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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.

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Fruita Frontcountry: Flash Flood in Devils Canyon

After Work Adventures | Friday, August 23, 2024

Since I was actually home on a Friday evening, I made a last-minute decision to go on a local hike in the Devils Canyon section of the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area near Fruita. Although I had finished hiking all the trails in this section of the frontcountry back in 2016, I had recently looked at an updated map and noticed a new trail called Devils Ridge (D7) that wasn’t there back then, so I thought I’d go check it out as part of a short loop hike. Even though the weather has been quite wet and stormy recently, it looked like the storms in the area were going to miss us this afternoon, so I headed over to the trailhead after work. Of course, just as I reached the trailhead it started to rain pretty hard, so I waited in my Jeep for the storm to pass and then started my hike as soon as the rain mostly stopped.

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The Book Cliffs: Coal Gulch to Ross Ridge

After Work Adventures | Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Today after work I hopped into my Jeep so I could spend a couple hours in the Book Cliffs on a little After Work Adventure before heading home for the rest of the evening. After leaving work I drove over to Fruita and then followed 16 Road north to the foot of the Book Cliffs where I headed up the road through Coal Gulch and onto Garfield Mesa and Ross Ridge. While I was up there I hiked over to the highpoints of each of them. It’s been over 15 years since the last time I was in this area and I was looking forward to returning for this short visit since I don’t really remember all too much about it. These are just a couple photos from my afternoon in this part of the Book Cliffs.

Lizard Canyon in the Colorado National Monument

After Work Adventures | Tuesday, September 12, 2023

This afternoon I decided to head on over to the Colorado National Monument after work so I could go hiking into Lizard Canyon, which is the next short canyon located just north of Wedding Canyon and south of Fruita Canyon. Although I have hiked across the mouth of this canyon a couple of times before, usually during our traverses across the Face of the Monument, this is actually one of the few canyons left in the Monument that I have not hiked into before. I started the hike from the Lower Monument Canyon Trailhead and followed the Wedding Canyon Trail into the mouth of Wedding Canyon where I left the main trail and followed use trails up and over a small divide into Lizard Canyon.

Rattlesnake Canyon: West Rim Arch (Finger Arch)

After Work Adventures | Tuesday, September 5, 2023

This morning as I was leaving home on my way to work I noticed that there was a coolness to the air that I haven’t felt for a couple of months down in the Grand Valley. It certainly felt like fall is finally on the way! Since the temperature stayed nice throughout the rest of the day I thought it would be a great afternoon to go for a local hike when I got out of work. I stopped home at lunch to grab my hiking gear and then left from work and headed up into the Canyons of the Black Ridge so I could hike to West Rim Arch, which is also known as Finger Arch and is located at the upper end of Rattlesnake Canyon. I’ve been meaning to get over to the base of this arch since 2020 when I was on a kick visiting other arches in the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness during the pandemic lockdowns, but I never got around to it and have kept putting it off for the past few years, so I was looking forward to finally getting a closer look.