25 Road BLM in Grand Junction, CO: October 19 - 24, 2025

 While visiting our daughter in Grand Junction, Colorado we decided to camp on some nearby BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land. In addition to camping, this area is also used for OHV (off highway vehicle riding) and target shooting. At the end of 25 Road is a trailhead for the Tellerico Trail. We camped at a spot about 2 miles from the trailhead. About a quarter mile past our camping spot the road gets rougher. The day after we arrived a road grader worked on the road but turned around at the spot where the road gets tougher. We were surprised to even see work being done since this was in the midst of the government shut down. Here is the camper at the spot we picked.

The spot we picked had plenty of broken glass and spent ammunition shells. Nearby other trash could be found including in the ravine about 50 feet away. Supposedly BLM areas like this were swamped during the CoViD epidemic and a lot of trash was left behind. The spent ammunition and clay pigeon fragments indicated target shooting and we believe the shooting of glass containers led to the proliferation of broken glass.

On my bike rides I would often ride to or almost to the Tellerico Trailhead. I walked the trail a little ways until it seemed to coincide with a wash on a couple of occasions. I'm assuming it was the trail but since there were no trail markings I can't be sure it was the actual trail. The trail is in the book cliff mountains which are visible from  our daughter's house but being at the very base of the mountains gave us a new perspective. Here are a few photos that I took from where I stopped on the trail. The first one is looking back towards Grand Junction.

Since we weren't staying long we didn't need to do strict water conservation but I took the opportunity to put up our outdoor shower that uses the recycled water station I built earlier for hand washing. It was a successful debut although I need to make the hose from the direct water heater to the shower tent longer. Also, on the minimum heat setting the water was too hot for my liking but I don't know I'll be able to do much about that. The Camplux water heater is only rated for elevation up to 2000 feet but that didn't seem to be a limitation as we were probably around 5500 feet above sea level. Here are a few photos of the outdoor shower station.

On departure morning, I did my workout video routine looking towards the Book Cliffs with low cloud cover that was obscuring some of the peaks. I put some of the nearby trash to good use. I picked up some plywood scraps and used them to set the computer and chair on the ground so those items weren't directly sitting in the dirt.

Since this BLM land is basically in the desert, it is dusty and can get muddy. We got to experience both because it did rain a couple of nights at the end of our stay. The rain was light so it didn't cause any issues when we left but the road can be slippery when it gets wet. The dust and mud were more of a nuisance to us than the broken glass and spent shells. We may try some other camping in the area before we move on for the winter but we haven't made any definitive plans yet.