Wide view over Colorado National Monument showing steep red sandstone cliffs, a lone freestanding rock spire in the center, and the green valley of Columbus Canyon beyond. Bright afternoon light sharpens the layered canyon walls under a clear blue sky with distant clouds.

Colorado National Monument - Cold Shivers Point

Grand Junction, CO

Cold Shivers Point offers a vertigo-inducing overlook perched at the edge of a 500-foot sheer drop into Columbus Canyon within Colorado National Monument. The point is reached via a short spur off the Liberty Cap Trail. It provides one of the most dramatic straight-down canyon perspectives in the monument.

Photography Guide

Best Time: afternoon
Crowds: Quiet
Shot Types: widelandscapeportrait
Best Seasons: springsummerfall

Practical Tips

Access from the Liberty Cap trailhead on the east side of the monument. The trail is approximately 7 miles round trip. Exercise extreme caution at the unfenced point.

Is it a good day to go?

7-day outlook

Mild, dry days with light winds are the most comfortable for a visit.

Forecast by Open-Meteo. Verdicts weigh the forecast against the conditions that suit this spot.

Author's Comments

The name is honest. You feel it before you reach the edge, that small involuntary tightening that comes from knowing the ground ends and does not slope but simply stops. Five hundred feet of red rock falls away into Columbus Canyon and there is no railing, no suggestion of one, nothing between you and the long view down except your own willingness to walk close. I came in late afternoon in October, which is when this side of the monument earns its keep. The west-facing walls across the canyon hold light long after the rim itself has gone into shadow, and the contrast is what makes the photograph - the cool blue of the near rock against the burning orange of the far wall. Straight-down compositions are the obvious move and they work, but I found myself more interested in the angle that catches both the drop and the canyon mouth opening toward the valley beyond. There is depth there that a purely vertical frame cannot hold. The point is reached by a spur off the Liberty Cap Trail and most people do not make the full walk. That is part of why it stays quiet. Bring water. Bring a wide lens and a longer one both. And when you reach the edge, sit down before you look. The photograph will still be there in a minute, and the canyon is patient in a way that rewards a slower approach than the name might suggest.

Gallery

A gnarled dead tree clings to the rocky canyon rim at Cold Shivers Point, looking out over sheer cliffs and layered red-rock spires dropping into Columbus Canyon. Strong afternoon light casts deep shadows across the stone and a wide, open sky. Photo: Andrew Kearns / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0

Bright afternoon sun floods a vast red-rock canyon, with steep shadowed walls dropping away below a rim lined by rust-colored cliffs and sparse desert vegetation. A metal railing at the right edge emphasizes the dizzying overlook across Columbus Canyon beneath a clear blue sky. Photo: Cerahammond / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Bright afternoon sun flares over a vast red rock canyon, with a sheer cliff rim cutting across the frame and dark, shadowed depths dropping far below. Distant mesas and layered rock walls stretch under a clear blue sky, emphasizing the vertigo-inducing overlook. Photo: Cerahammond / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

A wide overlook from the red rock rim looks out over Columbus Canyon and the broad desert valley beyond, with juniper shrubs and a narrow dirt path in the foreground. Afternoon light under a clear blue sky highlights the sheer drop and distant layered mesas on the horizon. Photo: Cerahammond / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

A brown National Park Service sign for Colorado National Monument stands in the foreground, backed by sunlit red sandstone cliffs and scrubby desert slopes under a clear blue sky. The late-afternoon light brings out the layered rock textures and warm canyon colors. Photo: Daniel Schwen / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

A tan metal overlook railing curves in the foreground above dense green shrubs, opening to a dramatic view of red rock cliffs and a broad valley beyond. Dark storm clouds hang over the distant mountains, softening the afternoon light across Colorado National Monument. Photo: Lovemedead / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Sunlit red rock cliffs and ledges drop into a deep, shadowed canyon, with scrubby evergreens clinging to the rim on the left. A vast blue sky dominates the frame, emphasizing the height and open, vertigo-inducing view. Photo: Cerahammond / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

A sweeping view over red sandstone cliffs and deep canyons in Colorado National Monument, with a tall freestanding rock formation centered in the foreground. Dark storm clouds hang overhead while a faint rainbow arcs in the distance above the hazy valley. Photo: Gordon Leggett / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Steep red-rock canyon walls drop away into a narrow, brushy ravine at Colorado National Monument, with the overlook’s rocky edge and sparse desert grasses in the foreground. Pale sky and hazy distant mountains stretch across the horizon, emphasizing the sheer depth of the view. Photo: NPS Photo / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

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