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Tag: fruita front country trails

Flume Creek Canyon LoopFlume Creek Canyon Loop

Flume Creek Canyon Loop

Canyons of the Black Ridge Wilderness | Wednesday, May 7, 2025

While hiking over the Pollock Bench on my way to the West Fork of Pollock Canyon on Sunday morning I noticed a well-used trail below the rim on the west side of Flume Creek Canyon that I had never hiked before and which wasn’t on any of the maps I looked at. After waiting out some wet weather over the past two days I decided to return after work this afternoon so I could check this trail out. I left from the Pollock Bench Trailhead and followed the trail which contoured below the rim on the west side of Flume Creek Canyon until it joined back up with the Flume 1 Trail a couple of miles up the canyon. Then I followed the main trail back along the rim of the narrows until I was able to descend to the Inner Canyon Trail and follow that back to the trailhead. This turned out to make a nice little 5.5 mile loop that I completed in just under two hours before heading home.

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Gore Trail Loop & West Fork of Pollock CanyonGore Trail Loop & West Fork of Pollock Canyon

Gore Trail Loop & West Fork of Pollock Canyon

Canyons of the Black Ridge Wilderness | Friday – Sunday, May 2-4, 2025

Since I have another week-long river trip coming up very soon that I need to start getting ready for, I stayed local this weekend and decided to go on a pair of backcountry hikes that are located within the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness. These are two hikes that I’ve been thinking about doing for a number of years at this point, but I have never made them a priority to get around to before and figured it was finally time to give them a go! The first hike I wanted to try follows an old 4×4 road that shows up on some maps as the Gore Trail and encircles a mesa located between the heads of Knowles Canyon and Jones Canyon. It looked like this loop was going to be around 16 miles in length, which includes a couple miles on BS Road to close the loop, and since I wanted to get an early start on Saturday morning I headed up to Glade Park later on Friday afternoon and spent the night on the edge of Sieber Canyon.

CONTINUE READINGGore Trail Loop & West Fork of Pollock Canyon
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Monument Canyon, Wedding Canyon & Kodels CanyonMonument Canyon & Wedding Canyon

Monument Canyon, Wedding Canyon & Kodels Canyon

Heart of the World | Saturday, March 15, 2025

After staying home early on Saturday morning so I could try to get a permit for Desolation Canyon at 8:00am and was successful, Diane and I hopped into the Jeep and started driving west towards Utah since we initially were planning to spend the rest of the day exploring Eagle Park within Arches National Park. However, as we were speeding along I-70 between Grand Junction and Fruita the clouds from the storm that had passed through the area overnight were clearing and the view over to the Colorado National Monument was looking very nice, so we decided to change up our plans and go hike the loop in Monument Canyon and Wedding Canyon instead.

CONTINUE READINGMonument Canyon, Wedding Canyon & Kodels Canyon
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Fruita Frontcountry: Devils Ridge & Devils CanyonFruita Frontcountry: Devils Ridge & Devils Canyon

Fruita Frontcountry: Devils Ridge & Devils Canyon

After Work Adventures | Wednesday, March 12, 2025

Now that Daylight Savings Time is officially here and it’s staying lighter longer after work I thought it would be a good idea to take advantage and get outside for a hike this afternoon. I decided to head on over to the frontcountry trails found at the mouth of Devils Canyon in the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area near Fruita to hike the Devils Ridge Trail (D7) which I had tried to hike back in August of last year but was turned around by muddy conditions. It turned out to be a nice way to spend a couple of hours after work before heading home for the rest of the evening.

CONTINUE READINGFruita Frontcountry: Devils Ridge & Devils Canyon
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The Sandstone Knob of Kodels CanyonThe Sandstone Knob of Kodels Canyon

The Sandstone Knob of Kodels Canyon

Easter Weekend | Sunday, April 17, 2022

This year on Easter morning Diane and I woke up before sunrise with plans to go on a longer hike together into the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness, but shortly after leaving home we changed our minds and decided take it easy and do something shorter and easier instead, which turned out to be a good decision since it was very humid out! Instead, we headed over to the Kodels Canyon Trailhead and hiked a couple of the short interconnecting front-country trails to an outcropping of colorful Entrada sandstone located on the bench between Kodels Canyon and Devils Canyon. For well over the last decade it feels like every time I drive through Fruita on I-70 and look off to my left at this knob of sandstone I think to myself that I should really hike up to it sometime. Well, I guess it’s better late than never!

CONTINUE READINGThe Sandstone Knob of Kodels Canyon
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