Colorado National Monument (Rim Rock Drive) Guide

Everyone knows Colorado for its snow; almost nobody comes for its red rock, which is exactly why Colorado National Monument outside Grand Junction is the best value in the state. Rim Rock Drive runs 23 paved miles between the Fruita and Grand Junction entrances, hugging the edge of sheer sandstone canyons where monoliths like Independence Monument stand hundreds of feet tall in the open air. It was largely hand-carved into the cliffs by CCC crews in the 1930s, tunnels and all, and it’s open year-round. The speed limit is a deliberate 25–35 mph so you actually look — desert bighorn sheep pick their way across the rock, and the canyons glow furnace-orange at sunrise and sunset. It feels like southern Utah without the crowds or the entrance line.