they did a good job on the design in Denver.

The first area we explored was the Gems and Minerals permanent exhibit.

"Got your hard hat? In Coors Mineral Hall, follow the mine shaft into a Mexican silver mine, where a cavern glistens with milky white gypsum crystals and stalactites. Then enter Colorado's own Sweet Home Mine to discover a six-foot wall of blood-red rhodochrosite crystals."

"Colorado was founded on mining, and in the historical mining section you'll see more local finds, like Tom's Baby, an eight-pound nugget of crystallized gold unearthed in Breckenridge in 1887."

"You'll also uncover Brazilian topaz, California watermelon tourmaline, Australian opals, intense blue azurite, green malachite, four-inch zeolite needle sprays from India, and hundreds of other dazzling specimens from around the world. Hands-on activities and videos help young explorers learn about mineral characteristics and how minerals form."

There was far more than we could see in the short time that we had available, but we did see quite a few minerals.  The florescent display was neat.  I took pictures under both normal and  florescent light.

Part of the exhibit was even themed like a mine.

We also saw an aquamarine display.  The picture of the display isn't the clearest, but I think you can still read some of it.

After the minerals exhibit we headed into a space area that was amazing!  I've enjoyed sci-fi for quite a few years, and ever since I've started working Stargazer's Nights I've been enjoying studying regular astronomy as well.  I thought we might just look around this area for a minute or two (I was anxious to see the animal displays upstairs), but I could have easily spent quite a bit of time in the area.

As you emerge from an entry corridor with views of space, a dramatic Martian canyon lies to your right. To your left, dust and gas swirl in giant nebulae. This is Space Odyssey, where the universe is yours to explore-and where space news headlines are brought to life.

Above you can see part of the Mars exhibit.  It shows what a future exploration base on the red planet might look like.  I'm a sucker for models and exhibits like this one.  I remember a space exhibit that I worked on at the Museum Center which included an area like this one (but not as nice).  The oceanic earth glob was also pretty neat, even though it was an old exhibit.

One of my favourite sights through a telescope is the planet Saturn (the other is the Orion Nebula--which looks much better through the scope than any pictures that I've seen).  I love seeing the rings, and I like listening to the reaction of people actually seeing the planet for the first time.  Some people have even thought that it was something fake taped onto the end of the telescope.  So it was with great happiness that I found the following exhibit.

But even better than the display demonstrating the changes in views of Saturn was the explanation of reflecting and refracting telescopes.  People often ask me what the difference is and I can't always remember a good way to describe them, so having a display like this next one would be quite useful.

But next I saw something even better!  During the live program we've developed for Stargazer's Nights we talk about the brightness of stars.  Some stars are brighter, but further away than others, so they appear dimmer.  A great example can be found in the Big Dipper.  The text is somewhat hard to read so I'll type it below: "The lights above represent the stars of the Big Dipper in their true position in space. Do they form the familiar Big Dipper pattern from your present position? Where must you be to see the stars in the shape of the Big Dipper?" There were several of these signs spread throughout the area.  When you look at the stars from a different direction they don't form the same shape because the stars are not all the same distance from the earth.  The constellations are defined by their view from earth and are usually unrecognizable from other locations in space.  Look for the circular white lights in the picture below.  They're mostly, but not completely in the right shape.  I don't remember what location I took this from.

I thought I took a video, but I can't find the file, :(.  Hopefully you can understand the concept from my meager description.

The animal dioramas reminded me of the exhibits at Chicago's Field Museum.  I know they're not the most popular things to have in new museums, but I really enjoy them.  A well done taxidermy exhibit looks much better than something created from scratch, in my opinion, and some of these animals are endangered or extinct, so you won't get any more specimens to create new displays.  There were several different areas including North America, Africa, Australia, and more.

I was quite impressed by the glass used in the displays.  It was very nice glass and kept well clean.  I couldn't see it unless I was looking very carefully or the flash was bouncing off it.

Can you find the squirrel in the scene below?  Several of the scenes had quite a few animals hidden (as they would naturally go through the forest) within them.

I also enjoy seeing animals that I may never (or rarely) get to see in the wild.

It was also quite interesting to note that an event was being setup.  I've seen this at many museums I've visited (as well as both that employ me).  But this would be an especially nice area to eat dinner, surrounded by the animal dioramas.

I knew the albatross was a large bird, but I'd forgotten how huge they actually were.

We also found a fun display on the floor that illustrated the difference between a cheetah and impala running. I've never been to Africa, and I haven't been to a zoo in a while (and the San Diego Wild Animal park never--though I want to visit someday), so I really liked seeing those animals. Though the displays were static, I took a couple videos so that I could pan across the scenes.  Sadly as I tried to focus in on a couple of things the camera refused to focus, but I think the scene is still nicely visible.

The contrast in the Australian scenes was also interesting.  I'm currently reading The Fatal Shore, a book about Australia's early founding, especially the history of convict settlement of the continent.  The initial conditions at Sydney and the first Tasmanian colonies were not easy.  There is a variety of terrain in the antipodean continent, from lush areas to dry scrub.

Who doesn't like the koala?

Australia also has some pretty amazing animals that aren't found anywhere else.

 We briefly explored the Egyptian section which included a mummy and some really neat models.

We could have spent plenty of more time in the museum and I'd definitely like to go back the next time we're in Colorado and have some free time.

~Matt