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Category: Hiking

Chasing Fall Colors

Fall Colors 2012
Saturday & Sunday, September 15-16, 2012

On Saturday morning Amanda and I got in the Jeep and drove south to the San Juan Mountains again. This weekend I was hoping to find some early fall color and had heard a few reports that there were already some nice colors around Red Mountain Pass and Silverton. Those reports would turn out to be pretty accurate!

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Once in a Blue Moon | The Arizona Strip

Stud Horse Point, Water in The Wave & The North Rim of the Grand Canyon
Labor Day Weekend | Friday – Monday, August 31 – September 3, 2012

The phrase ‘once in a blue moon’ has long been used to describe rare or absurd happenings, which is definitely how I would classify this extended weekend trip. As an added bonus, this weekend was also host to a Blue Moon on Friday night, which won’t happen again until 2015. A few months ago I scored another set of permits to Coyote Buttes North, and after asking Amanda if she wanted to go again (she declined since she knew she would probably be working that weekend), I asked Jared if he would like to come along for the weekend. He was up for the adventure, so we planned the weekend around our trip to The Wave.

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Ruby – Horsethief Canyons

Friday – Sunday, August 24-26, 2012

After work on Friday I met Jackson at the Westwater exit on I-70, after the slower than usual drive through two construction zones, so that we could drop his car off at the Westwater takeout along the Colorado River. Our plan this weekend was to float through the Ruby – Horsethief Canyons section of the Colorado River from Loma to Westwater. This was going to be my very first overnight river trip and I had been looking forward to it for a while. Thanks to all my new backpacking gear bought earlier this year, packing the inflatable kayak was much easier, even though I decided to bring along a bigger tent this trip. This section of the Colorado is about 25 miles in length and is pretty mild, but it flows through some beautiful sandstone canyons. Once Jackson’s car was parked in the Westwater parking lot we took my Jeep back to the Loma boat ramp and got our inflatable kayaks ready for the trip. As I suspected, we had the launch site to ourselves on a Friday evening at about 5:30pm.

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Taylor Lake to Hancock Lake

Friday – Sunday, August 17-19, 2012

I went to work on Friday with all my camping gear loaded in my Jeep, but no plans on where to go. I just knew I wanted to get up in the mountains for two nights, but not to the San Juan’s again. When I finally left work, I decided to make my way towards Aspen since I haven’t been that way for a while. As I was driving to Aspen I tried to think of any lakes that I could camp by to hopefully catch a good sunrise, and the only one I could think of was Taylor Lake, so that’s where I headed.

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Clear Lake & Ice Lake Basin

Friday – Sunday, August 10-12, 2012

I had really wanted to go backpacking in the San Juan Mountains this weekend, but was unable to find anyone that was able to go with me. Since this would only be my third backpacking trip (first time in the mountains), I was a little hesitant to go by myself, but a few days before the weekend had finally arrived I decided that I would take a solo trip up to Ice Lake Basin. I figured that it was a popular area and that I probably wouldn’t be the only one camping up there anyway.

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