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Surrounding Sids Mountain in the San Rafael Swell

Sids Mountain Wilderness | Friday – Sunday, October 31 – November 2, 2025

Although I was originally hoping to be out hiking in the Canyons of the Escalante with Jared for a long weekend at this time, Diane’s recovery is progressing slowly and I didn’t want to leave her home for an extended period of time just yet, so I figured I would just save the PTO for another time and delay the trip until sometime next year. However, I still wanted to get out hiking a little deeper into the backcountry this weekend and Diane is doing well enough that we were comfortable with her staying home for the weekend- she would be having a few friends stop by to visit her throughout the weekend- so I thought it would be nice to head over to the San Rafael Swell to get in some hiking and exploring around Sids Mountain. It’s been just over a year since my last visit to the Swell and I was looking forward to the return!

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Ridge Stock Driveway: Nellie Creek to El Paso Creek

Uncompahgre Wilderness & Fall Colors 2025 | Friday & Saturday, September 26-27, 2025

This weekend I headed up into the Uncompahgre Wilderness near Lake City so I could spend one final weekend hiking in the high country above treeline as my season in the mountains comes to an end. I’ve been wanting to hike more sections of the Ridge Stock Driveway Trail that traverses much of the wilderness from American Flats in the west to the Alpine Plateau in the east, and I thought it would be fun to hike a segment above Nellie Creek, Big Blue Creek and El Paso Creek, which all surround the base of Uncompahgre Peak– the highest point in the San Juan Mountains! I left from work on Friday afternoon, grabbed a bite to eat in Delta, and then took the Blue Mesa Cutoff over to the Lake Fork of the Gunnison which I followed upstream to Lake City. Although I was hoping to see some fall colors along the way this weekend, I was a bit surprised at just how nice the colors were all around Lake City. I don’t think I’ve ever headed this way in search of fall colors before since my typical go-to spots are around Ouray, Silverton and Crested Butte, but now I think I’m going to have to come back this way again in the future!

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Rocky Sea Pass: Hayden Pass to Brinkley Lake

The Western End of the Highline Trail in the High Uintas Wilderness
Friday & Saturday, August 8-9, 2025

After driving up to Salt Lake City on Thursday morning to see a concert, I spent the night in town and then drove up into the Uinta Mountains on Friday morning to meet up with Jared so we could go on backpacking trip along the western end of the Highline Trail from Hayden Pass to Dead Horse Lake. After meeting up with Jared at the Highline Trailhead on Hayden Pass we continued following the Mirror Lake Highway north to the North Slope Road so we could leave a vehicle where we planned to end our hike at the West Fork Blacks Fork Trailhead. Just after turning right onto the North Slope Road we were stopped by a caravan of at least twenty fire vehicles that had turned right in front of us and were headed east. There was a Summit County Sheriff’s vehicle parked near the intersection, so we stopped to ask what was going on. That’s when we learned about the Beulah Fire which had started the previous evening and blew up to 1,400 acres overnight, which also closed the road to the trailhead that we were trying to get to, so our plans were going to have to change. We didn’t have any backup plans, so we decided to return to Hayden Pass and follow the Highline Trail over Rocky Sea Pass and then return the same way.

Scarp Ridge: Lake Irwin to the Red Lady

Friday & Saturday, July 11-12, 2025

This weekend I decided to return to the edge of the Elk Mountains near Kebler Pass and the Ruby Range so I could finally finish hiking the trail along Scarp Ridge all the way out to the Red Lady (Mount Emmons) since I was unable to reach the summit a few years ago when I was stopped by an impassable washout of the trail in Evans Basin. I left from work on Friday afternoon, topped off my gas tank in Delta and then made my way over to Kebler Pass and Ohio Pass for the evening. Along the way I took a short detour and stopped to hike the Three Lakes Trail Loop since the last time I had hiked in this area was during the fall of 2009 and I really can’t remember if we hiked the entire loop or just up to Lost Lake and back. It’s a short and easy trail that visits three small lakes and a nice little waterfall at the foot of East Beckwith Mountain.

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Fall Creek: An Overdue Return to the Uncompahgre

Uncompahgre Wilderness | Saturday, June 21, 2025

I can’t believe it’s been almost five years since I last set foot in the Uncompahgre Wilderness, especially since I have always considered it to be one of my favorite Wilderness areas that’s close to home and we used to come here frequently over past Labor Day weekends. I guess I’ve just been too busy concentrating on exploring other areas these past few years. Well, I wanted to change that this summer and get back, so I thought it would be a good idea to go on a short overnight backpacking trip with Diane along Fall Creek since our last visit to that drainage didn’t quite go as planned. Unfortunately, it turned out that we wouldn’t have much better luck this time around either!

Tag: alpenglow

Surrounding Sids Mountain in the San Rafael Swell

Ridge Stock Driveway: Nellie Creek to El Paso Creek

Rocky Sea Pass: Hayden Pass to Brinkley Lake

Scarp Ridge: Lake Irwin to the Red Lady

Fall Creek: An Overdue Return to the Uncompahgre