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Tag: colorado

Oak Tree House at Mesa Verde National ParkOak Tree House at Mesa Verde National Park

Oak Tree House at Mesa Verde National Park

Monday, October 21, 2024

After spending a great day on Chapin Mesa in Mesa Verde National Park last year, I kept an eye on all of the backcountry tours offered this summer to see if the park would have anything new we hadn’t seen yet. I was about to give up hope when late in the season they started offering a tour to Oak Tree House that was only available from Friday through Monday for a few weeks at the very end of the season. The only date we were available to go was going to be on the very last tour of the season which happened to line up perfectly with our drive home from a weekend visiting the ruins and rock art at Wupatki National Monument and Mystery Valley in northern Arizona. Luckily, I was able to secure two tickets for this tour and we were able to spend a couple hours on Monday morning visiting these interesting ruins in Fewkes Canyon. It was certainly a great place to finish up our three-day weekend in the Four Corners region!

CONTINUE READINGOak Tree House at Mesa Verde National Park
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The Zirkel Circle in the Mount Zirkel WildernessThe Zirkel Circle in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness

The Zirkel Circle in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness

Friday – Saturday, September 20-21, 2024

This weekend I headed up into the Mount Zirkel Wilderness of the Park Range for what will most likely be my last trip into the mountains of the season. Since I’m leaving for a week-long river trip early on Monday morning and need to finish prepping and packing for that, I was hoping to stay closer to home on Saturday by heading up into either the San Juan Mountains or The Flat Tops, but the weather forecast was not looking good for any of the ranges nearby this weekend, so I had to start looking for alternate options. After looking at the forecasts for other areas throughout Colorado and Utah, the only place that looked like it might have decent weather on Saturday was the Park Range, so I decided to drive a little further east so I could hike the Zirkel Circle, which has been on my to-do list for a long time anyways. I left from work on Friday afternoon, grabbed a quick dinner in Rifle and then headed north where I started following the Yampa River and Elk River into the heart of the Park Range. I found a campsite on the ridge above the South Fork of the Elk River shortly before sunset and then went for a short walk until dusk.

CONTINUE READINGThe Zirkel Circle in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness
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Early Fall Colors on the Grand Mesa 2024Early Fall Colors on the Grand Mesa 2024

Early Fall Colors on the Grand Mesa 2024

After Work Adventures | Thursday, September 19, 2024

I’ve got a very busy couple of weeks coming up with a Canyon of Lodore river trip schedule for next week and right afterwards I will be leaving to spend a week along the Arizona Strip at the beginning of October, so I’m not really going to have any time to chase fall colors in Colorado this year. Even though I know it’s too early for peak fall colors, I thought it would be a good idea to head up onto the Grand Mesa after work this afternoon to see how the colors were coming along since it’s going to be my only chance this season. As I suspected, it was still mostly green out, but there were some scattered patches of nice colors to be found, so it’s wasn’t a total waste of my time. Here are a few photos from my short trip up onto the Grand Mesa this evening.

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Lake Hope via the Lake Fork of the San Miguel RiverLake Hope via the Lake Fork of the San Miguel River

Lake Hope via the Lake Fork of the San Miguel River

Saturday & Sunday, September 14-15, 2024

This weekend Diane and I headed up into the San Juan Mountains so we could spend an easy and relaxing overnight camping trip together since we aren’t going to be seeing a lot of each other over the next couple of weeks. We slept in later than usual on Saturday morning before leaving home and then made our way over the Dallas Divide and past Telluride to just shy of Lizard Head Pass where we found a very nice campsite right next to Priest Lake. After setting up camp we continued up the Lake Fork to the trailhead for the Hope Lake Trail, which we planned to hike this afternoon since there were no storms predicted at all for today. This is a hike we’ve been meaning to do ever since we first tried hiking to Lake Hope seven years ago from the South Fork of Mineral Creek on the other side of the pass, but that time we were stopped by a snow drift and had to turn around. We were looking forward to finally making it up to the lake this afternoon!

CONTINUE READINGLake Hope via the Lake Fork of the San Miguel River
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A Drive through the Colorado National MonumentA Drive through the Colorado National Monument

A Drive through the Colorado National Monument

After Work Adventures | Tuesday, September 10, 2024

So, this post isn’t really going to be much of a Trip Report, I just wanted to share a few photos I took during a quick drive through the Colorado National Monument this evening. I just bought a new compact camera that arrived yesterday and I wanted to put it through it’s paces right away in order to make sure that I really wanted to keep it, and I figured that stopping at a few of the overlooks along Rim Rock Drive would be a quick and easy place for me to do that. Plus, it’s been quite a while since I drove though the Monument and I was long overdue for another visit. Anyway, here are a couple of the test shots I took this evening, and so far I am pretty impressed with this little camera and am going to keep it.

CONTINUE READINGA Drive through the Colorado National Monument
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