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Tag: black ridge

Fruita Dugway: Kodels Canyon to the Black Ridge TrailFruita Dugway: Kodels Canyon to the Black Ridge Trail

Fruita Dugway: Kodels Canyon to the Black Ridge Trail

Heart of the World | Wednesday, November 19, 2025

I was hoping to get out hiking at least once between storm systems this week and finally made a last minute decision to head out to hike up the Fruita Dugway right after work today. Although this may not be an ‘official’ trail within the Colorado National Monument, I still wanted to include it in my Heart of the World project because not only is it a historic route through the area, it’s also probably my favorite hike in all of the Monument. I started the hike from the Kodels Canyon Trailhead, climbed up to the junction with the Black Ridge Trail and then returned mostly the same way. Early on the hike was a bit hot and humid while I was in the sun, but it got a bit chilly when the clouds started to block out the sun. Here are a few photos from my evening hike up and down the Fruita Dugway.

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Ute Canyon & Monument Mesa LoopUte Canyon & Monument Mesa Loop

Ute Canyon & Monument Mesa Loop

Heart of the World | Saturday, October 25, 2025

Even though I had to skip my annual Southern Utah Wanderings with Jared for the first time in about fourteen years, I am hoping to get back to my regular schedule of weekend adventures in the near future, but before I do I need to make sure that Diane is back to 100%, so in the meantime I will try to get out on some local hikes when I can. This weekend I had some time on Saturday to go on a local hike and decided to continue working on my Heart of the World project within the Colorado National Monument by putting together a loop consisting of the Ute Canyon Trail and Liberty Cap Trail that I had never hiked together before. I was a little worried about hiking over 13 miles after not hiking at all for the past month, but figured I would just jump right back in and hope for the best!

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Black Ridge Trail – Rim Rock Drive Hike n’ Bike LoopBlack Ridge Trail - Rim Rock Drive Hike n’ Bike Loop

Black Ridge Trail – Rim Rock Drive Hike n’ Bike Loop

Heart of the World | Sunday, June 1, 2025

While Diane and I were originally planning to beat the heat this weekend by backpacking on top of the Grand Mesa, after driving up onto the Mesa Saturday morning we found that the road to our desired trailhead was still gated and closed so we decided to just return home to take a break and relax instead. Of course, I just couldn’t stay home all weekend, so I decided to head up into the Colorado National Monument very early on Sunday morning so I could continue working on my Heart of the World project by hiking the Black Ridge Trail and then competing a loop by riding my bike back to the trailhead on Rim Rock Drive. Although it seems pretty popular among road bikers, I have never really had the desire to bike any part of Rim Rock Drive before, but I thought it might be fun to try it once. I left home well before sunrise on Sunday morning and dropped my bike off at the Upper Liberty Cap Trailhead before continuing on to the other end of the trail at the Visitor Center to start the hike.

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Flume Creek Canyon LoopFlume Creek Canyon Loop

Flume Creek Canyon Loop

Canyons of the Black Ridge Wilderness | Wednesday, May 7, 2025

While hiking over the Pollock Bench on my way to the West Fork of Pollock Canyon on Sunday morning I noticed a well-used trail below the rim on the west side of Flume Creek Canyon that I had never hiked before and which wasn’t on any of the maps I looked at. After waiting out some wet weather over the past two days I decided to return after work this afternoon so I could check this trail out. I left from the Pollock Bench Trailhead and followed the trail which contoured below the rim on the west side of Flume Creek Canyon until it joined back up with the Flume 1 Trail a couple of miles up the canyon. Then I followed the main trail back along the rim of the narrows until I was able to descend to the Inner Canyon Trail and follow that back to the trailhead. This turned out to make a nice little 5.5 mile loop that I completed in just under two hours before heading home.

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Gore Trail Loop & West Fork of Pollock CanyonGore Trail Loop & West Fork of Pollock Canyon

Gore Trail Loop & West Fork of Pollock Canyon

Canyons of the Black Ridge Wilderness | Friday – Sunday, May 2-4, 2025

Since I have another week-long river trip coming up very soon that I need to start getting ready for, I stayed local this weekend and decided to go on a pair of backcountry hikes that are located within the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness. These are two hikes that I’ve been thinking about doing for a number of years at this point, but I have never made them a priority to get around to before and figured it was finally time to give them a go! The first hike I wanted to try follows an old 4×4 road that shows up on some maps as the Gore Trail and encircles a mesa located between the heads of Knowles Canyon and Jones Canyon. It looked like this loop was going to be around 16 miles in length, which includes a couple miles on BS Road to close the loop, and since I wanted to get an early start on Saturday morning I headed up to Glade Park later on Friday afternoon and spent the night on the edge of Sieber Canyon.

CONTINUE READINGGore Trail Loop & West Fork of Pollock Canyon
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