Saturday, January 10, 2015
This morning Diane and I went on a nice loop hike on the Palisade Rim Trail at the base of the Grand Mesa in the Grand Valley. It’s been about four years since I have been on this trail and I have wanted to get back and hike it again with Diane, especially since the last time I was here the trail has been improved and rerouted. It was mostly cloudy and overcast this morning with temperatures hovering around freezing, but there were some nice textures in the clouds and some light did manage to sneak through. All in all, it was a nice short hike close to home.
Momentary light on the cliffs above the trail.
Since the main climb to the top of the Palisade Rim is north-facing, there were some patches of snow we had to cross. The clouds above were pretty cool this morning, too.
Spotlight on the Little Book Cliffs and a view across the Grand Valley.
Looking up the Colorado River towards Cameo.
Spotlight on Mount Lincoln.
I-70 at the base of the Little Book Cliffs.
Following the improved trail.
More snow on the trail.
We made sure to stop and visit the Ute Petroglyphs while we were up here.
Completing the loop and hiking back down along the rim.
Since this trail has been rerouted in the past few years and I haven’t found much information about it online since then, I have included the map below of my track on the new route. You can also download a KML file of my track from the map. This is just the lower loop as there is also an upper loop that we didn’t hike this time.
Oh, a great view for a picture of the Amtrak that runs thru in the Morning.