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Tag: wildlife

Black Friday in Chaco CanyonBlack Friday in Chaco Canyon

Black Friday in Chaco Canyon

Black Friday | Friday, November 25, 2016

After a great day exploring the Bisti Badlands, Diane and I would be spending Black Friday checking out the massive ruins at the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. It’s been over 5 years since my last visit to Chaco Canyon and I was looking forward to returning. Diane had never been here before and she had a great time seeing all of the impressive ruins for the very first time. Besides visiting all of the easy-to-access ruins along the loop road, we would also hike the Pueblo Alto Trail which is one of the few trails I had not hiked in the park yet. We spent all day in the park and had a really great time!

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Top of the Rocky Mountains: Mount ElbertTop of the Rocky Mountains

Top of the Rocky Mountains: Mount Elbert

Mount Elbert & Missouri Mountain
Friday – Sunday, September 16-18, 2016

After only hiking one new fourteener this year, I knew I had to get out this weekend to at least try to get another one or two in before snow started sticking around in the high country. It’s been a couple of years since the last time I visited the Sawatch Range, so I thought it would be a good idea to head that way for a change. Then I figured that I might as well go for Mount Elbert (14,433), the highest peak in Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. It’s second only to Mount Whitney (14,508) in the contiguous United States.

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Tellerico Trail to Corcoran PointTellerico Trail to Corcoran Point

Tellerico Trail to Corcoran Point

Labor Day | Monday, September 5, 2016

Since we ended up cutting our backpacking trip in the Uncompahgre Wilderness short by a day, I was free to go on an evening hike on the Tellerico Trail in the Book Cliffs for the Labor Day holiday. This trail has long been on my to-do list of local hikes and it was finally time to get out and do it. I figured that since the trail came very near to Corcoran Point (7,352) at the top, it would make a good destination to turn around at. Part of the reason I chose this trail is because it’s close to home, but I also hoped that since it’s not too popular I would’t run into anyone else on this busy three-day weekend. That was a good call since I didn’t see another person the entire evening. This trail definitely does not see much traffic, and because of that there are many sections of the trail that have been washed out a bit. There were certainly a few sections that I needed to be extra careful on.

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Rabbit Valley ExploringRabbit Valley Exploring

Rabbit Valley Exploring

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

I drove out to Rabbit Valley near the Utah state line after work this evening to spend a few hours exploring some of the area. I ended up driving a few backroads in the area I had not been on before and visiting a couple of overlooks and then I hiked down into Ruby Canyon from the rim on an old cattle trail. I also visited a few small petroglyphs and pictographs that were found in a shallow alcove that contained some lithic scatter nearby. It was a nice way to spend the evening and I didn’t see another person until I was back near I-70.

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Ruby – HorsethiefRuby - Horsethief

Ruby – Horsethief

Friday – Sunday, August 19-21, 2016

After spending a few days on the San Juan River for the past few years it was beginning to look like I wouldn’t be getting on the river at all this year after some possible plans had fallen through. I really wanted to get at least one river trip in this year, so a couple of month ago Jackson and I planned a weekend trip with our friend Chris on the Colorado River through Ruby and Horsethief Canyons since it’s a great float and very close to home.

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