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Upper Monument Canyon to Independence MonumentUpper Monument Canyon to Independence Monument

Upper Monument Canyon to Independence Monument

Heart of the World | Sunday, July 6, 2025

Since I ended up cancelling my planned backpacking trip this weekend and headed home early, I spent Saturday working on the new 4Runner and then decided to continue my Heart of the World project in the Colorado National Monument early on Sunday morning with a hike into upper Monument Canyon. Although I have hiked into and through Monument Canyon many times over the years, I don’t recall ever hiking up the upper portion of the trail before so I thought it would be fun to hike down the upper trail to Independence Monument and then return the same way, especially since I’ve already hiked the lower trail earlier this year. So after getting up early on Sunday morning I drove up to the Upper Monument Canyon Trailhead and started hiking down the trail shortly before sunrise.

CONTINUE READINGUpper Monument Canyon to Independence Monument
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Wildcat Trail: Unaweep Divide to the Gill Creek DivideWildcat Trail: Unaweep Divide to the Gill Creek Divide

Wildcat Trail: Unaweep Divide to the Gill Creek Divide

Saturday, June 14, 2025

Well, this weekend certainly didn’t go as planned. I was supposed to spend the weekend hiking and camping in the La Sal Mountains with my friend Jackson and his family, but after driving up into Beaver Basin on Saturday afternoon I started to have issues with my Jeep that made us reconsider those plans and turn around to head back home instead. Thankfully, before meeting up with Jackson I had gone on a short hike up the Wildcat Trail in Unaweep Canyon- so the entire weekend wasn’t a complete waste. Since I wasn’t going to be meeting up with Jackson until later in the morning on Saturday, I got up early and drove up to the Unaweep Divide so I could get started on the hike just after sunrise and finish it before the temperature started to warm up.

CONTINUE READINGWildcat Trail: Unaweep Divide to the Gill Creek Divide
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Kokopelli Loops: Steve’s Loop & Mary’s LoopKokopelli Loops: Steve's Loop & Mary's Loop

Kokopelli Loops: Steve’s Loop & Mary’s Loop

After Work Adventures | Tuesday, June 3, 2025

This afternoon I returned to the Kokopelli Trails right after work since I hadn’t been back to this area since March of last year and there are only a few short trail segments remaining that I haven’t hiked yet. This time I was going to hike Steve’s Loop because the west end of the loop has been rerouted sometime since my last hike on the trail back in 2016, plus I had never hiked the connector trail from Steve’s to Mary’s Loop. Thankfully it wasn’t quite as warm out today as it has been the last few days and there was a strong wind blowing during most of the hike, especially when I was closer to the river, which helped keep me feeling cool. At the end it turned out to be a nice 6-mile loop that took me about two hours to complete and I didn’t see anyone else on the trails. Here are a few photos I took during the short hike.

CONTINUE READINGKokopelli Loops: Steve’s Loop & Mary’s Loop
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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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East Entrance Trails: Devils Kitchen & Echo CanyonEast Entrance Trails: Devils Kitchen & Echo Canyon

East Entrance Trails: Devils Kitchen & Echo Canyon

Heart of the World | Thursday, May 29, 2025

I headed out after work this afternoon to the East Entrance of the Colorado National Monument so I could continue working on my Heart of the World project by hiking the Devils Kitchen and Echo Canyon trails. These are two trails close to home that I have hiked a number of times in the past, but I now realize that it’s been quite a while since I have hiked either one of them. After quickly looking through my old Trip reports it seems that the last time I hiked to the Devils Kitchen was almost a decade ago and the last time I was in Echo Canyon was way back in 2013. I guess I have been long overdue for a return and it was nice to revisit these locations at the east end of the Monument this afternoon, even if it was pretty warm out!

CONTINUE READINGEast Entrance Trails: Devils Kitchen & Echo Canyon
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