If you are looking for an escape and hope to have the trails to yourself then head to Glade Park, located south of Grand Junction, above the Colorado National Monument, within Piñon Mesa. There are three routes into Glade Park, but the easiest is probably via Monument Road, which is the Grand Junction entrance to the Colorado National Monument. Drivers traveling up Monument Road into Glad Park do not need to pay the park entrance fees, but if you plan to stop at the overlooks along the way, you will need to purchase a day pass if you do not already have a National Parks Pass. The views trough the Monument are spectacular, enjoy the drive and make sure to plan a separate day to explore this area. After leaving the Monument boundary, you will hit DS Road, which is the main road in Glade Park and it runs east to west. Follow DS Road as far as you desire, the road branches off to various recreation areas some designated specifically for hiking while others are open to horses, ATVs, Jeeps, and mountain bikes. Dispersed camping is also available throughout Piñon Mesa, and if you happen to camp on a Friday during the summer months, check out Movies Under the Stars hosted by the Glad Park Fire Department.
On this particular journey, my dad and I took all four of our dogs up to Glade Park for a 42 mile ATV ride. We took the east entrance to the monument from Grand Junction, followed Monument Road up to the DS Road where we drove past the Glade Park Store and traveled close to 20 miles from the store to the CO/UT state line. Along the way, we passed Miracle Rock, which is a nice pit stop if you are looking for a short hike and a chance to see some unique rock formations. Another interesting stop is the Coates Creek Schoolhouse, a one-room school house that was in operation from 1900-1924 and 1925-1949. The school is now on the
We staged near Spring Creek Ranch in Utah and followed BLM road 350 for the bulk of the distance, making multiple stops for photos and to let the dogs out. The first stop was at a boulder field and all the rocks looked like they were purposefully stacked upon one another, making for some fun scrambling and rock hopping. Another stop was at Red Pointe, surrounded by red rock formations and offering picturesque views of the La Sal range. Then we stopped before crossing Granite Creek, allowing the dogs to take a swim and cool off before making the climb up towards Steamboat Mesa. After lunch we retraced most of our tracks, taking a few detours as my dad, who used to live in Glade Park many years ago, noted that he was “Just taking a drive through memory lane”. Steamboat Mesa had some great, unobstructed views of the La Sal Mountains and lots of beautiful wildflowers. Once back on BLM 350 again and headed back to the car, we took one more detour over to Ryan Park, which is on the Colorado side of the state line. Finally after a full day of bouncing around in the ATV with three dogs stacked in the back seat and one on my lap, we arrived back at the car covered in dust. On the return trip we treated ourselves to an ice cream cone at the Glade Park Store, which is the only store for miles. If you make a visit to Glade Park, support the little store, they have all sorts of snacks, cold drinks, ice cream, and locally made honey and crafts.
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