Fort Collins and Grand Junction, Colorado

On the road again . . . This time to Colorado. . .

Early in the trip, we arrived in Duchesne and stopped, of course, to grab a couple of geocaches.  I looked at the hill ahead of us and thought, "Ugh, that's going to be a rough climb.  I really hope it's not up there."  I don't know what Chris was thinking but the next thing I knew, I was in the middle of a Subaru commercial with my life flashing before my eyes.  I fully expected us to find ourselves sliding backward at any moment.  It was that steep.  But, we made it to the top.  I say this because I saw the top, not because I saw us actually driving up the hill while my eyes were closed and I was holding on for dear life!  This picture doesn't really do it justice.

This one, however, is not a camera trick.  It really looked like this from the bottom.

The best part?  The cache wasn't even up there.  It was about even with where I was standing to take this picture.

From there we went on to Vernal . . .

And then to Fort Collins.  Wow, what a beautiful drive!  There's nothing quite like listening to John Denver while driving through the Rocky Mountains.

While Chris was working in Fort Collins, I had some time on my hands so I went exploring.  I ended up at Coyote Ridge.  While there enjoying the view, I learned that this is a Hogsback Ridge.

 

This butterfly was nice enough to pose for me before flying away.

Later we went sloshing through this frog's stream to get to the other side.  Why take the easy way, right?

 Then we found the path and just looked at the water from afar.

 

From there, on to Grand Junction.  Another beautiful drive.  I-70, you surprised me!  Grand Junction and its surrounding towns have a lot of street art . . . This is "Mike, the Headless Rooster."

They also have some great scenery as they are located at the edge of the Colorado Plateau.  Here are a few views of the Colorado National Monument.

Next stop, Arches and southwestern Utah . . .