Drive to the Grand Canyon

The idea upon leaving Fort Collins, was to work my way to the Grand canyon over the course of a few days. I was hoping that I could find some interesting places to stop for the night. Thankfully things rarely go as planned.

The first night I wanted to simply drive to Grand Junction, CO. I got there well after dark. I was hoping to find any ol' campground for the night. I followed signs for something called Colorado National Monument. It looked promising as there was a little green tent marked on my map.

After a few hours of driving in circles I found the self help booth for late arrivals. I found a nice uneven camp site and set my tent just in time to duck out of the rain. It was 11:00 and I was exhausted.

Since any ol' camp ground would have done just fine you might imagine my surprise to discover that my campground was within a few hundred yards to the edge of ...

...........This!!!

I spent a "Just wow" morning driving about and taking photographs.

In the afternoon I set off accross Utah with a mind to stay Monday night at Zion national park. I expect Utah to be desert and little else. a hundred miles of beautiful desert did little to change my mind. Then I ran into "The Reef"

Please keep in mind that these little boulders are actually over 500 ft tall. There is a chain of these things running north to south for a hundred or more miles. The road had to cut straight through them. Utah kept throwing new surprises at me. Canyons, Mountian ranges and what ever the heck a "reef" is. They even had a bit of green here and there.

I spent this afternoon at Zion and was forced to expose my eyes to wonders such as....



This is just a little taste of Zion which is to date the most awe inspiring place I have been. On a grand scale anyway. It is a green garden set at the bottom of a deep canyon in the southwest desert of Utah. If you want more pictures.. ask. I have plenty.

Tomorrow is the grand Canyon. I am hiking to the bottom so I need to get some sleep. Hopefully it is not anymore awesome than the things I have seen the past two days. My head might actually explode. It's not just a cute metaphor. I really am in danger of overloading my perceptions of what is awesome.

Sam's Summary

• I left Fort Collins
• I admired the Rockies (very nice by the way)
• I got lost in Grand Junction, CO
• I was found by Colorado National monument
• I achieved over 35 miles per gallon driving 80 mph across Utah
• I broke my timing belt
• It cost money to replace.
• It's all better now.
• I spent the day in Zion National Park
• It's very cool so I am posting some Sam's Summary Bonus pictures (don't get used to it)