// Adventures and Photography from the Colorado Plateau, Rocky Mountains & Beyond
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
On a whim, I decided to drive through the Colorado National Monument this evening to try and catch a nice sunset. The last few days we’ve had quite a few thunderstorms move through the Grand Valley and I was hoping that tonight’s storms might create some nice conditions.
Leave a CommentLiberty Bell Arch
Sunday, May 10, 2015
After spending the last two weekends backpacking in Grand Gulch I needed to spend a more relaxing weekend at home so I could start preparing for an upcoming trip on the San Juan River later this week. It had rained on and off all day on Saturday, but it looked like things might start finally clearing up on Sunday morning and I wanted to get out for at least one local hike this weekend. A few weeks back when I had hiked into the East Fork of Pollock Canyon I had run into Steve Obser, another local hiker, who had mentioned a nice arch in the upper section of the canyon that is known as Liberty Bell Arch (I have recently seen this same arch called Pollock Arch and Picture Window Arch). I thought that this arch might make for a nice destination this morning, so I decided to hike into the upper Pollock Canyon for a little exploring. After looking at my maps, it looked like hiking up the trail through Flume Creek Canyon and then crossing over the saddle at the far end of the Pollock Bench would be the shortest route into the upper canyon, so that’s the way I went. It was a pretty straight-forward hike and got me where I wanted to go, though I’m not really sure if it saved me much distance or elevation gain. I ended up hiking about 9.3 miles round trip this morning.
4 CommentsSunday, April 19, 2015
This morning I decided to sleep in a little later since I was up early on Saturday morning to photograph the sunrise at the Colorado National Monument. After breakfast, Diane and I drove over to Rabbit Valley near the state line for an afternoon hike on the Rabbit’s Ear Trail. This is a nice trail that climbs to the top of Rabbit’s Ear Mesa and then loops around the rim with expansive views over Ruby Canyon of the Colorado River and the rest of the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area. Since we were out hiking under harsh mid-afternoon light I didn’t take many photos, but I will definitely be returning in the future to make some better images from this location. Here are a couple of snapshots from our hike…
Leave a CommentSaturday, April 18, 2015
After a storm moved through western Colorado and left a lot of precipitation behind the past few days it looked like it was going to finally clear this morning, so I woke up early and drove up to the Colorado National Monument shortly before sunrise to take a few photos. I never did get the sunrise that I was hoping for, but the valley below was filled with low clouds and fog which is always fun to watch and photograph.
3 CommentsThe Monument from Top to Bottom | Black Ridge Loop
Saturday & Sunday, March 28-29, 2015
After completing a traverse across the face of the Colorado National Monument last year I decided that I wanted to put together a longer loop through the Monument to hike this year. The route I strung together begins at the Kodels Canyon trailhead outside of the Monument near Fruita and climbs up the historic Fruita Dugway trail where it connects with the Black Ridge Trail. The Black Ridge trail is the highest trail in the Colorado National Monument topping out at just over 6,700 feet. Since the trailhead is at about 4,700 feet, this route ascends over 2,000 feet of elevation gain while climbing from the lower part of the Monument to the higher part. After following the Black Ridge Trail to it’s end at the Upper Liberty Cap trailhead we would then follow the entire Liberty Cap trail back down to the Wildwood trailhead. Since this route is about 18 miles in length, I thought it would make a nice overnight backpacking trip so that we could take our time and spend a night in the Monument. I stopped by the Visitor’s Center on Friday and picked up a backcountry camping permit so that we could start the hike bright and early on Saturday morning.
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