SP Campground Review – James M Robb State Park, Fruita, CO

Looking across the Colorado River and into the Colorado National Monument at Fruita Section of the James M Robb Park

A pristine campground with views of the Colorado River and National Monument in Fruita, CO in Western Colorado.

Link to campground here: James M Robb State Park, Fruita, CO
Link to map location here: James M Robb State Park, Fruita, CO

1. Site Quality = 5/5
   These are probably the most pristine sites I’ve seen in a state park. Perfectly flat, large, manicured sites with central concrete section (for support), beautiful “sitting areas” with fire-pit, picnic table and shelters, good separation and absolutely lovely, green grounds. There’s a selection of full hookup (50Amp/water/sewer) or electric (30Amp/water). Sites at the outer end 36-44 have the bonus of lake and stunning monument views
2.  Facilities = 4/5
   Excellent facilities here. There are flush toilets, large showers (only ding is that they are pay only, $1 for 4 mins), and modern laundry (book-swap there too). Park also has several on-site lakes, a swim beach (indefinitely closed due to e-coli problems while we were there), boat ramp, picnic areas, fishing and trails. On-site dump station.
3. Location = 5/5
   Lovely location here. You are right next to lakes and the Colorado River as well as within sight of the gorgeous Colorado National Monument. Nearby Grand Junction has restaurants and all major shopping needs.
4. Pet Friendliness = 4/5
   Good doggie spot. On-site hiking trails and space to “play” by the river. Only dings are that the lake was closed to swimming while we were there, plus some of the trails were closed from damage and needed re-work. A short drive to McInnis Canyons BLM (just across the river) provides masses of additional pooch-friendly hiking. Poo bags provided on-site.

Overall Rating = 4.4
BONUS ALERT = Camp with stunning views of the Colorado National Monument & McInnis Canyons!

Summary: Well, this turned out to be soooo much nicer than we ever imagined. James M Robb SP actually offers 2 campgrounds in the area, but the one we chose was the Fruita section. The campground is set beautifully by a lake and the Colorado River and has stunning views of the Colorado National Monument in the background. The grounds themselves are more like a fancy RV resort than a state park with manicured grounds, trails, lakes, fishing and simply pristine sites (beautifully flat, large, well-kept pads with selection of full hook-up too!). Lots of green, modern facilities and the draw of the surrounding nature makes this a hidden gem. The only possibly dings I could give it is that the sites closest to the main road (12-19) have some road noise, the swim-beach was closed indefinitely due to e-coli problems and some trails were closed due to flood damage, but overall the campground is simply lovely. This place was miles better than the KOA we stayed at last year and we enjoyed it so much we extended our stay. No doubt when we come back this is where we’ll camp again.

 Extra Info:  Full Verizon signal on both smartphone and aircard. Sites cost $20/night for electric (30Amp/water), $24/night for full hook-up (50Amp/water/sewer). There is an extra daily park fee of $7/day (can be covered with the Colorado Annual Parks Pass). Over 57 sites, all reservable. On site dump station and laundry.

Typical pull-through site (#41 shown)

Typical back-in site (#14 shown)

View down back-end of loop. Our RV in site #40 on right. Lake is off-pic on the right side.

Another view down loop (site #20 on right, #21 on left)

View down middle of campground to the main facilities (showers, laundry etc.)

View of lake and beach

View of playground

Prehistoric Red Rock Beauty – Colorado National Monument,CO

“I came here last year and found these canyons, and they feel like the heart of the world to me. I’m going to stay and build trails and promote this park”
John Otto, 1907

A view to live a dream for

It was an ambitiously crazy dream and it pretty much took a crazy man to pull it off. John Otto was the character to do it. Flamboyant, eccentric, and obsessive, he was locked up three times in his life for “acute mania”, but when he saw the canyons in Fruita his energies found new focus and he knew the rest of his days would be dedicated to them.

Just another gorgeous view-point from the Rim Road

And that’s exactly what Otto did. He lived, breathed and fought for these dramatic red cliffs, living alone in the canyons, building backbreaking trails by hand, petitioning relentlessly and eventually getting the place set aside as a National Monument in 1911.

Posing at the cliffs on Window Rock Trail

He was of course not the first to set foot on these red rocks of beauty. The entire Western Colorado plateau is a veritable multi-hundred-million year history book. Much of the Morrison Formation, as it’s called, was laid down in the Late Jurassic period and remains a rich living source of fossils and prehistoric discoveries. In fact if you’re a paleo-lover it really doesn’t get any better than this, and you can bask away in dinosaur dreams all through the 512-mile Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Byway that winds through Colorado and Utah. If we weren’t on our way to OR that’s exactly what we’d be doing, but thankfully we got the chance to get a good taste right here in Fruita/Grand Junction.

Red rocks to the horizon at Cold Shivers Point

And what a taste it is! The Colorado National Monument is a stunning tribute to the prehistoric plateau. Red sediment rock eroded by water, wind and ice has created dramatic spires, domes and sheer-walled faces that tower several thousand feet and go back several hundreds of millions of years.

High desert flowers

I honestly can’t believe we missed seeing this when we came through Grand Junction last year. It’s so accessible and yet so drop-dead gorgeous. These are the red rocks of Colorado and they’re truly a hidden gem. You can drive the Rim Road, gawk at the views, hike the trails, and even explore the surrounding BLM areas. We did the drive, but missed doing any major hikes due to the heat (yeah, it’s been hot here), but it’s a stop we’d gladly come back and explore again. Gotta give thanks to Otto’s crazy dream!

Balanced Rock in shadow from the morning sun

Dramatic Independence Monument is one of the gems of the park

View from Book Cliffs

High desert pinyon-juniper

RV Slide Woes & A Total Change in Plans

“When life throws you a curve ball, learn to hit a good slam off it” Anonymous

"The Beast" goes into the shop

There are a bunch of classic quotes centered around the life and curveball theme, but they all got one thing in common.  Sometimes things just don’t work out as planned and so you gotta learn to play the game differently. 

That pretty much summed up what went through my mind after we’d spent 2 full days (that would be 48 hours for those counting) sitting at the RV repair shop only to hear the tech tell us “I’ve tried everything I can think of and I just can’t fix it”.

Bummer!

I can definitely recommend these guys

The thing is, I really believed him. This shop (Humphrey’s RV) in Grand Junction came highly recommended and our experience, apart from the fact that we couldn’t get our problem fixed, had been excellent. The customer service was friendly, the tech and mechanics up-front and honest. They let us stay overnight (with 30Amp) on-site and ended up only charging us for 4 hours of labor (!!) because they felt bad they couldn’t fix the issue. Honestly, I would recommend them wholeheartedly and had nothing (at all) to complain about.

Hanging out at Humphrey's RV

But that still left us with the situation of a broken slide. You know the story of the leak and bend from our “incident” in the mountains, but turns out our slide problem was much more serious than that (and *not* by the way related to the “incident”). Over the past year of RVing the whole slide seems to have somehow gone out of alignment and the back corner was “catching” the side of the RV everytime it came in , bending the RV wall and causing a “pop” on release (yikes!) 

Our free camping spot for the night at Humphrey's

We’d made a note of it about a month ago and thought it could be fixed by a simple alignment. But ohhhhh, nooooo…..the slide was fully aligned, fiddled, checked, taken apart, put together, even had a shimmy put under the back (to raise it 1/4″), but nothing worked. After spending several hours with Monaco on the phone and trying everything they could it looks like we might need a total slide re-build.

OK…not what I had planned…hmmm, what now?

My new "do"...it's been a while

The manufacturer of our coach is in Oregon and looks like that’s the logical next step. That means Idaho is out the window and Oregon in. After feeling rather depressed and decidedly “non-Zen” for an evening, we found some bright spots in the whole ordeal:

• Weather: The weather in Oregon seems fabulous right now. Idaho (at least the southern part which was our plan) is roasting. Ass in the sand and feet in the ocean…oh yeah, I can dig that!
• Hair: The 2 days we spent at the RV shop gave me time to get a haircut of which I was in dire need (my last professional cut being over a year ago). Hairdressers worldwide are rejoicing at my transformation.
• Time: Paul’s got a couple of weeks on his own next month (while I go to Denmark for a family reunion) which will be fruitfully spent getting repairs. Time-wise it’s kinda perfect.
• Money: We have an extended warranty which covers the slide, so it’s not like the financial concern is there.
• Why Not? We’re mobile and fancy free, so why not make the drive?

So all in all we’ve decided run with this curveball and take it where it goes. That means a TOTAL change of driving plans which we’ll be working on over the next 2 days. In any case, Oregon here we come….

RV Park Rating – KOA Grand Junction (Grand Junction, CO)

This was a quick 2-day stop-over for us as we entered Colorado from Utah before heading into the mountains.

Link to Park here: KOA Grand Junction

1. Site quality = 4/5
   Very decent site quality here. Grassy area at each location plus bench and fire-pit. The sites themselves are gravel and some (but not all) have shade. There’s 50 AMP hookups, good water pressure and free cable too. Only negative is that you’re fairly close to your neighbour.
2. Facilities = 4/5
   Bathrooms are neat and clean but nothing overly fancy. Good showers with nice pressure.
3. Amenities = 4/5
   Decent selection of amenities here. Pool (albeit a small one), laundry, free WiFi, playground for the kids plus cart rentals. There’s also cabin rentals for those without an RV.
4. Location = 3/5
   The KOA is located a few miles outside of Grand Junction in a suburban area. There’s shopping in town and access to several nature areas around Grand Junction, but not too much at the KOA itself.
5. Pet friendliness = 3/5
   They accept pets here, but have breed restrictions (no Pit Bulls, Rotties or Dobermans) so they get a ding for that. They do have a long, narrow fenced-in dog-run and access to a walking trail (The Old Spanish Trail) ~5 blocks away. They also offer poo-bags on site.

 Overall rating = 3.6

Summary: KOA’s are usually pretty consistent and this one was no exception. We wanted a reliable stop-over in Grand Junction and that’s exactly what I’d say this is. The sites are nice, the landscaping decent and the campground is clean and well-run with all the amenities you’d expect. It’s a city stop-over in a suburban area, so I wouldn’t stay here for the views or the nature access, but it’s a decent stopping site to explore the area or do some shopping. For nature-lovers I’d recommend heading to one of the 5 campsite sections of the James M. Robb Colorado River Park. That’s probably where we’ll stay next time we stop through.

View along sites. The KOA also offers small cabins (on right)

Typical site arrangement. Gravel with grassy space, bench and firepit

The pool and cart rentals

The fenced-off dog run in the back