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Driver dies in National Monument plunge

Paul Shockley
Grand Junction correspondent
Aspen, CO Colorado

GRAND JUNCTION ” A woman died after her car careened hundreds of feet off a cliff in Colorado National Monument early Tuesday evening.

The car went off Rim Rock Drive into Red Canyon, located about a half-mile west of Cold Shivers Point.

The woman’s identity wasn’t immediately known. A Mesa County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue rope team rappelled into the area to recover her body.



Monument Park Ranger Phil Akers said the car was white, possibly a Subaru, with Colorado license plates.

Akers said a Colorado Department of Transportation worker called in the accident at 5:45 p.m.




The accident appeared to involve the white car only.

“There are no visible skid marks on the road,” Akers said.

There’s also no guardrail along the stretch of road.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Heather Benjamin said an investigation will be handled by Monument rangers and Colorado State Patrol.

Rim Rock Drive is a twisting road that climbs through Colorado National Monument, an area of spectacular canyons and rock spires stretching from Grand Junction to near Fruita in far western Colorado.