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Otto’s StaircaseOtto's Staircase

Otto’s Staircase

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

After work I decided to get a little hike in and explore a new area of the Colorado National Monument. I wanted to check out Otto’s Staircase above Gold Star Canyon and try to reach the top of Monument Mesa via this route. Please excuse my poor pictures in this trip report, when I set out after work to explore this new trail I didn’t really plan on taking any photos or even creating a trip report so I didn’t carry my camera with me. All of these photos were taken and processed on my iPhone. I ended up really enjoying this climb and taking a few photos with my iPhone so I wanted to share a them. I’m sure I will return to hike this trail again to do even more exploring on Monument Mesa. I will be sure to bring my better camera next time!

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Gold Star Canyon LoopGold Star Canyon Loop

Gold Star Canyon Loop

Thursday, March 27, 2014

After work this evening, Diane and I met up for another short hike in the Colorado National Monument. We started from the White Rocks trailhead and then hiked the steep trail beside Gold Star Canyon up onto the Precambrian Bench. We followed the trail towards Monument Canyon and then turned around when we reached Mushroom Rock. Next we followed a wash down into Monument Canyon and hiked back to White Rocks by circling around the Little Island. It was a nice evening hike. I don’t usually carry my camera on these short after-work hikes but the clouds in the sky were pretty nice from the passing storms so I decided to bring it with me. I’m glad I did!

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Ute Canyon TrailUte Canyon Trail

Ute Canyon Trail

Sunday, March 23, 2014

After a rainy Saturday, Diane and I headed up to the Colorado National Monument on Sunday to get in a little hiking close to home. It’s been a few years since I’ve hiked down Ute Canyon so we decided to make that our destination for the day. Since I wanted to hike the whole trail from top to bottom we left my Jeep at the lower trailhead and then drove up to the upper trailhead in Diane’s car. When we dropped off my Jeep at the Wildwood Trailhead we found the parking lot full and had to park along the road. There were a lot of people hiking up to Liberty Cap today and I’m glad we weren’t one of them. We didn’t see anyone else in Ute Canyon all afternoon, which was nice.

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Canyon Rim TrailCanyon Rim Trail

Canyon Rim Trail

Monday, March 10, 2014

This evening Diane and I went on a short last-minute hike after work in the Colorado National Monument since the weather was so nice out. We ended up along the Canyon Rim Trail and enjoyed the views across Wedding Canyon as the sun sunk low in the sky behind a thin layer of clouds. Here’s a few photos I took along the way…

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Cowboy Hat TowerCowboy Hat Tower

Cowboy Hat Tower

Monday, February 24, 2014

Here’s a mini trip report from a quick hike Diane and I took after work to visit the Cowboy Hat Tower near Fruita in the Devil’s Canyon Area. The temperatures have been pretty warm here lately so we wanted to get in a short local hike before the sun went down. I can’t wait for longer days to arrive so I can get some longer hikes in after work! These are just a few snapshots I took with my little Canon S110 as the sun was going down for the day.

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