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Tag: clouds

Colorado National Monument Photos

Thursday, September 22, 2016

After work I grabbed my hiking gear and started heading out to Rabbit Valley so I could hike to another summit in Mesa County, but as I was driving west on I-70 I noticed the sky was much cloudier and darker out that direction and I was concerned about the weather I would encounter. It appeared that the edge of the storm system moving through the area was over Fruita and Grand Junction and it looked like I’d have better luck closer to town this evening. So when I reached the Fruita exit I decided to get off and head up into the Colorado National Monument instead. The clouds and sky were nice for a few photos during my drive through the western portion of the park, plus I still got a little hiking and exploring in. Here’s a few photos from the evening.

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Lower Main Canyon in the Little Book Cliffs

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

I was originally planning to hike to another summit in the Book Cliffs after work this evening, but based on the weather forecast I decided to change my plans and went hiking through Main Canyon within the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Area instead. This turned out to be a good choice since I got caught in a couple of fast-moving storms that produced plenty of lightning while I was in the canyon. I ended up hiking almost 4 miles up Main Canyon from the trailhead and then returned the same way, making it back to my Jeep shortly after sunset. I will definitely have to return to finish up the last mile or so in the canyon some other time.

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Fall Creek & Firebox Creek

Labor Day Weekend | Saturday & Sunday, September 3-4, 2016

For the third Labor Day Weekend in a row, Diane and I planned another backpacking trip into the Uncompahgre Wilderness of the San Juan Mountains. We had such a nice time last year along Big Blue Creek with plenty of solitude that we decided to try and visit a pair of other nearby valleys this year. Unfortunately, things would not go quite as smoothly for us this time.

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Sangre de Cristo Mountains: Humboldt Peak

Saturday & Sunday, August 27-28, 2016

Since Diane enjoys going backpacking with me, it’s been a few years since I went on a solo trip. But since she was busy this weekend, I thought it would be a good time to go on an overnight trip by myself. I have been wanting to climb my first new 14er of the year and one of my goals for the summer was to get over to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, so I thought climbing Humboldt Peak (14,064) from the South Colony Lakes sounded like a perfect trip for the weekend. I’m a bit late getting started hiking new 14ers this year because of our traveling back to the Midwest during July and a few other planned trips during August, so I probably won’t get many new ones in this year. I do hope to at least attempt another one or two this year. Though, I did enjoy the repeat of Uncompahgre Peak a few weeks ago.

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Mount Lincoln

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

I see Mount Lincoln (No, not that Mount Lincoln!) almost every day since it stands above the Little Book Cliffs at the east end of the Grand Valley between Mount Garfield (6,765) and the Grand Mesa. It’s not very far from home and I have wanted to climb it for years, but for some reason I never seemed to get around to it. Last week I finally decided to give it a shot from the Stagecoach Trail in Palisade, but ended up changing my plans based on the weather that evening.

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