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South San Juan Sojourn: Conejos Peak & Summit Peak

South 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.

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Calico Peak in the Rico Mountains

Friday – Saturday, August 14-15, 2026

This weekend Diane and I were going to be spending most of our time visiting her friends who live along the Dolores River near Dolores and I was hoping that we would be able to squeeze in a short hike in the Rico Mountains on our way there. Although I typically try to avoid doing very many repeat hikes, back when I summited a few 12ers along the Calico Trail in 2020 I knew that I would someday want to come back to Calico Peak again with Diane and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to do that. It would also be a nice hike in remembrance of Tellico, our calico cat that passed away over three years ago who was known as Rico.

Coal Creek Basin: Switchback Trail to Shirttail Point

After Work Adventures | Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Although we didn’t get to go backpacking on the Grand Mesa late last month like we had hoped, now that the Lands End Road is open I figured I’d head up after work this afternoon to hike a short loop above Coal Creek Basin from the Switchback Trail to Shirttail Point. Last summer I had hiked down the Palisade Plunge Trail to Otto’s Wall from Shirttail Point but was turned back by an incoming storm, so I was looking forward to returning to this part of the Grand Mesa. This hike turned out to be a nice little 5.5 mile loop with about 900 feet of elevation loss and gain that was perfect for when the temperature in the valley below is just too hot for hiking after work.

Desolation Canyon & Gray Canyon of the Green River

Splitting the Tavaputs Plateau in Two: Sand Wash to Swaseys Beach
Sunday – Saturday, May 11-17, 2025 | Average CFS: 6,665

After getting permits for Yampa Canyon and the Canyon of Lodore over the past two years, Jackson’s and my main goal for this year was to try and get a Spring Low-Use Season permit for the Green River through Desolation Canyon and Gray Canyon as we continue to work our way through more sections of the Colorado River and Green River across the Colorado Plateau. Although Jackson and I have still have never actually won a permit in any of the lotteries we have entered over the years we have been lucky enough to grab permits and cancellations during the general releases after the fact, and this time I managed to get us a permit for Desolation Canyon back in mid-March. Once we had the permit we quickly got started on the planning process since the launch date was only about two months away, but we quickly found out that many of our usual river friends were unable to make the trip this spring. Luckily, our friends Bob and Lisa were able to go and they had a few other friends that they were able to invite on the trip with us, two of whom were very familiar with Desolation Canyon and were a great addition to the trip! In the end I enjoyed rafting with everyone who was on this trip and would invite every single one of them back in a heartbeat!

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Otto’s Wall: The Palisade Plunge at Shirttail Point

After Work Adventures | Monday, July 15, 2024

Today I spent all day up on the Grand Mesa for work as we inspected three of the City’s largest dams with a drone. The project took us most of the day and since we finished around the time I would usually be heading home form work, I decided to stick around for a while to get a little hiking in on a segment of the Palisade Plunge Trail before I headed home for the evening.

Tag: coal creek

South San Juan Sojourn: Conejos Peak & Summit Peak

Calico Peak in the Rico Mountains

Coal Creek Basin: Switchback Trail to Shirttail Point

Desolation Canyon & Gray Canyon of the Green River

Otto’s Wall: The Palisade Plunge at Shirttail Point