U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo,. hiked through 10,000 years of human history Wednesday morning in a walk up Devils Canyon, to the site of a development that failed in the wake of the oil shale bust and then was revived as a destination of a different sort.

Gardner snapped photos, examined interpretive signs and studied the red-rock backdrop of the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area with representatives of Fruita, the Bureau of Land Management and the Colorado Canyons Association.

The Devils Canyon Trail weaves up the Uncompahgre uplift, passing through what remains of the subdivision, at which some golf-course tee boxes, utilities and a road to the most expensive lot still remain.

Money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund was used to acquire the land for public use after the 1982 bust, said Katie Stevens, BLM Grand Junction Field Office manager.

Read more at The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.