dawn // ADVENTR.co

Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain Fire Lookout

Formerly the Squaw Mountain Fire Lookout | Saturday & Sunday, January 29-30, 2022

Over the past couple of years I have been trying to visit at least one new Fire Lookout each year, so I thought I would get an early start this year when I booked a night in the Squaw Mountain Fire Lookout near Idaho Springs this past October. This unique structure was constructed of native granite by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1940’s and is situated on top of Squaw Mountain at about 11,500 feet. The cab measures 14 X 14 feet, is completely lined by windows on each side and is surrounded by a catwalk, which all sits on top of the one story stone base. Back in December Squaw Mountain was officially renamed to Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain (pronounced mess-taw-HAY) by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, so now the name of the lookout has also changed to match. I had actually wanted to book a night at this fire lookout for the past two years but it has been closed through the end of 2021 due to COVID, so when I noticed they had finally started accepting reservations again for 2022 I quickly booked a night over the last weekend in January!

3 Comments

The Labyrinth Rims: Hey Joe Canyon & Wheeler Trail

Friday – Sunday, December 17-19, 2021

After spending last weekend along the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park, I wanted to get out and explore more of the Labyrinth Rims before the year was up, so that’s where I headed this weekend. As usual, I left after work on Friday afternoon, grabbed a quick dinner and then made my way out to Spring Canyon Point. I found a nice campsite at the edge of Labyrinth Canyon with just enough time left to photograph sunset.

Riding on the Moon: The Wild Horse Trails

Goblin Valley State Park | Friday – Sunday, December 3-5, 2021

Last year we had such a great time riding all of the Intrepid Trails at Dead Horse State Park that this year we thought it was time to do the same thing at Goblin Valley State Park so we could ride all of the Wild Horse Trails. Back in August I booked the same yurt at Goblin Valley that we had stayed in almost two years ago for the first weekend in December and hoped that the weather would cooperate with our plans again this year. Of course, with the dry and mild winter we’ve been having this year it was no surprise that the weather was looking great for riding as the weekend finally approached. After I left work on Friday afternoon we loaded up our bikes and gear into the Jeep and drove over to Goblin Valley for the weekend!

The Labyrinth Rims: Horsethief Point to Tenmile Point

Friday – Sunday, November 19-21, 2021

I was originally planning to spend this weekend on Cedar Mesa by myself, but after my issue while hiking last Friday I was a bit uncertain about hiking alone this weekend. I decided it would probably be a better idea to take it easy and stay a little closer to home. I didn’t want to do anything too strenuous alone yet, so I figured I could go back to my roots by doing some exploring and short walks from my Jeep. There are a bunch of Jeep roads north of Moab in the Labyrinth Rims area that I have never driven before, so I thought that would be a good place to go. Since I didn’t plan this trip out like I usually do, I basically just hopped in my Jeep with a map and an idea of a couple areas I wanted to explore along the way and went. I thought I would start the trip at the rim of Taylor Canyon on Horsethief Point and then make my way north along the eastern points of Labyrinth Canyon.

3 Comments

Grand Canyon Polychrome: Exploring The Esplanade II

Veterans Day Weekend | Wednesday – Saturday, November 10-13, 2021

I can hardly believe that it’s been over three years since I last set foot on the Esplanade in 2018! Back in 2019 Diane and I took the year off from visiting the North Rim so we could finally go see the Waterfalls of Havasu Canyon on the other side of the Grand Canyon, and then in 2020 we cancelled our planned trip due to the weather forecast and other things we needed to get done at home. I’ve been looking forward to getting back and was happy to finally return this extended Veterans Day weekend with Jerry. It felt great to be back on the Esplanade! The sky was clear and the high temperatures were in the 70’s while the lows at night were very comfortable in the 40’s. We even found some water in a couple shallow potholes. As usual, I’m not going to get into all the specific details of this trip, but I will share plenty of photos below. We found everything we were looking for and had a pretty great time, until we started climbing out of the canyon on Friday…

15 Comments

Tag: dawn

Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain Fire Lookout

The Labyrinth Rims: Hey Joe Canyon & Wheeler Trail

Riding on the Moon: The Wild Horse Trails

The Labyrinth Rims: Horsethief Point to Tenmile Point

Grand Canyon Polychrome: Exploring The Esplanade II