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Tag: i-70

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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Stagecoach TrailStagecoach Trail

Stagecoach Trail

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

To be honest, I didn’t really plan on hiking the Stagecoach Trail today. When I left my house after work this afternoon to go on a hike I had my sights set on visiting the summit of Mount Lincoln using a short section of the Stagecoach Trail for access. However, as I climbed the trail towards the top of the Little Book Cliffs, dark clouds developed and moved in over the Grand Valley along with a little rain and a few distant rumbles of thunder, so I decided it would probably be best to skip the summit this evening and finish the Stagecoach Trail loop instead. It turns out that the Stagecoach Trail is pretty fun and offers some nice views of the Little Book Cliffs, Mount Garfield and the surrounding valley. I’ll have to return another day for Mount Lincoln!

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Moore Fun EastMoore Fun East

Moore Fun East

Monday, March 14, 2016

After hiking the west side of the Moore Fun trail last week, I headed back to the Kokopelli Trailhead after work this evening to hike the east side of the trail to it’s high point. While the trailhead was actually closer to the high point on this side, the trail was full of switchbacks and the length was a bit longer. With a storm moving across the valley it was very windy the entire hike but I did manage to miss the rain and I wouldn’t see the first raindrops of the incoming storm until I was almost home.

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Moore Fun WestMoore Fun West

Moore Fun West

Thursday, March 10, 2016

This evening I drove back out to the Kokopelli Trail System after work so I could squeeze in another hike before it got dark out (this should become easier next week after we change our clocks for Daylight Savings Time over the weekend). I returned to the Mack Ridge trailhead and followed the Moore Fun trail from the west to it’s high point above the Horsethief Bench and then returned the same way I had come. I would have preferred to have completed the entire loop but I wouldn’t have had enough daylight and didn’t really want to hike half of it in the dark, so I will have to return and hike the rest of this trail from the east on another day.

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Behind The Rocks & Pool ArchPool Arch

Behind The Rocks & Pool Arch

Moab Area Rock Art XXVI | Sunday, February 21, 2016

On Sunday morning I met up with Marty in Moab so we could hike into the Behind the Rocks Wilderness Study Area to visit Pool Arch (also known as Teardrop Arch) and do a little more exploring in the area. We drove over to the mouth of Pritchett Canyon along the Colorado River and started hiking up the 4×4 road. We soon left the road and began to follow a narrow slot canyon that would take us pretty much straight to the arch. Much of the hiking was easy but there was one steep section near the beginning that was a bit trickier than I had expected. At first we were a little worried we wouldn’t be able to continue, but we managed to climb up it and carry on.

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