Grand Junction, CO to Denver, CO June 11, 2009

Got the moho prepped and tucked away in the storage lot this morning then hit the road (I-70 across the mountains to Denver, about 250 miles).

As we were leaving Grand Junction the rains began and plagued us all the way to Denver. Nonetheless, we've been feeling guilty about the paucity of pictures, so we took a few for you today.

Much of the most impressive scenery in the Rockies is the result of eons of erosion. It hasn't stopped. In this picture the dark area on the cliff to the left center is the detritus from the most recent large erosion of the top layer of the cliff.

Cliffside about 10 miles east of Grand Junction, CO.

For the first 80 miles or so of our trip east on I-70 we were following the valley/canyon carved by the Colorado River as it works its way west to the Gulf of California. The Colorado starts somewhere to the northwest of Denver and though it has been collecting water for about 200 miles, it is not yet a terrifically large river. Here is a picture of the Colorado and the second of many dams (the first is in Glenwood Canyon) that harness its power to generate electricity or provide irrigation.

Old dam on the Colorado, about 40 miles east of Grand Junction, CO.

Then the rains began to come down in earnest so we gave up on pictures for the next 125 miles, but we just had to get a shot of this unknown mountain as we rested at the top of Vail Pass (10610 ft. elevation).

View southeast from the top of Vail Pass.

The following is representative of our view the rest of the way to Denver........


We made it safely mid-afternoon and will be here until Tuesday morning when we will continue our trip home.

MMG and DDG