Grand Junction

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Originally Posted by foxtrot

Hummer covered it pretty well. Other places I'll add: 5 miles to the south is whitewater (po-dunk) with a turnoff into HWY 141 (gateway canyon) with a lot of mountain options as well - divide road, etc. There is also Dominguez canyon 10 miles south - desert wilderness with 30' and 50' waterfalls. My wife went over the 30' [panic]

10 miles west, there is Colorado national monument- in part. Monument road to get there originates in Grand Junction, with great trail access (hiking,biking,foot) there. The road goes on top of the red rock cliffs, with a lot of hiking opportunities like uncompadre canyon with it's own waterfall, and serpents trail. Eventually, the main road goes into a small high elevation community called "glade park". From there, you can access "pinion mesa" to the south (45 minutes from Grand Junction, high elevation forest, OHV okay) or a red-rocks wilderness area to the north around "black ridge" (40 minutes from Grand Junction) with a lot of juniper / cliff trail action (OHV ok). To the west, you have Fruita 11 miles outside of grand junction, a suburb really with (in some places) upscale, affordable homes.

Only half of the valley is occupied. The north half of the valley is adobe badlands. Prarie dogs, coyotes, rabbits, etc. One public BLM shooting range with good berms 1000 yard gongs out there (relatively well maintained). There is another BLM shooting range closer to the Colorado river on the east edge of town, though it isn't as cared for. One indoor range now, very nice, rifle/pistol 25 yards, $360/y membership. IDPA, USPSA, Cowboy action have a strong presence here at a private range in whitewater.

You know moab well of course. Into the bookcliffs you can get mountain access on baxter pass and on Dolores pass - 45-55 minutes from Junction.

Moab:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.n...b9354a39c659d6
(For the record, that picture is to scale[Coffee])



On top of the colo natl monument (Liberty cap, hopping cracks in the rock)
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...d4644383fefa28

Dominguez Canyon:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.n...5784ec97b6d490

North Desert (By the bookcliffs, looking south-east towards Grand Junction)
https://scontent-a-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/...71&oe=556A99E5


Dominguez Canyon:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.n...438217d36e4e0b

Baxter pass:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...4e3a1b8b1055ba

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Wow, a picture is worth a thousand words, and you nailed it, thank you!

Basically my wife was 100% sold on it, then she did a Google image search and didn't see much in the way of mountainous terrain.

Let us Grand Junction members know when you are planning on visiting or moving out and I'm sure that we will meet up with you and show you around.

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Originally Posted by drew890

Let us Grand Junction members know when you are planning on visiting or moving out and I'm sure that we will meet up with you and show you around.

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I sent out pm's and received 1 reply. My bad if i neglected to include you. We'd like to look at areas west of GJ. The pop is 60K in GJ and that's a tad many

Kazoo, you are looking for Nucla or Naturita if you stay in Colorado. You can always look at Monticello if you decide to move to Utah.

I've driven through all three, but couldn't tell you anything about them except they are small and they aren't the types of places people wander through unless they have a lot of time on their hands.

Kazoo, I'm a transplant out here for about two years now. However my girlfriend is an assistant principal at Grand Junction High School and grew up out here in Delta. She used to teach at Fruita High School so she is pretty well versed in the area if you have an questions that we could help you with.

This is what appeals to us. Much better than concrete cliffs.

Attachment 55385
Attachment 55387

The only problem is our cook, she's picky. EVERYTHING must meet her standards.
Attachment 55389

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Originally Posted by Great-Kazoo

This is what appeals to us. Much better than concrete cliffs.

Attachment 55385
Attachment 55387

The only problem is our cook, she's picky. EVERYTHING must meet her standards.
Attachment 55389

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X2!

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Originally Posted by cstone

Kazoo, you are looking for Nucla or Naturita if you stay in Colorado. You can always look at Monticello if you decide to move to Utah.

I've driven through all three, but couldn't tell you anything about them except they are small and they aren't the types of places people wander through unless they have a lot of time on their hands.

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aaagh! Nucla or Naturita? Cstone is right, in that they aren't exactly a "destination" area. I've lived there, would not recommend. Unless you're looking for a very toothless, inbred, unemployed and meth-ridden area. If that's the case, eureka, you're home. Otherwise, there are better options.