Denver to Grand Junction, Colorado

I left Denver this morning and headed west on I-70 to Grand Junction, on the Western Slope.  Rather than take the entire trip on the Interstate, I cut off just before the Eisenhower Tunnels onto US6 and went up and over Loveland Pass to Dillon, home of Keystone Ski Resort.  The pass is just under 12,000 feet high and is part of the Continental Divide.  Here are a few pics I took going up the pass:

If you look closely at this next picture, you can see the chair lifts at Arapahoe Basin Ski Resort:

And this was at the top:

A little further down I-70 I stopped at Vail Pass and got a couple more pictures:

In the background you can see the ski slops at Beaver Creek Resort.

From Vail Pass I-70 goes downhill pretty fast and goes through Glenwood Canyon.  The highway wasn't completed until the early 1980's through this 15-mile or so stretch, but unfortunately, I couldn't stop to get any pictures of the area.  Most of the road through the Canyon is elevated with the eastbound lanes being directly under the westbound lanes in spots.  It is truly an engineering marvel.

Further down the road, the terrain gets really arid and we're in mesa country.  Here are some pics between Gypsum, CO and Grand Junction:

In case you were wondering, the temperature is hovering around 100 degrees out here, too.  Anyway, some really pretty scenery today.  I'll be heading to Arches National Monument near Moab, Utah tomorrow.  There should be some really striking scenery at the park, and then it's to Green River, Utah for the night.

Miles today:  276
Total: 3,289