roverrocks
Expedition Leader
A Jeep and a Land Rover plus their two old codger owners spent Sunday Oct. 21, 2013 enjoying a 20 mile scenic 4x4 loop daytrip in the beautiful Bangs Canyon Recreation Area near Grand Junction, Colorado. This beautiful area of pinyon/juniper canyons and mesas, desert grasslands and adobe hills, seasonal desert brooks and waterfalls plus the floodplain of the Gunnison River lies just a few miles southwest of an urban area of 100,000 people. To the north this large Bangs Canyon Rec Area is bounded by the exquisite Colorado National Monument. There are numerous opportunities for four wheeling, mountain biking, hiking, birding, wildflower viewing, etc etc etc. Just to the east one views the nearby huge and high Grand Mesa from all over this Rec area. Bangs Canyon Rec Area and bordering Colorado National Monument are part of the northern end of the Uncompahgre Plateau which runs for many many miles SE to the high San Juan Mountains. The fall weather of western Colorado is usually fair and mild with great opportunities to get outside before winter arrives and even then the snowclad high desert is a delight to see snowbound. Our day was fair, mild, and windless and so we took advantage of the dry 4x4 trail to explore all day. This is NOT a 4x4 trail loop you want to be on if conditions are wet or rainy as adobe abounds. Here are some photos of our day. Saw very few people except for a mile and a half in from the start at an optional ledge and rocky area called "The Playground" which has been set aside for 4x4 "playing". At this area there were a dozen 4x4 viewing and "playing". Once past after "playing" ourselves for a few minutes we saw few people the rest of the day.
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