Press "Enter" to skip to content

Month: October 2015

McDonald Creek

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Our original plan for today was to visit my geocache on Winter Camp Ridge just outside of Arches National Park and then explore a little more of Lost Spring Canyon. We left home later in the morning and made our way into Utah to the Yellow Cat Road, however we were quickly stopped by slippery mud, quicksand and large cutbanks at a crossing of Pinto Wash from the recent heavy rain. Without a good place to winch from in the area, we decided it was best to turn around and come back another time after the area had more time to dry out. It was time to find something else to do.

6 Comments

No Thoroughfare Canyon Loop

Saturday, October 24, 2015

This morning I went on a new hike in the Colorado National Monument with Jackson and Chris from work. Our plan was to create a loop that combined parts of the No Thoroughfare Canyon Trail and the Old Gordon Trail while visiting a little-known arch along the way. We would connect the two trails up by hiking up a short side-canyon and then scrambling up a steep gully behind the arch to the rim of the canyon. This route ended up creating a nice seven mile loop through the backcountry and visited Windowpane Arch (No Thoroughfare Window) and the remains of an old cabin. It was a great morning for a hike, minus the excessive humidity we had to deal with.

2 Comments

Rim Rock Drive

Sunday, October 18, 2015

For most of the day we had an overcast sky with the occasional light rain shower here in the Grand Valley, but as it got later in the afternoon the clouds started to break up a bit and the chances of a nice sunset were looking good. I decided to head out with my camera and take a drive through the Colorado National Monument on Rim Rock Drive so I could take a few photos from the overlooks until sunset. The late afternoon light breaking through the clouds turned out to be pretty nice at times. When I reached the Book Cliffs View near the Visitor’s Center and campground I decided to finally climb to the summit of Saddlehorn (5,770) nearby. It was a short and easy climb, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and am happy that I can finally cross it off my list. Here are a few photos from my evening along Rim Rock Drive.

2 Comments

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Saturday, October 17, 2015

It’s been a few years since I had been to many of the main overlooks along the South Rim in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and I thought it was time to finally get back for another visit. Diane and I left home early enough on Saturday morning so that we were able to make it to the Cedar Point overlook about a half hour before the sun came up. I spent that time photographing The Painted Wall and the deep canyon below us until shortly after the sunrise. Once the sun was up we drove the rest of the way to the end of the road and hiked out to Warner Point since I had never been out there before. Clouds started rolling in from the west as we hiked back to the trailhead as a storm front moved into the area that was supposed to bring us some rain for the next couple of days. After our hike, we drove back out of the park and stopped at a couple of the other viewpoints along the way. Before leaving we drove down the East Portal Road to the Crystal Dam on the Gunnison River and were pleasantly surprised to find a couple nice patches of fall colors along the way. It’s always nice to spend a few hours along the rim of The Black Canyon.

2 Comments