Sunday, May 7, 2017
A nice view from the pourover into Red Canyon within the Colorado National Monument.
Since our plans of camping the previous night in the Yellow Cat area had fallen through, we decided to spend a few hours at the Colorado National Monument on Sunday evening instead. There had been stormy weather on and off all day, but it looked like it was finally starting to clear out enough by late afternoon. We started out by hiking and exploring part of the mesa between Red Canyon and Ute Canyon. I had hoped to hike further out to the point, but thunderstorms had moved into the area again so we didn’t stray too far from the Jeep. I guess that means we will have to return another time. Afterwards, we went on another short hike into the upper portion of Red Canyon that I’ve driven past numerous times and always thought might be interesting to check out. Then before heading back home we stopped at a couple overlooks along Rim Rick Drive on our way out of the Monument. It was another nice evening in the Monument, but it was very humid out!
Exploring the sandstone on the mesa between Red and Ute Canyons.
A view across the Red-Ute Mesa.
Hiking into a drainage tunnel under Rim Rock Drive.
Not a bad view out of the tunnel over Red Canyon.
Following the wash to the big pourover.
Hiking through the shallow canyon of Upper Red Canyon.
We were stopped by this dry waterfall and decided to turn around here.
A view of ‘The Mummy’ from the Upper Ute Canyon Overlook.
Suction Point in the distance.
Looking up a small side canyon of Upper Ute Canyon.
Spring in Ute Canyon
One last stop along Rim Rock Drive overlooking Devil’s Kitchen from just west of the tunnel.
