Wednesday, October 8, 2008
On Wednesday, I decided to skip the official trail rides and head out to explore an area with Ryan (DrMoab) that is not as well known as a lot of the other trails in the Moab area. We were headed for the Dolores Triangle. This area is located out past the Dewey Bridge on the East side of the Colorado River and North of the Dolores River. The only way to access this area from Moab is to cross the Dolores River, which is not usually possible in the Spring. It was even pretty deep when we crossed it on this day. This area is also accessible from the Grand Junction area without the need to cross the river, which I can also use as an alternate route into Moab in the future.
Anyways, we got a later start and headed North from Moab on Highway 128 to the Dewey Bridge. Before heading over to the Dolores Triangle there was another trail I wanted to check out first, called Pole Canyon Rim. This trail follows some power lines to a nice overlook over the Richardson Amphitheater and Colorado River.
Ryan following me up the trail
Much of the trail was broken slickrock and bumpy
View over the Colorado River from the first overlook
Headed to the second overlook on a much smoother section of trail
View from the second overlook
Headed back down around Pole Canyon looking across towards Dome Plateau
After making is back down to Entrada Bluffs Road, we headed over to the Dolores River crossing. I walked across part of the river to see how deep it was before crossing. It was actually just about as deep of water as my Jeep can cross without issues.
This is the crossing. The deepest part is on the other side.
Just about at the deepest part of the crossing
This road follows along the Dolores River for a little ways
We passed this old cabin along the way
Once on the Dolores Triangle, we decided to head up onto Hotel Mesa to an overlook to see if we could see the confluence of the Dolores River and Colorado River.
The road onto Hotel Mesa was not a very well traveled two-track and a pretty wide open area
The good news was that once we reached the overlook, we had a great view of the confluence
We also had a good view down into Lake Bottom, where we crossed the Dolores
After leaving the overlook, it was starting to get late, so we decided to head back. Of course, we had to cross the Dolores again.
Ryan crossing the river
It was a great day of exploring a new area, but we barely made a dent in the area. I am hoping to spend a lot more time exploring this area in the future, as there are a number of roads and trails in this area.