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This foot trail is part of the old stock trail over which sheep and cattle once were driven down to the Grand Valley from Glade Park and Piñon Mesa. The road then winds upward through a series of switchbacks cut into the Kayenta Formation to Distant View and then to a parking spot at the relatively new Fruita Canyon View, which affords a splendid view of Fruita Canyon. [Figure 45] was taken from a point about a tenth of a mile to the east. On the right are housing facilities for Monument personnel.
CAMPGROUND AND PICNIC AREA
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At the top of the hill just beyond the head of Fruita Canyon, two roads turn left; the first makes several loops through the modern campground and picnic area then returns to Rim Rock Drive; the second enters a large parking lot at the Visitor Center. Let us take the first road, then turn sharp to the left again just west of the Saddlehorn and explore the camp and picnic areas, which are on a gently sloping mesa of the Kayenta Formation dotted with piñon and juniper trees and bushes of many kinds. The Saddlehorn is an erosional remnant of the Entrada Sandstone. (See [fig. 50].) The deluxe campground has both drive-through and back-in campsites, modern restrooms, tables, piped water, and grills. Two of the drive-through sites on the northernmost loop are shown in [figure 46].
CAMPSITES AT NORTH END OF CAMPGROUND, Grand Valley and Book Cliffs beyond. (Fig. 46)
A view of the picnic area and parking lot is shown in [figure 47]. During the summer, evening slide talks are given by rangers at a small amphitheater just north of the Saddlehorn and to the left of the view shown in [figure 47].
WINDOW ROCK
An interesting quarter-of-a-mile self-guiding Window Rock Nature Trail leads from the northeast corner of the campground to Window Rock and loops back past Book Cliffs View, which contains a table beneath a ramada. Window Rock Trail connects with the scenic Canyon Rim Trail, which leads southwestward to the Visitor Center. Views of Window Rock and Monument Canyon from Canyon Rim Trail are shown in figures [48] and [49].