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Category: Touring

Grand Mesa Fall ColorsGrand Mesa Fall Colors

Grand Mesa Fall Colors

Autumnal Equinox | Fall Colors 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014

After getting home from the San Juan Mountains on Sunday, I turned my attention to photographing local fall colors this week. I did a little research online and found that the colors up on the Grand Mesa were looking pretty good right now, so I decided to head up there after work. I spent much of the evening photographing the colors between Spruce Point, Mesa Lakes and Skyway Point since they were looking pretty good in this area. The clearing clouds from the weekend storms created dynamic lighting conditions and a beautiful magenta sunset. It was a nice way to spend the evening. While I didn’t plan it this way, it just so happens that today was also the autumnal equinox, the official beginning of the fall season, so I guess it’s fitting that I was out photographing fall colors today. Before I get to the photos, I’d also like to point out that this is the 600th trip report posted on this blog!

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A Drive Around the San Juan’sA Drive Around the San Juan's

A Drive Around the San Juan’s

Labor Day Weekend | Sunday & Monday, August 31 – September 1, 2014

After our overnight backpacking trip into Wetterhorn Basin we decided to stick around the San Juan Mountains for one more day and drive a few of the high mountain passes and trails around Silverton. After lunch in Ouray, we drove over Red Mountain Pass and found a campsite up in Mineral Basin. While I was pretty sure we’d be able to find one of our usual campsites in this area open, I was surprised to find that there was no one else around considering it was Labor Day weekend. We had the area to ourselves for the night. We spent a few hours resting in camp before driving up to a few passes in the late afternoon to catch the sunset. The fast-moving clouds that had been around all day made for another spectacular sunset!

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Mount Whitney: Top of the Contiguous USAMount Whitney

Mount Whitney: Top of the Contiguous USA

Friday – Tuesday, August 22-26, 2014

Mount Whitney- at 14,508 feet it is the highest mountain peak in the contiguous United States. While I have always thought about climbing to the summit of Mount Whitney at some point in my life, I really had never seriously planned a trip or time frame to do it. About two months ago my friend Geoff sent me a message and asked if I wanted to join him on a day hike of Mount Whitney. He had received a few permits in the lottery earlier in the year, but all of his hiking companions had cancelled on him. I checked my calendar and had no trips planned for that time yet, so I said yes. I figured since I had the opportunity come up that I might as well do it now, especially since I had already hiked six Colorado 14ers this year and was in pretty good shape. I was a little worried about doing the full 22 mile hike in a single day since I had never done a hike that long in one shot, especially with over 6,000 feet of elevation gain. I decided to keep an eye on the Mount Whitney permit website to see if any overnight permits opened up, and luckily a few weeks before the trip I was able to get two of them for the same time. I no longer had to worry about completing the hike in a single day and would be able to enjoy the trail more. Our plan was to backpack up to Trail Camp around 12,000 feet on Sunday and then finish the hike to the summit on Monday morning.

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Silverton & OuraySilverton & Ouray

Silverton & Ouray

Saturday, June 14, 2014

The desert has been heating up recently and I’ve been looking to start getting up into the mountains soon. The first reports of roads opening up in the San Juan Mountains have been coming in, so I decided to head up towards Silverton and Ouray to see just how fast the snow was melting this year so I could start planning some mountain hiking trips. Much of Colorado’s high country got a lot of snow this year, so trails and roads are opening up later than they typically would. There is still a lot of snow up in the mountains, but it appears to be melting fast.

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