ADVENTR.co // Adventures and Photography from the Colorado Plateau, Rocky Mountains & Beyond

Monument Mesa Loop

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Since I’ve been busy moving these past couple of weeks, we didn’t stray far from home again this weekend. On Sunday morning we woke up early (even after losing an hour of sleep to daylight savings time) and made our way over to the Colorado National Monument to hike a new loop trail I have wanted to try for a while. Ever since I climbed up Otto’s Staircase and visited Otto’s Bathtub last year, I have wanted to combine those trails into a loop across the top of Monument Mesa.

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Pollock Bench Loop

Sunday, March 1, 2015

I didn’t get out hiking yesterday like planned, so I had to make sure that I got outside today! I decided to head over to the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness near Fruita this afternoon and hiked the Pollock Bench Loop which follows the edge of the higher bench between Flume Creek Canyon and the East Fork of Pollock Canyon. While I really dislike having to post photos that really aren’t that great on my blog, I can’t always hike in great photographic conditions all the time and today was one of those days. With another winter storm moving into the area, the sky was overcast all day and the conditions outside were generally gloomy. Aside from the gray skies the temperature out was very comfortable for hiking and it never rained or snowed while I was on the trail. The complete loop ended up being about 7 miles in length.

Devils Garden Primitive Loop

Saturday, February 21, 2015

This weekend Diane and I went on another day trip to Arches National Park so we could hike the Devils Garden Primitive Loop. It has been a number of years since I last hiked the loop so I was looking forward to getting back, and this would be Diane’s first time hiking beyond Landscape Arch. We left bright and early on Saturday morning and made it to the Devils Garden trailhead shortly after the sun had come up. Good thing we weren’t planning on photographing the sunrise this morning since it was still pretty overcast when we started the hike.

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President’s Day Weekend on Cedar Mesa

Saturday – Monday, February 14-16, 2015

Diane and I spent Valentine’s Day and the long President’s Day weekend on Cedar Mesa for our very first camping trip of the year. We setup our base-camp at the Natural Bridges National Monument campground and enjoyed the beautiful spring-like weather all weekend. The temperature never dropped below freezing at night and was a very comfortable mid-sixties during the day. It was nice hiking weather in the middle of February and a great time to get outside to explore the Colorado Plateau! We spent the weekend revisiting a few ruins and searching remote canyons for new ones. Here are plenty of photos from our weekend adventure!

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Gunnison Gorge: Ute Trail to the Gunnison River

Sunday, February 8, 2015

After spending yesterday in Utah I decided to try hiking some new trails closer to home today. While I have been to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park a number of times, I realized that I have completely neglected the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area just downstream. That sounded like a nice place to hike today, especially since I have been talking to my friend Jackson about running that stretch of the Gunnison River in the future. My original plan for the day was to start out by hiking down the Chukar Trail. This is a short one mile trail that descends 560 feet to the main boat put-in to run this stretch of the river. If you plan to run this section by boat, you either need to carry your gear down this trail or you can hire a company to have it packed down by mule.

ADVENTR.co Posts

Monument Mesa Loop

Pollock Bench Loop

Devils Garden Primitive Loop

President’s Day Weekend on Cedar Mesa

Gunnison Gorge: Ute Trail to the Gunnison River