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Tag: beaver creek

South San Juan Sojourn: Conejos Peak & Summit PeakSouth San Juans: Conejos Peak & Summit Peak

South San Juan Sojourn: Conejos Peak & Summit Peak

South San Juan Wilderness | Thursday – Saturday, August 20-22, 2026

It’s been just over three years since my last visit to the South San Juan Mountains and I’ve been wanting to get back there for quite a while. Initially, I was going to attend the annual GIS Colorado Summer Meetup this week, which was supposed to be held at the Big Meadows Campground along the western edge of the Weminuche Wilderness, and then I was planning to spend the remainder of the weekend hiking in the South San Juans, but that event was recently cancelled. Since I had really been looking forward to returning to the South San Juans, I decided to carry on with my plans and started driving that way early on Thursday morning. I took the scenic route along the Silver Thread Scenic Byway through Lake City and Creede to South Fork and then followed the Lake Fork of the Rio Grande to the Big Meadows Reservoir and Shaw Lake so I could at least check them out, even though I wouldn’t be spending any time in that area now.

CONTINUE READINGSouth San Juan Sojourn: Conejos Peak & Summit Peak
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Jackass Pass: Beaver Basin to Dry PeakJackass Pass: Beaver Basin to Dry Peak

Jackass Pass: Beaver Basin to Dry Peak

La Sal Mountains | Saturday, July 4, 2026

After spending Friday morning hiking around Cleveland Gulch in the San Juan Triangle, I returned home later in the afternoon and got a really good night of sleep and then had a nice relaxing morning on Saturday. I was well rested and feeling like I should go on a short day trip up into the La Sal Mountains since I hadn’t been back to that range in over two years and really wanted to get up there again this summer. After checking the smoke forecast earlier in the morning it looked like the smoke was supposed to mostly clear out in the afternoon, so I left home after noon and made my way through Unaweep Canyon to Gateway and then followed the backroads up into Beaver Basin to start the short hike that I had in mind. I had actually planned to hike from Beaver Basin with Jackson and his family in June of last year, but ended up having issues with my Jeep when we arrived and decided it would be best to turn around and head home before we could begin, so I was happy to finally return!

CONTINUE READINGJackass Pass: Beaver Basin to Dry Peak
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Wildcat Trail: Unaweep Divide to the Gill Creek DivideWildcat Trail: Unaweep Divide to the Gill Creek Divide

Wildcat Trail: Unaweep Divide to the Gill Creek Divide

Saturday, June 14, 2025

Well, this weekend certainly didn’t go as planned. I was supposed to spend the weekend hiking and camping in the La Sal Mountains with my friend Jackson and his family, but after driving up into Beaver Basin on Saturday afternoon I started to have issues with my Jeep that made us reconsider those plans and turn around to head back home instead. Thankfully, before meeting up with Jackson I had gone on a short hike up the Wildcat Trail in Unaweep Canyon- so the entire weekend wasn’t a complete waste. Since I wasn’t going to be meeting up with Jackson until later in the morning on Saturday, I got up early and drove up to the Unaweep Divide so I could get started on the hike just after sunrise and finish it before the temperature started to warm up.

CONTINUE READINGWildcat Trail: Unaweep Divide to the Gill Creek Divide
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San Miguel Canyon and the Upper San Miguel RiverSan Miguel Canyon and the Upper San Miguel River

San Miguel Canyon and the Upper San Miguel River

Caddis Flats to Beaver Creek & Deep Creek to Down Valley Park | Average CFS: 675
Saturday & Sunday, June 7-8, 2025

Late last year Jackson and I decided to take advantage of Mild To Wild’s annual Black Friday sale and booked a trip on the upper San Miguel River for this Sunday with hopes that there would be enough water to run it. Luckily, even though the San Juan Mountains had a pretty poor snow year this winter, there was still enough water to raft the San Miguel at this time, so we planned to head down on Saturday morning to float through San Miguel Canyon from Caddis Flats to Beaver Creek in our inflatable kayaks the day before. A few years back Jackson and I had floated through Norwood Canyon just downstream from here and we were looking forward to checking out these other sections of the upper San Miguel River this weekend.

CONTINUE READINGSan Miguel Canyon and the Upper San Miguel River
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The Colorado River: Tibbetts to ParachuteThe Colorado River: Tibbetts to Parachute

The Colorado River: Tibbetts to Parachute

Saturday & Sunday, June 15 & 16, 2024

After our recent rafting trip through Cataract Canyon and with an upcoming trip into Westwater Canyon planned for July, Jackson and I are both getting closer to having floated all of the Colorado River from Glenwood Canyon to Lake Powell, but we were still missing a large segment of the river from New Castle to De Beque Canyon. We figured it was about time to start working on this section, especially while the water is still high and moving fast, so this weekend we made plans to float the Colorado River from Tibbetts, which is just upstream of New Castle, to Parachute, a length of just under 40 miles. Since this area is an easy drive from home for us, we decided to split it up into two sections and do each one as a short day trip.

CONTINUE READINGThe Colorado River: Tibbetts to Parachute
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