Rim Rock Drive: a road shaped by hand through the canyons

Most people come to Colorado National Monument for the red rock and stay for the road. Rim Rock Drive runs 23 miles along the canyon rims above Grand Junction and Fruita, and the National Park Service notes it was built largely by hand. Crews started in the early 1930s, and during the Depression the Civilian Conservation Corps and local workers carved much of the route through solid rock, drilling and blasting a path where there had only been cliff.

The line of the road was chosen for the view. It hugs the edge, swings out to overlooks, and threads three tunnels bored straight through the sandstone, two shorter ones on the west side and a longer one, about 530 feet, on the east.

A few honest notes before you go. The Park Service describes the road as narrow and steep in places, with sheer dropoffs, so it can feel exposed if heights bother you. Cyclists ride it too, climbing the same grades, so pass them with at least three feet of room and never in a tunnel or around a blind curve. Turn your headlights on in the tunnels.

Take it slowly. Pull off at the overlooks the builders went out of their way to give you. For maps, tunnel clearances, and current conditions, check the National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/colm/planyourvisit/historic-rim-rock-drive.htm