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East Fork of Pollock Canyon

Saturday, March 14, 2015

I stayed home this weekend so I could work on a large photo project that I need to get done soon, but when Saturday afternoon rolled around I was tired of staring at a computer screen and had to get out hiking somewhere. It’s a good thing that I live close to a lot of trails and amazing scenery here in the Grand Valley! I had no plans, so I decided to explore the East Fork of Pollock Canyon since I had looked down into it from the Pollock Bench a few weekends ago and thought it would be a nice area to explore.

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Pollock Bench Loop

Sunday, March 1, 2015

I didn’t get out hiking yesterday like planned, so I had to make sure that I got outside today! I decided to head over to the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness near Fruita this afternoon and hiked the Pollock Bench Loop which follows the edge of the higher bench between Flume Creek Canyon and the East Fork of Pollock Canyon. While I really dislike having to post photos that really aren’t that great on my blog, I can’t always hike in great photographic conditions all the time and today was one of those days. With another winter storm moving into the area, the sky was overcast all day and the conditions outside were generally gloomy. Aside from the gray skies the temperature out was very comfortable for hiking and it never rained or snowed while I was on the trail. The complete loop ended up being about 7 miles in length.

Sieber Canyon

Saturday, November 22, 2014

I’ve known about petroglyphs hidden in Sieber Canyon for quite a few years now, but have always seemed to put off a trip in search of them, instead choosing to travel elsewhere throughout the Southwest each weekend. That seems to be the way it works with me- always wanting to travel somewhere new away from home! A few years back I even found the route down into the canyon but I didn’t have enough time go down that day. Earlier this year I tried to hike into the canyon on Easter, but I was turned around by a closed road and had to cancel those plans. Diane and I were finally able to hike into Sieber Canyon this morning and found the petroglyphs we were looking for. It was a beautiful day for hiking and we managed to get back out of the canyon before a winter storm moved through the area in the afternoon. There were some nice clouds in the sky during the morning hours and it didn’t get completely overcast until after we found the main petroglyph panel. The main panel was very cool and contains some of the best petroglyphs I have visited this close to home. Unfortunately, some of the best figures in this panel have been shot up with bullet holes.

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Ruby – Horsethief in a Day

Sunday, June 1, 2014

I’ve always wanted to try running the Ruby – Horsethief section of the Colorado River between Loma and Westwater in a day. With the Colorado River running over 35,000cfs this weekend, Jackson and I thought it would be a good time to try it. Unfortunately, it really wasn’t as fun of a day trip as we had hoped. We learned a valuable lesson today; for us, this stretch of river is more enjoyable in an inflatable kayak as an overnight trip at lower water levels than as a day trip in fast water. While we didn’t have any issues on the river, it was a little tricky getting through Black Rocks at these water levels with the strange hydraulics and whirlpools. The water level was just too high on the banks making it difficult to stop anywhere and there was a lot of debris floating by the whole time. The current was too strong to get across river quickly and stop in time in the inflatable kayak, plus many of the nice campsites on this stretch of the river were under water. It was hot enough out that it would have been nice to jump out of the boat for a swim, but that was just too dangerous at these flows. I highly doubt I will be doing this section in my inflatable kayak at these water levels again. I am looking forward to a nice weekend float in lower water, though. Here’s a few snapshots from our day on the river.

Mee Canyon Alcove

Saturday, May 10, 2014

This morning Diane and I woke up early and drove up through the Colorado National Monument to reach the Black Ridge Road which we took to the Mee Canyon trailhead. I have wanted to hike to the very large Mee Canyon Alcove for a few years now and it was finally time to do it. The weather forecast was calling for storms in the afternoon, so we got an early start in order to get out of there before the rain moved in since the clay that makes up part of the road can get a very slippery when wet, and I really didn’t want to have to deal with that on the way back down.

Tag: mcinnis canyons national conservation area

East Fork of Pollock Canyon

Pollock Bench Loop

Sieber Canyon

Ruby – Horsethief in a Day

Mee Canyon Alcove