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Category: Highpointing

The High Plateaus of Utah: Southern TrekThe High Plateaus of Utah: Southern Trek

The High Plateaus of Utah: Southern Trek

The Plateau Provence: Peaks & Plateaus of the Colorado Plateau, Part IV
Friday – Sunday, August 30 – September 1, 2024

After spending Friday morning visiting a number of rock art sites along the Old Trappers’ Trail in the Book Cliffs, I left the canyon shortly before noon and continued on to Ray’s in Green River where I stopped and had a burger for lunch. Afterwards, I topped off my gas tank and headed west across the San Rafael Swell into the High Plateaus of Utah for the rest of the weekend. After my recent Northern Trek into the the High Plateaus earlier this summer, I’ve been looking forward to getting back out and going on a loop through the southern plateaus including the Table Cliff, Paunsaugunt, and Markagunt, plus making a return to the Sevier Plateau so I could visit a new peak along the way. Now after this weekend I have visited the highpoint of all the major plateaus on the Colorado Plateau in Utah except for the Kaiparowits Plateau, which is next on my list!

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East Brush Creek: Ironedge Trail & Mystic Island LakeEast Brush Creek: Ironedge Trail & Mystic Island Lake

East Brush Creek: Ironedge Trail & Mystic Island Lake

Holy Cross Wilderness | Friday & Saturday, August 16-17, 2024

Aside from my weekend visit to the Red Table Mountain late last summer, I haven’t spent much time exploring the area at the very northern end of the Sawatch Range, so I decided to stick around after the GIS Colorado Summer Meetup to hike a couple of trails on the west side of the Holy Cross Wilderness, hoping they would be a little less popular than those found on the east side. After the GIS presentations at Sylvan Lake were completed early on Friday afternoon, I drove over Hardscrabble Mountain into Eagle for fuel and snacks and then headed up East Brush Creek and the Hat Creek Road to the Peter Estin Hut, which is one of the popular 10th Mountain Division Huts. From the parking area near the hut I hiked over to the Ironedge Trail and followed it to the ridgeline that makes up the boundary of the Holy Cross Wilderness and then continued up to the Charles Benchmark.

CONTINUE READINGEast Brush Creek: Ironedge Trail & Mystic Island Lake
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Chepeta Lake: Eccentric Benchmark & Daggett PeakChepeta Lake: Eccentric Benchmark & Daggett Peak

Chepeta Lake: Eccentric Benchmark & Daggett Peak

Headwaters of the Whiterocks River | Friday – Sunday, August 9-11, 2024

After last week’s backpacking trip to the Red Castle Lakes in the High Uintas Wilderness I didn’t have any plans on returning to the Uinta Mountains anytime soon. However, after keeping an eye on the weather forecast around Colorado for the upcoming weekend, I couldn’t find a mountain range within a couple hundred miles of home that didn’t show stormy weather all day and night. It was going to be a wet and stormy weekend in the mountains of Colorado! I was originally hoping to spend the weekend hiking along the Continental Divide in the San Juan Mountains, but on Friday afternoon I made a last-minute decision to head up to the eastern end of the Uinta Mountains with hopes that I would be able to get some hiking in since the weather forecast for this area looked like the best around with only the typical afternoon storms. So for the second time in as many weeks I left from work and drove over Douglas Pass on my way to the Uinta Mountains. After a quick stop for fuel in Vernal I headed out across the Uinta Basin and then followed the Whiterocks River up to it’s headwaters at Chepeta Lake.

CONTINUE READINGChepeta Lake: Eccentric Benchmark & Daggett Peak
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The High Plateaus of Utah: Northern TrekThe High Plateaus of Utah: Northern Trek

The High Plateaus of Utah: Northern Trek

The Plateau Provence: Peaks & Plateaus of the Colorado Plateau, Part III
Friday – Sunday, July 19-21, 2024

After spending two weekends exploring the High Plateaus of Utah last summer, I have been looking forward to getting back out into that high country again this year and thought this weekend would be a good time to do so. This time I decided to head up into the northern region of the High Plateaus and planned to start at the edge of the Tavaputs Plateau before making my way westward to the Gunnison Plateau (San Pitch Mountains) while driving some of the backroads in the area and visiting a couple new highpoints along the way. My timing for this trip couldn’t have been much better since the weather forecast was predicting very wet and stormy weather throughout the mountains of Colorado the entire weekend, while it seemed that Central Utah was going to be staying mostly dry, aside from the typical afternoon thunderstorms. Just like last year, I had a great time exploring this region and am hoping to get down to the Southern Plateaus later in the summer.

CONTINUE READINGThe High Plateaus of Utah: Northern Trek
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Mountains of Minerals: Velocity & Richmond BasinsMountains of Minerals: Velocity & Richmond Basins

Mountains of Minerals: Velocity & Richmond Basins

San Juan Triangle | Friday – Sunday, July 12-14, 2024

After spending Thursday on the Colorado River in Westwater Canyon, I returned to work on Friday and then headed out afterwards to spend the weekend hiking in the San Juan Mountains between Silverton and Ouray. After making my way over Red Mountain Pass on the Million Dollar Highway to Silverton, I followed Cement Creek up into Velocity Basin and went for an evening hike along the shore of the little lake in the basin before finding a nearby campsite and getting to bed not long after sunset. Although hot, dry air has dominated the region for the past couple of weeks, afternoon storms were predicted to make a return this weekend, so I would have to make sure my hikes were planned accordingly by getting early starts.

CONTINUE READINGMountains of Minerals: Velocity & Richmond Basins
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