The Colorado National Monument is just outside of Grand Junction, Colorado. It is a gloriously beautiful place for a place that doesn’t get very much attention. The drive up after the entrance station is steep, winding and includes two small tunnels. Big RVs beware of that. Most RVers seem to park at the Colorado State Park nearby and drive their two cars up here. Road construction on the park road had some scenic views closed and one lane sections that may cause delays. This construction also created dangers on the road as the trucks were not obeying the speed limit. The probably knew the road well from driving it all day but they were going excessively fast one after the other around a blind curve. And this was right where you turn into the campground by the visitor center. It was a dangerous turn that didn’t need to be so scary.

The campground at Colorado National Monument is up on top next to the Visitor Center. It is more rustic, with sections A and B having a bit more room. This is made up of tent sites, a few small uneven pull through spaces and larger pull offs where your RV would be on the side of the road. Loop C is even more rustic and tends to be the last one selected. We chose the last one. Small RVs can get into some of the spaces, avoiding trees. Once there, it was very quiet on a Friday afternoon. The restrooms were closed and portable toilets are nearby. Water faucets were still operating.

There is a nice canyon cliff side hike from the campground to the visitor center as well as a great lookout trail. Our only real complaint about our visit was other campers who come in at 8:30pm and act like they own the place. Yelling adults, screaming kids, loose dogs, too many cars and tents in one spot make for a more undesirable neighbor. Upon a walk, I could hear these sad examples of humans across the entire three loops. According to signs, this monument only has rangers during daytime visitor center hours. There is no after hours contact other than 911. So this leads to more violations and problems with campers. We never saw a ranger in our 20 hours at the park. And looking at the registration board, locals new this and did not pay. There were many more campers than paid tickets. Lets hope our funding can help keep these places up and staffed. One day of Americas nation building cost in the middle east could supply our National Park system with proper funding and preserve these sites for our children.