heart of the world // ADVENTR.co

Upper Monument Canyon to Independence Monument

Heart of the World | Sunday, July 6, 2025

Since I ended up cancelling my planned backpacking trip this weekend and headed home early, I spent Saturday working on the new 4Runner and then decided to continue my Heart of the World project in the Colorado National Monument early on Sunday morning with a hike into upper Monument Canyon. Although I have hiked into and through Monument Canyon many times over the years, I don’t recall ever hiking up the upper portion of the trail before so I thought it would be fun to hike down the upper trail to Independence Monument and then return the same way, especially since I’ve already hiked the lower trail earlier this year. So after getting up early on Sunday morning I drove up to the Upper Monument Canyon Trailhead and started hiking down the trail shortly before sunrise.

2 Comments

Black Ridge Trail – Rim Rock Drive Hike n’ Bike Loop

Heart of the World | Sunday, June 1, 2025

While Diane and I were originally planning to beat the heat this weekend by backpacking on top of the Grand Mesa, after driving up onto the Mesa Saturday morning we found that the road to our desired trailhead was still gated and closed so we decided to just return home to take a break and relax instead. Of course, I just couldn’t stay home all weekend, so I decided to head up into the Colorado National Monument very early on Sunday morning so I could continue working on my Heart of the World project by hiking the Black Ridge Trail and then competing a loop by riding my bike back to the trailhead on Rim Rock Drive. Although it seems pretty popular among road bikers, I have never really had the desire to bike any part of Rim Rock Drive before, but I thought it might be fun to try it once. I left home well before sunrise on Sunday morning and dropped my bike off at the Upper Liberty Cap Trailhead before continuing on to the other end of the trail at the Visitor Center to start the hike.

East Entrance Trails: Devils Kitchen & Echo Canyon

Heart of the World | Thursday, May 29, 2025

I headed out after work this afternoon to the East Entrance of the Colorado National Monument so I could continue working on my Heart of the World project by hiking the Devils Kitchen and Echo Canyon trails. These are two trails close to home that I have hiked a number of times in the past, but I now realize that it’s been quite a while since I have hiked either one of them. After quickly looking through my old Trip reports it seems that the last time I hiked to the Devils Kitchen was almost a decade ago and the last time I was in Echo Canyon was way back in 2013. I guess I have been long overdue for a return and it was nice to revisit these locations at the east end of the Monument this afternoon, even if it was pretty warm out!

A Quick Loop on the Corkscrew Trail

Heart of the World | Wednesday, April 2, 2025

Although Diane and I have been busy this week getting ready to leave for the Grand Canyon on Friday morning, I felt like getting in a quick hike after work on Wednesday afternoon and decided to revisit the Corkscrew Trail loop in the Colorado National Monument so I could check another trail off my Heart of the World project. The last time I hiked the Corkscrew Trail was almost a decade ago when Diane and I went searching for dinosaur tracks in Ute Canyon, so I was looking forward to the return visit. Even though it had been getting pretty warm in the valley just a few short days ago, a cold front moved through the area overnight which significantly dropped the temperature out and made things a bit chilly on the hike today.

1 Comment

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.