We had a great hike on the Liberty Cap Trail in Colorado National Monument. The rock formations and scenery remind us a lot of Utah. We will be seeing a lot of this scenery in the next month or two. The Liberty Cap Trail is 7 miles long, with the first 5.5 miles crossing Monument Mesa through Pinon-Juniper forest and sagebrush flats. Then it drops steeply into Grand Valley. We didn't go nearly that far, walking probably 2 miles+ out and then returning.
These rock formations are massive. We were happy to see trails that went between them, not up and over.
The sheer walls occur when sections of rock break off. The colors are referred to as desert varnish, staining from water running down from the top.
I really like the various colors from gray-brown of the sage bush to the green of pinon and juniper to the light-colored slash across the rocks.
The trunk and branches of this dead tree are so interesting. These tree skeletons are thin twisted fibers of wood.
A view from the road as we drove to our trailhead.
Looking up one of the canyons.
Beautiful Scenery as well as an interesting tree.
ReplyDeleteBe Safe and Enjoy your exploring.
It's about time.