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North Soda Trail: Adobe Creek to PT 7412Adobe Creek to PT 7412

North Soda Trail: Adobe Creek to PT 7412

North Soda Trail
Sunday, November 20, 2016

This afternoon I headed back into the Book Cliffs to hike to the summit of an unnamed peak above the Grand Valley. I’ve been trying to spend more time in the Book Cliffs this year (Mount Lincoln, Main Canyon, Tellerico Trail) and wanted to try and get back there one last time before the winter weather really sets in for the season. While the trail I hiked is most commonly referred to as the North Soda Trail (it eventually connects to the North Soda Road on top), I’m going to refer to it as the Adobe Creek Trail since it follows the creek for over a mile and then stays completely in the Adobe Creek drainage as it climbs to the top of the mesa.

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Jouflas Horse TrailJouflas Horse Trail

Jouflas Horse Trail

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Back at the end of September I hiked part of the Jouflas Horse Trail to an overlook of Ruby Canyon after hiking to the nearby summit of PT 5239, but I was short on time that day and was unable to complete the entire loop. This afternoon Diane and I headed back to Rabbit Valley to finish hiking the Jouflas Horse Trail from the other side. We started at the McDonald Creek Trailhead and followed the trail to the Black Rocks Overlook (which is where I stopped in September) and then returned back the way we had come. It was a pretty easy hike and a nice way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon.

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PT 5239 in Rabbit ValleyPT 5239 in Rabbit Valley

PT 5239 in Rabbit Valley

Saturday, September 24, 2016

I was originally planning this hike for Thursday after work, but the weather made me change my plans that day. Since we ended up staying close to home this weekend because of the weather, I decided to head back out to Rabbit Valley after the rain stopped late in the morning and hiked up to the summit of PT 5239. I’ve been trying to explore more of Rabbit Valley lately and this short summit away from the more popular trails looked like a good place to check out.

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Big WashBig Wash

Big Wash

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Recently I’ve been trying to get out on more hikes in the evening after work before the days start getting too short for that. Today I was looking for something close to home without too much elevation gain and settled on hiking up Big Wash which is located a short distance up Plateau Creek from I-70 along the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway. Big Wash drains part of the west side of the Grand Mesa starting up near Chalk Mountain and joins Plateau Creek just upstream from the Colorado River. It turned out to be a nice easy canyon hike with a trickle of water flowing through the canyon. While the water was nice to listen to as I hiked, it made for some very slick mud. I had to hop across rocks through many parts of the canyon to avoid the slippery mud. There were a couple of easy obstacles to scramble up and bypass, I just had to make sure to avoid the poison ivy at one of the bypasses. The hike ended at an overhanging waterfall inside a large wet alcove. I didn’t see a way around it so I turned around and headed back down. Here are a few photos from the short hike.

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Tellerico Trail to Corcoran PointTellerico Trail to Corcoran Point

Tellerico Trail to Corcoran Point

Labor Day | Monday, September 5, 2016

Since we ended up cutting our backpacking trip in the Uncompahgre Wilderness short by a day, I was free to go on an evening hike on the Tellerico Trail in the Book Cliffs for the Labor Day holiday. This trail has long been on my to-do list of local hikes and it was finally time to get out and do it. I figured that since the trail came very near to Corcoran Point (7,352) at the top, it would make a good destination to turn around at. Part of the reason I chose this trail is because it’s close to home, but I also hoped that since it’s not too popular I would’t run into anyone else on this busy three-day weekend. That was a good call since I didn’t see another person the entire evening. This trail definitely does not see much traffic, and because of that there are many sections of the trail that have been washed out a bit. There were certainly a few sections that I needed to be extra careful on.

CONTINUE READINGTellerico Trail to Corcoran Point
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