// Adventures and Photography from the Colorado Plateau, Rocky Mountains & Beyond
Sunday, December 14, 2014
After spending a rare lazy Saturday at home, I saw there was a little fog hanging around the canyons of the Colorado National Monument this morning and decided to drive up there to take a few photos. I wasn’t able to go very far since the Monument had closed Rim Rock Drive at the Independence Monument Viewpoint, so most of my photos were from that area.
Leave a CommentSaturday, November 22, 2014
I’ve known about petroglyphs hidden in Sieber Canyon for quite a few years now, but have always seemed to put off a trip in search of them, instead choosing to travel elsewhere throughout the Southwest each weekend. That seems to be the way it works with me- always wanting to travel somewhere new away from home! A few years back I even found the route down into the canyon but I didn’t have enough time go down that day. Earlier this year I tried to hike into the canyon on Easter, but I was turned around by a closed road and had to cancel those plans. Diane and I were finally able to hike into Sieber Canyon this morning and found the petroglyphs we were looking for. It was a beautiful day for hiking and we managed to get back out of the canyon before a winter storm moved through the area in the afternoon. There were some nice clouds in the sky during the morning hours and it didn’t get completely overcast until after we found the main petroglyph panel. The main panel was very cool and contains some of the best petroglyphs I have visited this close to home. Unfortunately, some of the best figures in this panel have been shot up with bullet holes.
5 CommentsSunday, November 2, 2014
Since our previous day along Winter Camp Ridge had turned into a day trip instead of the overnight weekend trip we had originally planned, we were home all day on Sunday. It had been stormy and cool all of the day, so I decided to head up to the Colorado National Monument in the evening to see if there would be a nice sunset to photograph. I didn’t end up getting the colorful sunset I was hoping for, but I did have some nice storm light when I first arrived.
Leave a CommentFall Colors 2014
Wednesday, October 15 & 22, 2014
I spent the last two consecutive Wednesdays visiting the Colorado National Monument after work so that I could try to photograph fall colors before it was too late. I’ve had a couple of shots on my mind that I had envisioned and was hoping the conditions would allow me to make them happen this year. On my first visit to the park last Wednesday the color I was after wasn’t quite there yet so those shots had to wait, but I did take a few photos as I drove through the eastern section of the park to the Ute Canyon overlook and back.
Leave a CommentSunday, June 1, 2014
I’ve always wanted to try running the Ruby – Horsethief section of the Colorado River between Loma and Westwater in a day. With the Colorado River running over 35,000cfs this weekend, Jackson and I thought it would be a good time to try it. Unfortunately, it really wasn’t as fun of a day trip as we had hoped. We learned a valuable lesson today; for us, this stretch of river is more enjoyable in an inflatable kayak as an overnight trip at lower water levels than as a day trip in fast water. While we didn’t have any issues on the river, it was a little tricky getting through Black Rocks at these water levels with the strange hydraulics and whirlpools. The water level was just too high on the banks making it difficult to stop anywhere and there was a lot of debris floating by the whole time. The current was too strong to get across river quickly and stop in time in the inflatable kayak, plus many of the nice campsites on this stretch of the river were under water. It was hot enough out that it would have been nice to jump out of the boat for a swim, but that was just too dangerous at these flows. I highly doubt I will be doing this section in my inflatable kayak at these water levels again. I am looking forward to a nice weekend float in lower water, though. Here’s a few snapshots from our day on the river.
Leave a Comment
