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Tag: colorado

Kokopelli Loops: Mary’s Loop & Wrangler TrailKokopelli Loops: Mary's Loop & Wrangler Trail

Kokopelli Loops: Mary’s Loop & Wrangler Trail

After Work Adventures: Halloween Edition | Tuesday, October 31, 2023

With the Daylight Savings Time change coming up this weekend, I wanted to get out for one more longer hike after work this week before it really starts getting dark early and I thought it would be a good idea to head on over to the Kokopelli Loop Trails in the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area located between Loma and Mack. Although I have hiked and mountain biked about half the trails in this system over the years, there are still some I have not been on before and I thought that completing the rest of them would be a good project to start working on next. I may not finish them this year, but I can always pick up where I left off in the spring. For today’s hike I started at the upper Lion’s Trailhead and followed Mary’s Loop and the Kokopelli Trail east along the Colorado River and Horsethief Bench, then I looped back up and around on the Wrangler Trail which made a nice 7.5 mile loop.

CONTINUE READINGKokopelli Loops: Mary’s Loop & Wrangler Trail
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Hovenweep’s Centennial and the Great Sage PlainHovenweep's Centennial and the Great Sage Plain

Hovenweep’s Centennial and the Great Sage Plain

Hovenweep National Monument & Canyons of the Ancients National Monument
Saturday – Monday, October 21-23, 2023

It feels like it’s been quite a while since the last time I visited and spent some quality time in Hovenweep National Monument and Canyons of the Ancients National Monument and I’ve been really meaning to get back down to that area for the past couple of years, but it just hadn’t seemed to happen yet as I keep putting it off for other trips. However, this year I made it a priority to get back with Diane so we could celebrate Hovenweep’s Centennial year since it was proclaimed a unit of the National Park System on March 2, 1923 by President Warren G. Harding. I also figured that this would be a great opportunity for Diane to visit the units of the park she had not been to before and I would be able to hike the few remaining trails in Hovenweep that I had not been on before and could finally cross this park off my ‘completed trails’ list. So early on Saturday morning Diane and I loaded up the Jeep and headed south along the Colorado – Utah state line to spend an extended three-day weekend exploring Hovenweep and other canyons of the Great Sage Plain!

CONTINUE READINGHovenweep’s Centennial and the Great Sage Plain
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Upper Ute Canyon to Suction PointUpper Ute Canyon to Suction Point

Upper Ute Canyon to Suction Point

After Work Adventures | Tuesday, October 17, 2023

With each and every day quickly getting shorter and shorter at this time of the year, I only have a couple of weeks left where I can possibly squeeze in a few more After Work Adventures, so after work today I headed up into the Colorado National Monument to go on a short hike into upper Ute Canyon. Although I have hiked down through Ute Canyon from the upper trailhead a number of times before, this time I wanted to hiked up the canyon until I reached the large pour-over at Suction Point. It turned out to be a pretty nice place for an evening hike in the Monument.

CONTINUE READINGUpper Ute Canyon to Suction Point
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Chapin Mesa at Mesa Verde National ParkChapin Mesa at Mesa Verde National Park

Chapin Mesa at Mesa Verde National Park

Thursday & Friday, October 12-13, 2023

For the past year or so, Diane and I have been planning to spend an extended three-day weekend in southern Utah so we could watch the Annular Solar Eclipse that would be occurring on Saturday morning. A month or so back we found out that she would also have Thursday off from work, so I went ahead and grabbed two permits for the Square Tower House Tour at Mesa Verde National Park because it’s the only tour offered in the park this year that we had not been on before. Since we had such a great time exploring Wetherill Mesa last summer I thought it would be a great idea copy that trip and spend the entire day visiting sites and overlooks on Chapin Mesa this time, especially the ones I hadn’t been to before or just don’t remember all too well. In the end we would spend sunup to sunset on Chapin Mesa and have a pretty great day, even if it was a bit windy and chilly out!

CONTINUE READINGChapin Mesa at Mesa Verde National Park
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Fall Colors on the Grand MesaFall Colors on the Grand Mesa

Fall Colors on the Grand Mesa

After Work Adventures | Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Hard to believe, but I recently realized that it’s been five years since I last headed up onto the Grand Mesa to check out the Fall Colors, which was something I used to do almost every year at the end of September. With that in mind, even though I knew the autumn colors seemed to be running a bit behind this year, I decided to head up onto the Grand Mesa after work today for a short evening visit since it would be my only opportunity this week. Unfortunately, there was also a prescribed burn happening on the Uncompahgre Plateau near Gateway today, so there was a lot of smoke in the air and conditions weren’t ideal for photography, but here are a few of the photos I took this evening.

CONTINUE READINGFall Colors on the Grand Mesa
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