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Early Fall Colors on the Grand Mesa 2024

After Work Adventures | Thursday, September 19, 2024

I’ve got a very busy couple of weeks coming up with a Canyon of Lodore river trip schedule for next week and right afterwards I will be leaving to spend a week along the Arizona Strip at the beginning of October, so I’m not really going to have any time to chase fall colors in Colorado this year. Even though I know it’s too early for peak fall colors, I thought it would be a good idea to head up onto the Grand Mesa after work this afternoon to see how the colors were coming along since it’s going to be my only chance this season. As I suspected, it was still mostly green out, but there were some scattered patches of nice colors to be found, so it’s wasn’t a total waste of my time. Here are a few photos from my short trip up onto the Grand Mesa this evening.

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Little Park: Good Vibes, Snakeskin & Gunny Loop

After Work Adventures | Monday & Tuesday, August 19 & 20, 2024

I’m planning on getting out into the desert this upcoming weekend, so I thought it might be a good idea to go for a hike or two in the afternoon this week to try to get used to the heat, so I headed out to check out some of the trails near the Little Park Trailhead in the Bangs Canyon Recreation Area after work on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday I made a short loop combining the Good Vibes Trail, Snakeskin Trail and the First Flats Trail and then on Tuesday I hiked part of the Gunny Loop and the Gunnector Trail in the same area. The temperature was in the upper 80’s on Monday and the mid 90’s on Tuesday, so it was pretty warm out both afternoons, especially in the sun, but thankfully there were some clouds in the sky that blocked the direct sunlight on occasion and helped it to feel a bit more comfortable out. Here are a couple photos I took during the two hikes.

Otto’s Wall: The Palisade Plunge at Shirttail Point

After Work Adventures | Monday, July 15, 2024

Today I spent all day up on the Grand Mesa for work as we inspected three of the City’s largest dams with a drone. The project took us most of the day and since we finished around the time I would usually be heading home form work, I decided to stick around for a while to get a little hiking in on a segment of the Palisade Plunge Trail before I headed home for the evening.

The Colorado River: Palisade Rim to Riverbend Park

After Work Adventures | Tuesday, July 9, 2024 | Average CFS: 3,860

This afternoon Jackson and I headed out after work to go for a short float with our packrafts on the Colorado River from the Palisade Rim Trailhead to the Riverbend Park in Palisade. As we get very close to floating all of the Colorado River from Glenwood Canyon to Lake Powell, this was one of the few remaining sections of the river left for both of us. The water level of the river has dropped quickly and significantly over the past week, so it was moving a little slower than our past couple of trips further upstream and we had to watch out for rocks just under the surface, but the entire float still took us less than an hour and we were home in time for dinner.

Third Flats: Twist-N-Shout & Second Thoughts

After Work Adventures | Monday, July 1, 2024

I was originally planning to head up Lands End Road onto the Grand Mesa after work today so I could hike a section of the Palisade Plunge Trail, but as I was driving southeast on US 50 I saw some lightning in the direction I was headed and thought it would be best to turn around and come back another time when the weather was better. Instead, I returned to town and headed over to the Third Flats area of the Bangs Canyon Recreation Area where I hiked a short loop combining the Twist-N-Shout and Second Thoughts trails together. The temperature was in the low 90’s today, but it was cloudy enough with a nice breeze which helped keep the temperature comfortable enough for me. There were even a couple sprinkles of rain at times. Here are a couple photos from the short hike.

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Tag: grand mesa

Early Fall Colors on the Grand Mesa 2024

Little Park: Good Vibes, Snakeskin & Gunny Loop

Otto’s Wall: The Palisade Plunge at Shirttail Point

The Colorado River: Palisade Rim to Riverbend Park

Third Flats: Twist-N-Shout & Second Thoughts