Best of the West in Colorado Park

You could call Colorado National Monument the best of the American West, full of great rock sculptures with names such as Sentinel Spire, Independence Monument and Liberty Cap. This is big and bold country: red rock spiked with stands of bright green juniper and pinon pine, capped in winter with a mantle of snow.

As you motor along Interstate 70 through the grand valley of the Colorado River toward Grand Junction, nothing quite prepares you for these monuments that tower high above the high desert.

The national monument is part of the Uncompahgre Plateau, which was upthrust above the surrounding landscape with the same forces that shaped the Rocky Mountains. Erosion carved the plateaus and canyons that we marvel at today.

Visitors get the best views of the canyon from the monument’s well-engineered trail system and from Rim Rock Drive, which winds along the top of the plateau. From the monument’s high points, hikers can look down at the Colorado River Valley, a crazy quilt of green and amber fields; the highest flat-topped mountain in the United States, Grand Mesa, and the purple-gray Book Cliffs that extend all the way to Utah.

The preservation of this geologic wonderland was not your usual 20th-Century tale of earnest conservation groups and progressive politicos. The national monument owes its existence to John Otto, known as the “hermit of the canyon.” When he arrived on the scene in 1906, he immediately undertook a one-man campaign to preserve the scenic splendor as a national park.

In 1911, President William Howard Taft set aside Colorado National Monument. Otto became park caretaker at a salary of $1 a month, a position he held until 1927.

Eccentric as he was, Otto was most certainly a terrific trail builder. With his horse Dolly and a couple of pack burros, he constructed many miles of trails and made the wonders of the national monument accessible to hikers and horseback riders. Many Otto trails are still used today.

To find out more about Otto and the national monument, drop in at the park Visitor Center. Exhibits explain the monument’s complex geologic origin, flora, fauna and history. Park rangers can provide the latest trail update.

Directions to trail head: The city of Grand Junction, just five miles east of the national monument’s east entrance, is on Interstate 70, almost equidistant between Salt Lake City and Denver. Follow the signs on Colorado 340 to the park entrance. Twenty-three-mile Rim Rock Drive traverses the park and returns to 340 at Fruita, about 10 miles west of Grand Junction. Most of the monument’s trail heads are off this scenic drive:

* Serpents Trail (2 1/4 miles one way). Sometimes called “the crookedest road in the world,” the original park access road designed by Otto is now a hiking trail. The trail head is just past the east entrance. Superb views of the monument, the Colorado River and Grand Junction are a hiker’s reward for tackling more than 50 switchbacks en route. If you want to use a car shuttle, it’s easy to make a one-way hike of Serpent’s Trail by arranging transportation to the trail’s terminus, a couple of miles up Rim Rock Drive.

* Devil’s Kitchen Trail (1 1/2 miles round trip) begins just across Rim Rock Drive from Serpents Trail. There’s nothing particularly satanic about this path, which wanders among big boulders to a natural grotto. The trail provides access to trail-less No Thoroughfare Canyon, a terrific all-day (8 1/2 miles one way) journey into a canyon with 400-foot-high walls.

* Otto’s Trail (1 mile round trip) leads to one of the monument’s most dramatic viewpoints.

* Monument Canyon Trail (6 miles one way; 1,400-foot elevation loss) shares the same trail head with the Coke Ovens Trail. The shadeless path switchbacks to the floor of Monument Canyon. At the bottom, it snakes parallel to the canyon rim, offering close-up views of the monument’s most prominent rock formations--Coke Ovens, Kissing Couple and Independence Monument. Near the latter formation, the trail turns east, passing impressive boulders, then heads north along the monument’s eastern boundary before intersecting Colorado 340 a few miles from the monument’s west (Fruita) entrance.

Western Colorado / Serpents, Devil’s Garden, Otto’s, Monument Trails Where: Colorado National Monument Distance: 1-14 miles round trip. Terrain: Deep canyons and a mesa eroded into stunning sandstone monuments. Highlights: Brilliantly colored sculpted rock. Great hiking in an overlooked national park. Degree of difficulty: Easy to strenuous. Precautions: Most hikes begin with descent from canyon rim, which means an uphill return trip. Pace yourself accordingly. For more information: Contact Colorado National Monument, Fruita Colo. 81521 (303) 858-3617.