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Tag: bangs canyon trailhead

Third Flats: Saddle Up & Pony Tail to Horse MesaThird Flats: Saddle Up & Pony Tail to Horse Mesa

Third Flats: Saddle Up & Pony Tail to Horse Mesa

After Work Adventures | Tuesday & Wednesday, May 14 & 15, 2024

On Tuesday afternoon I left work with the intention of hiking a pair of trails in the Third Flats area to the highpoint of Horse Mesa. Although there were storms in the area, it seemed like they were going to miss the Grand Valley so I didn’t worry too much about them at the time. I drove up Little Park Road into the Bangs Canyon Recreation Area and then followed the Billings Canyon Road to the start of the Saddle Up Trail and started hiking. However, as soon as I made it a short distance up the trail the storm I wasn’t initially worried about moved into the area with strong gusts of wind and rain, so after looking at the weather radar map again I decided it would be best to turn around and come back the following day. Normally, a little rain wouldn’t scare me off from a hike, but I had driven across a lot of clay areas on the road to reach the trailhead and was a little worried about how slick those sections could get if they got wet.

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Bangs Canyon: Rough Canyon LoopBangs Canyon: Rough Canyon Loop

Bangs Canyon: Rough Canyon Loop

After Work Adventures | Tuesday, April 23, 2024

As I’ve been trying to hike more local trails during the week, I realized that I had not hiked much of Rough Canyon within the Bangs Canyon Recreation Area and thought it was finally time to remedy that oversight after work today. So this afternoon I drove up to the Bangs Canyon Trailhead and started hiking down Rough Canyon from where it splits off from the more popular Mica Mine Trail. I mistakenly thought this was going to be an easy hike along a good trail the entire way, but there turned out to be a bit more scrambling and route-finding along the way than I was expecting. It was nothing too difficult, but I had just assumed there would be a well-used trail down the canyon since it’s in a popular area close to town. I followed the the canyon downstream until it opened up near the mouth of Cross Canyon and then met up with the Tabeguache Trail which I followed back up to the trailhead to complete a loop. It turned out to be a nice loop through a rugged canyon that’s pretty close to home.

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Rough Canyon PetroglyphsRough Canyon Petroglyphs

Rough Canyon Petroglyphs

Sunday, February 5, 2017

After spending all day Saturday near Moab with Marty I stayed home for much of the day on Sunday, but Diane and I did head out in the afternoon for a local hike into Rough Canyon. We had hoped to start hiking down the canyon from the Bangs Canyon Trailhead and go at least a few miles before turning around and returning the same way, but after about a mile we reached a section of the trail that was sketchy because of ice and decided to turn around there. Then we thought about going to the Mica Mine instead, but the trail was full of loud and obnoxious people, so we decided just to call it a day and head back home instead. Remind me never to come back here on a weekend…now I remember why it’s been a long time since I last visited this area! At least we got to visit a small petroglyph panel in the canyon while we were there.

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