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The Rocky Mountains also have colourful red leaves as illustrated
by this bush which nicely sets off the long view of a beautiful
mountain valley.
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Sylvia
stands dwarfed by massive blocks of marble. The marble blocks
are discarded from a marble quarry located within the mountain
just above. Marble from this quarry is sent all over the the
US.
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The Marble River passes through some very scenic mountains.
A small campground sits along the river in this location. Many
fishermen spend the day wading in the river flyfishing.
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This
trail is typical of many dirt and gravel roads that access the
backcountry. In some places expect to need 4WD and carry lots
of water and supplies.
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Marble
Canyon is typical of many river valleys in the Rocky Mountains.
Here you can see the typical Vee-shape of a watercut canyon.
In the bed of the river you will find white hunks of marble.
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The trail below drops rapidly off Grand Mesa. The top of the
Mesa is over 8,500 feet and has several hundred lakes and reservoirs.
Thick groves of trees sustained a lumber industry and the area
is a treasure-trove for elk and deer hunters. The motorhome
climbed the 16 miles to the top in 2nd gear.
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There
are several campgrounds on the Mesa top, some of them near a
lake.
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Several homes and cottages are starting to appear along the
shores of the scenic lakes on the top of Grand Mesa.
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Autumn
colours are every bit as beautiful as those in the east. The
high elevations give many opportunities to see grand distant
views of colourful mountain sides.
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This
spectacular view looks north from Grand Mesa towards Grand Junction,
Colorado. Across the valley are the Book Cliffs and the Vermillion
Cliffs of the Colorado Plateau.
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Along this steep sandstone cliff you will see a water flume
built to carry water to a gold mining area. Five miles of the
flume are attached high up on the wall. This represents an incredible
engineering feat for the period during which it was built.
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The
Driggs Mansion ruins are all that remain of an expensive home
built by one of the first settlers in this valley.
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Colorado National Monument protects a large plateau of eroded
sandstone. There are many grand spires and freestanding walls
of rock in the park. The oil shales in the distant plateau contain
huge quantities of oil that will be difficult to extract. Perhaps
once the vast quantities of oil in the Canadian Tar Sands are
finally used up, these oil shale plateaus will be mined and
crushed to extract the oil. The oil trapped here will fill the
USA'S needs for many years.
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The
Climax tailings ponds show the incredible amount of material
processed in the Climax Molybdenum mine. The mine is idle now,
but large reserves are still there below the surface. The valley
suffered considerable damage during the period of operation.
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This
is typical of many of the forest campgrounds in the mountains. |
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Four
ladders and 140 feet of climbing take you to one of the cliff-homes
of the ancient people who lived in this canyon. This is in Bandelier
National Monument near Los Alamos.
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The
Albuquerque Balloon Festival is one of the largest balloon launches
in the USA. I had the opportunity to float over the city. Very
pretty trip.
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