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Fruita and the Grand MesaJul 11, 2009
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North out of Montrose
View from Route 50
Coming into Grand Junction
On Thursday morning we headed north from our campground through the community of Montrose and northward on route 50 toward Grand Junction. It was an interesting drive with a changing variety of vistas along the way. When we reached I-70 we turned to the west to the community of Fruita and the Monument RV Park.
Our main purpose in visiting Fruita was to spend some time with our good friends and former neighbors, the Porfirios. We visited Donna and David on Friday evening and had dinner at their favorite Chinese Restaurant (where we had eaten last year) and its entertaining owner, John.
At Donna's suggestion we headed east on I-70 this morning past Grand Junction about 20 miles before turning to the south and taking the paved road that climbs to the top of the Grand Mesa. The first advantage of our climb was relief from the better-than-90 degree weather in Fruita. The second was a totally different landscape featuring a variety of trees and a plethora of wildflowers.
We drove to the Visitor's Center on the mesa and obtained some information of short hikes in the area. We opted to make a very short drive from the Visitor's Center to the picnic grounds on the shore of Ward Lake. From there the three of us embarked on a 1.5 mile hike around the lake and then took the adjoining Baron Lake trail for a 1.5 mile outbound hike past Lake Alexander and along the Baron Lake shore.
There are a number of cabins along the lakes and there were fisherman on and along the lakes. The hike was relatively flat with some nice views of the lakes and lots and lots of wildflowers. We made the return hike to the picnic area where we had our customary lunch break. The site of our break was a spot overlooking Ward Lake.
After lunch we took the Escape back in the direction from which we had come before taking a left turn onto Land's End Road. We stopped along the dirt road a number of times for fields of flowers and views to the south of the mesa. When we reached the Land's End Observatory we were treated to dynamic views to the west (including Grand Junction in the distance) and a group of entertaining chipmunks on the cliff rocks at the observatory.
After spending about a half hour at the observatory we drove the multi-switchback dirt road down the side of the mountain and followed the paved road to route 50 for the return trip through Grand Junction (DQ stop!) to Fruita. It was a cool and enjoyable day on the mesa.
Upon our return we attended church and then joined the Porfirios for a Mexican dinner at the El Tapatio Restaurant where we were joined by Donna's sister, Lois, and the Porfirios' daughter, Dana, and her family - husband Dom, daughter Christina, and baby son Alex. We went back to the Porfirio's home and had a great time in conversation with the family and entertainment by the two children.
It's been a very full and fun day!
