Western Slope, I See You: Mysterious Chapel, Storm King And Stina’s Cat

· Jul. 10, 2019, 2:04 pm

Western Slope I See You 190710 — I finally found the rough dirt road that leads to this skeleton of a weather-beaten chapel off I-70, just outside Palisade. After months of wondering, I've now heard it's a paintball range. So yes, sometimes the mystery is tastier than the truth.

The territory I cover, Colorado's Western Slope, is a big slice of the map. It's also my favorite expanse of the state. While Grand Junction is my cozy home base, I'm out exploring (and reporting) whenever I can.

Not all of that work finds its way to the website, which is why I like to use this space to show where I've been and what I've been up to. And between posts here, you can keep up with my Western Slope adventures on Instagram and on Twitter.

The interior of this little husk of a chapel features something truly special: nightmares.

Grand Junction's hardware stores are full of surprises.

I wonder how many times this came up at the Grand Junction DMV before they decided to put up this message.

The same note was taped to every single fire vehicle parked near the Storm King Mountain Memorial Trail this past weekend. It was the 25th anniversary of the deaths of 14 wildland firefighters, and the trail was full of friends and family, trekking to the spots where their loved ones died July 6, 1994.

Wildland firefighters pilgrimage to this trail, just outside of Glenwood Springs, and leave their mark on the little box at the trailhead containing the guest book. The firefighting community is so tight-knit that when a firefighter dies on the job, it ripples across the country.

In this installment of "Me Trying To Not Kill Plants," success — for now.

OK, I know everyone probably says this about their cat, but I'm pretty sure mine is model.

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