Randy Langstraat

Fruita Dugway: Kodels Canyon to the Black Ridge Trail

Heart of the World | Wednesday, November 19, 2025

I was hoping to get out hiking at least once between storm systems this week and finally made a last minute decision to head out to hike up the Fruita Dugway right after work today. Although this may not be an ‘official’ trail within the Colorado National Monument, I still wanted to include it in my Heart of the World project because not only is it a historic route through the area, it’s also probably my favorite hike in all of the Monument. I started the hike from the Kodels Canyon Trailhead, climbed up to the junction with the Black Ridge Trail and then returned mostly the same way. Early on the hike was a bit hot and humid while I was in the sun, but it got a bit chilly when the clouds started to block out the sun. Here are a few photos from my evening hike up and down the Fruita Dugway.

The Aurora Borealis from Grand View

Colorado National Monument | Tuesday, November 11, 2025

After returning home from Bryce Canyon National Park earlier in the afternoon I went outside to warm up and relax in our hot tub after dark when I looked up and noticed that the sky was looking a bit reddish with a little green coloring just above the horizon. I remembered reading something online earlier in the day about there being a chance to see the Northern Lights in Colorado this evening, but we are bombarded by so many of those stories these days that turn out to be false, I thought nothing of it. However, now that I could actually see the colors from my backyard with my naked eyes I knew that they would probably look pretty good with a camera, so I cut my soak short, got dressed, grabbed my camera and headed up into the Colorado National Monument. It turned out to be a great decision because the colors of the Aurora Borealis were spectacularly visible from the Heart of the World this evening! I initially stopped at the Independence Monument Viewpoint, but didn’t really like the angle from there, so I continued on to Grand View and had the place to myself for a while as I tried different settings and compositions.

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Return to Bryce Canyon National Park & Red Canyon

Edges of the Paunsaugunt Plateau | Saturday – Tuesday, November 8-11, 2025

Earlier in the year, well before she even knew she had a meningioma and would need brain surgery in October, Diane told me that she wanted to go to Bryce Canyon National Park sometime this year because she had never been there before and it was the only National Park in Utah that she hadn’t been to yet, so I planned a trip for us to visit the park over the Veterans Day holiday and weekend in early November. Of course, after her surgery in early October and the rough recovery afterwards, I wasn’t sure if we were still going to be able to go on this trip, but as the dates got closer and she continued to slowly get better every day and was no longer under any restrictions, we decided to still go, even if she would only able to visit the overlooks from the rim. Although I had initially planned to go on some longer hikes when I started making plans for this trip earlier in the year, I had no problems toning down those plans so we could experience the park together now. I thought this extended weekend might be a nice getaway for Diane who has spend most of the last month either in the hospital or at home.

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Old Gordon Trail: Historic Toll Road to Glade Park

Heart of the World | Thursday, November 6, 2025

As it’s getting closer to the end of the year and I’m getting very close to completing all of the trails for my Heart of the World project in the Colorado National Monument, I thought today would be a good day to hike the Old Gordon Trail right after work. While this has never really been one of my favorite trails in the Monument, which is probably why I haven’t hiked the entire trail since 2011, that’s part of the reason I started this project and I was a little interested in seeing the trail again with fresh eyes since it’s been so long. After work I headed over to the Devils Kitchen Trailhead and started hiking up the Old Gordon Trail which follows the route of a historic toll road built by John Gordon in the 1880’s that was used to move stock and timber between Glade Park and the Grand Valley. The temperature out this afternoon was mostly comfortable and nice, but it was a bit breezy at times which made it feel cold- but not quite cold enough for me to want to put on a jacket. The round-trip hike was 7.5 miles with about 1700 feet of elevation gain which I finished up in just about three hours.

Surrounding Sids Mountain in the San Rafael Swell

Sids Mountain Wilderness | Friday – Sunday, October 31 – November 2, 2025

Although I was originally hoping to be out hiking in the Canyons of the Escalante with Jared for a long weekend at this time, Diane’s recovery is progressing slowly and I didn’t want to leave her home for an extended period of time just yet, so I figured I would just save the PTO for another time and delay the trip until sometime next year. However, I still wanted to get out hiking a little deeper into the backcountry this weekend and Diane is doing well enough that we were comfortable with her staying home for the weekend- she would be having a few friends stop by to visit her throughout the weekend- so I thought it would be nice to head over to the San Rafael Swell to get in some hiking and exploring around Sids Mountain. It’s been just over a year since my last visit to the Swell and I was looking forward to the return!

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Author: Randy Langstraat

Fruita Dugway: Kodels Canyon to the Black Ridge Trail

The Aurora Borealis from Grand View

Return to Bryce Canyon National Park & Red Canyon

Old Gordon Trail: Historic Toll Road to Glade Park

Surrounding Sids Mountain in the San Rafael Swell