Press "Enter" to skip to content

Tag: after work adventures

Saddlehorn Trails at the Colorado National Monument

Heart of the World | Wednesday, January 1, 2025

This year for New Year’s Day I actually decided to go in to work instead of heading out to the local backcountry for just a day trip in the middle of the week since I have a busy spring coming up and need to conserve some of my PTO for then. But after spending a day alone in the office and getting a lot done I still wanted to get out for my first hike of 2025, so after leaving work I headed up into the Colorado National Monument to start working on my Heart of the World project by hiking some of the shorter trails located around Saddlehorn and the Visitor Center. Once I arrived at the parking lot for the Visitor Center I followed the Canyon Rim Trail to the Book Cliffs Shelter and then continued on the Window Rock Trail to the campground. I then made a short detour to the top of Saddlehorn before returning to the trailhead and hiking the Alcove Nature Trail. It was a nice way to spend a couple hours after work and get in my first hike of the year!

Leave a Comment

Early Fall Colors on the Grand Mesa 2024

After Work Adventures | Thursday, September 19, 2024

I’ve got a very busy couple of weeks coming up with a Canyon of Lodore river trip schedule for next week and right afterwards I will be leaving to spend a week along the Arizona Strip at the beginning of October, so I’m not really going to have any time to chase fall colors in Colorado this year. Even though I know it’s too early for peak fall colors, I thought it would be a good idea to head up onto the Grand Mesa after work this afternoon to see how the colors were coming along since it’s going to be my only chance this season. As I suspected, it was still mostly green out, but there were some scattered patches of nice colors to be found, so it’s wasn’t a total waste of my time. Here are a few photos from my short trip up onto the Grand Mesa this evening.

1 Comment

A Drive through the Colorado National Monument

After Work Adventures | Tuesday, September 10, 2024

So, this post isn’t really going to be much of a Trip Report, I just wanted to share a few photos I took during a quick drive through the Colorado National Monument this evening. I just bought a new compact camera that arrived yesterday and I wanted to put it through it’s paces right away in order to make sure that I really wanted to keep it, and I figured that stopping at a few of the overlooks along Rim Rock Drive would be a quick and easy place for me to do that. Plus, it’s been quite a while since I drove though the Monument and I was long overdue for another visit. Anyway, here are a couple of the test shots I took this evening, and so far I am pretty impressed with this little camera and am going to keep it.

5 Comments

Fruita Frontcountry: Flash Flood in Devils Canyon

After Work Adventures | Friday, August 23, 2024

Since I was actually home on a Friday evening, I made a last-minute decision to go on a local hike in the Devils Canyon section of the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area near Fruita. Although I had finished hiking all the trails in this section of the frontcountry back in 2016, I had recently looked at an updated map and noticed a new trail called Devils Ridge (D7) that wasn’t there back then, so I thought I’d go check it out as part of a short loop hike. Even though the weather has been quite wet and stormy recently, it looked like the storms in the area were going to miss us this afternoon, so I headed over to the trailhead after work. Of course, just as I reached the trailhead it started to rain pretty hard, so I waited in my Jeep for the storm to pass and then started my hike as soon as the rain mostly stopped.

1 Comment

Little Park: Good Vibes, Snakeskin & Gunny Loop

After Work Adventures | Monday & Tuesday, August 19 & 20, 2024

I’m planning on getting out into the desert this upcoming weekend, so I thought it might be a good idea to go for a hike or two in the afternoon this week to try to get used to the heat, so I headed out to check out some of the trails near the Little Park Trailhead in the Bangs Canyon Recreation Area after work on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday I made a short loop combining the Good Vibes Trail, Snakeskin Trail and the First Flats Trail and then on Tuesday I hiked part of the Gunny Loop and the Gunnector Trail in the same area. The temperature was in the upper 80’s on Monday and the mid 90’s on Tuesday, so it was pretty warm out both afternoons, especially in the sun, but thankfully there were some clouds in the sky that blocked the direct sunlight on occasion and helped it to feel a bit more comfortable out. Here are a couple photos I took during the two hikes.

Leave a Comment