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Tag: after work adventures

Third Flats: Cedar Point Road to Haystack 3 PointThird Flats: Cedar Point Road to Haystack 3 Point

Third Flats: Cedar Point Road to Haystack 3 Point

After Work Adventures | Monday, April 1, 2024

When I left work this afternoon, I headed up into the Third Flats section of the Bangs Canyon Recreation Area so I could get in a short hike to a local highpoint before going home. Since I have pretty much completed hiking all of the Kokopelli Trails near Loma now, I figured this area would be a good place to focus my attention to for my next local trails project, especially since it’s close to town and I have not been on any of the trails in this area before, aside from the one time I drove up the Billings Canyon Jeep Trail back in 2006. I decided to start out by hiking up the Cedar Point Road to Haystack 3 Point while also hiking parts of the Quad Rocker, Easy Rider and Canyon View Trails along the way. There was a lot of stormy weather around the Grand Valley this afternoon which made for some dynamic and dramatic conditions along the way. Here are a couple photos from my short afternoon hike.

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Kokopelli Trails: Hawkeye Trail to Mack RidgeKokopelli Trails: Hawkeye Trail to Mack Ridge

Kokopelli Trails: Hawkeye Trail to Mack Ridge

After Work Adventures | Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Well, it’s been almost a full month since I went on my last After Work Adventure, delayed because of weather interruptions and extended weekend trips, so I was looking forward to getting back out to the Kokopelli Trails this afternoon. I’m getting very close to completing my project of hiking all of the trails in the system and the Hawkeye Trail is the only complete trail left that I have not hiked before, mainly because it wasn’t opened until April of 2017. I left straight from work and made my way over to the Hawkeye Trailhead near Mack and started hiking up the trail. Although there were two unexpected overnight snowstorms this past weekend, the trail had just enough time to dry out by this afternoon and wasn’t muddy. Here are a couple of photos from the hike…

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Kokopelli Loops: Moore Fun LoopKokopelli Loops: Moore Fun Loop

Kokopelli Loops: Moore Fun Loop

After Work Adventures | Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Well, I was originally planning to go hiking after work yesterday, but the weather didn’t cooperate with those plans and today was looking no better, but as I was leaving work this afternoon the conditions seemed to be pretty nice for a short hike, so I took my chances and headed back over to the Kokopelli Trails near Loma. I returned to the Lions Trailhead so I could hike a four-mile loop of the upper and lower Moore Fun Trail. Although I have hiked the main Moore Fun Trail from both sides before, I had never hiked the shorter Lower Moore Fun Trail, which was my main objective today. But since it’s only a short trail of less than a mile, I figured it would be nice to combine the upper and lower trails into a loop. Although wet weather had been threatening all day across the valley, it seems that the precipitation had completely missed this area as the trails and roads were completely dry, but I did encounter some sprinkles of rain, flurries of snow and plenty of wind during the hike. Here are a couple of photos from my afternoon jaunt.

CONTINUE READINGKokopelli Loops: Moore Fun Loop
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Kokopelli Loops: Western End of Mack RidgeKokopelli Loops: Western End of Mack Ridge

Kokopelli Loops: Western End of Mack Ridge

After Work Adventures | Tuesday, January 30, 2024

After taking the winter off from my After Work Adventures it’s finally starting to feel like the days are getting a little bit longer, and since the temperature has been in the low 60’s for the past two days, which set a record high for todays date, I decided to head out after work for a little hike. I headed back over to the Kokopelli Trails near Mack so I could continue working on the project I had started in the fall of hiking the remainder of the trails in the area that I had not been on before. This afternoon I set out to hike a couple of segments of trails at the western end of Mack Ridge by creating two short loops out of them.

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Kokopelli Loops: Troy Built Loop to Salt CreekKokopelli Loops: Troy Built Loop to Salt Creek

Kokopelli Loops: Troy Built Loop to Salt Creek

After Work Adventures | Thursday & Tuesday, November 16 & 21, 2023

After hiking the Lion’s Loop Trail to its junction with the Troy Built Loop on Tuesday, I thought it might be a good idea to return to the Kokopelli Loops after work on Thursday afternoon so I could finish hiking the Troy Built Trail, especially since a storm had just moved through the area earlier in the day and left some nice clouds in the sky. I thought that there had been enough time for the road to the top of Mack Ridge to dry out, but as I started driving up it I quickly found out that it was still muddy and slick in places, so I turned around and decided to hike a shorter section of the Troy Built Trail from its northern end near I-70. Thankfully, this northern portion of the trail had already dried out and wasn’t muddy, since hiking on muddy trails is not looked upon too kindly by the mountain bikers who mostly ride these trails.

CONTINUE READINGKokopelli Loops: Troy Built Loop to Salt Creek
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