The road is a CCC project, constructed during the depression. The road was built by men using hand tools and black powder. They would blast the rock and then clear the rubble by hand. It was a massive effort.
This is the Fallen Rock. Water gets into the sides of the wall and freezes. That puts pressure on the rock and shoves it forward. Eventually the rock sloughed off onto the valley floor.
These formations are called the Coke Ovens.
The spires from one side.
And from the other side.
There's a window in this rock. It was sort of underwhelming, but it was a nice walk along the rim to go see it.
It is just so amazing there.
Sorry about photo quality, I shot this through the dirty windshield. We left the park heading towards Fruita. This is where you really get an appreciation for the amount of toil required to make this road.
There's another tunnel on the left of the picture.
The monument's balanced rock on the left.
We were really happy we went today. Tomorrow 2,000 bicyclists will be riding in from Fruita and go through the park. It should be chaos!
That's a great park. We stayed in the campground and rode our bikes on the road but couldn't make the whole thing for all the hills. See you soon!
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