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The Flat Tops: Marvine Trail to the Marvine Lakes

Flat Tops Wilderness | Saturday & Sunday, July 1-2, 2023

Now that Diane is finally finished with school and will hopefully be joining me on more of my weekend trips going forward, we planned to go backpacking into The Flat Tops together over this extended holiday weekend. Although we had originally set out to go on a loop through the Flat Tops Wilderness, for various reasons we ended up altering our plans and only doing an overnight trip up to the Marvine Lakes this time. In hindsight, that’s probably all we should have planned to do in the first place for our first backpacking trip back into the mountains. We left home early on Saturday morning, made our way over to Meeker and then followed the Flat Tops Trail along the White River to the Marvine Trailhead where we shouldered our packs and started hiking up the Marvine Trail.

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West Elk Loop: Last of the Curecanti Trails

Curecanti National Recreation Area | Saturday & Sunday, June 24-25, 2023

After hiking through the Dark Canyon of Anthracite Creek on Saturday morning I returned to Hotchkiss and grabbed a burger from 133 BRGR for an early lunch and then continued following the West Elk Loop Scenic Byway into the Curecanti National Recreation Area so that I could finish what I started last month and complete hiking all of the official trails within the park. I planned to start with the Neversink Trail, which is located just a few miles outside of Gunnison at the very eastern edge of the Recreation Area, and then I would work my way back west toward home. Since none of the three trails I had left to hike were very long, I also explored a couple of the backroads along the way that headed up toward the edge of the West Elk Wilderness in the Gunnison National Forest.

Dark Canyon Trail to the Devils Stairway

Raggeds Wilderness | Friday & Saturday, June 23-24, 2023

With the desert trails starting to heat up, it’s now time for me to start chasing cooler temperatures in the mountains after having a great season on the local rivers this spring. While there is still a lot of snow up in the high country from our big winter, I decided to start out with some lower elevation hikes this weekend. Since Colorado Highway 133 had finally reopened up earlier in the week I planned to spend Saturday morning hiking through the Dark Canyon of Anthracite Creek into the heart of the Raggeds Wilderness. I left from work on Friday afternoon, made a quick stop for gas in Delta and then followed the North Fork of the Gunnison River until I reached the Kebler Pass Road just below the Paonia Reservoir.

Triangle Mesa from Cactus Park

Dominguez Canyon Wilderness | Sunday, June 18, 2023

After spending Saturday floating through The Chute of Muddy Creek, I was originally planning to spend Sunday morning hiking in the Raggeds Wilderness of the Elk Mountains. However, once I realized that Colorado Highway 133 was still closed before Somerset and didn’t feel like driving the long way around, I cancelled those plans. Instead, I decided to stay closer to home and went for a morning hike to the summit of Triangle Mesa in the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness.

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Cordova Canyon Ranch in Arches National Park

Monday, June 12, 2023

After spending the weekend along the Dolores River near Gateway, I had taken this Monday off from work so I could return to Arches National Park for another short hike into Cordova Canyon. This time I wouldn’t be hiking alone and would be joining up with the Cordova family for whom the canyon is named. Last spring I was contacted by Gabe Cordova after he had come across my recent Trip Report from Salt Wash and Cordova Canyon while researching and planning a trip for him and his family to come out and visit his great-grandparents old homestead in the canyon. After corresponding back and forth with the details, he invited me to join them on their hike and I jumped at the opportunity since I rarely ever get the chance to visit these historic places with people who actually have a connection to them and I thought it would be nice to hear some of the family history along the way.

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Category: Hiking

The Flat Tops: Marvine Trail to the Marvine Lakes

West Elk Loop: Last of the Curecanti Trails

Dark Canyon Trail to the Devils Stairway

Triangle Mesa from Cactus Park

Cordova Canyon Ranch in Arches National Park