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West Elk Loop: Last of the Curecanti TrailsWest Elk Loop: Last of the Curecanti Trails

West Elk Loop: Last of the Curecanti Trails

Curecanti National Recreation Area | Saturday & Sunday, June 24-25, 2023

After hiking through the Dark Canyon of Anthracite Creek on Saturday morning I returned to Hotchkiss and grabbed a burger from 133 BRGR for an early lunch and then continued following the West Elk Loop Scenic Byway into the Curecanti National Recreation Area so that I could finish what I started last month and complete hiking all of the official trails within the park. I planned to start with the Neversink Trail, which is located just a few miles outside of Gunnison at the very eastern edge of the Recreation Area, and then I would work my way back west toward home. Since none of the three trails I had left to hike were very long, I also explored a couple of the backroads along the way that headed up toward the edge of the West Elk Wilderness in the Gunnison National Forest.

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Curecanti Trails in the Black Canyon of the GunnisonCurecanti Trails in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Curecanti Trails in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison

Curecanti National Recreation Area | Saturday, May 13, 2023

After spending last weekend on the Yampa River, Jackson and I had already planned another river trip for this Sunday on the Colorado River near home, so today I wanted to find something a little more local to do. While looking over my maps trying to decide where to go, I eventually settled on hiking a couple of shorter trails in the Curecanti National Recreation Area (NRA) that are all located within the upper end of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Aside from an overnight backpacking trip down the Hermits Rest Trail a couple years ago, I have done no other hiking in the NRA even though I drive through it frequently in the summer. There are really only a handful of trails in Curecanti, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to start hiking them all.

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Hermits Rest Trail to the Morrow Point ReservoirHermits Rest Trail to the Morrow Point Reservoir

Hermits Rest Trail to the Morrow Point Reservoir

Cimarron Point into the Black Canyon of the Gunnison | Curecanti National Recreation Area
Saturday & Sunday, June 13-14, 2020

The next couple of weeks are about to get pretty busy for us since we will be moving into a new house, but I wanted to try to get one more quick overnight backpacking trip in before that happens. Since we still had a lot to do at home, I was looking for something easier and close to home where I didn’t think we would run into many people. After looking over some maps, I thought it would be nice to camp along the shore of the Morrow Point Reservoir in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison at the bottom of the Hermits Rest Trail. I couldn’t find very much information about this hike online, so I figured it probably wouldn’t be too busy. Although I’ve driven through the Curecanti National Recreation Area many times on Highway 50 between Montrose and Gunnison, I have never really spent any time there and thought it was about time we finally did some hiking there. Plus, with the daily boat tours currently not operating because of COVID-19, I knew there wouldn’t be any motorized traffic on the reservoir either.

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Snow Mesa: Baldy Cinco & Baldy no es CincoSnow Mesa: Baldy Cinco & Baldy no es Cinco

Snow Mesa: Baldy Cinco & Baldy no es Cinco

Baldy Cinco Group | Friday – Saturday, July 26-27, 2019

Since Diane was working all weekend, I figured that this would be a good time to attempt my first 14er of the year and had settled on trying to climb Mount Yale in the Sawatch Range. The weather forecast for Saturday wasn’t looking too good, but Sunday was, so I decided to push the Mount Yale hike off until Sunday and find something shorter and easier to do on Saturday morning. Last year I had planned to hike Baldy Cinco and Baldy no es Cinco from Spring Creek Pass in late September but ended up changing those plans at the last minute, so I decided to give that hike another shot now.

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Fall On The Grand Mesa 2017Fall On The Grand Mesa 2017

Fall On The Grand Mesa 2017

Fall Colors 2017 | Monday, September 25, 2017

This evening I headed up onto the Grand Mesa after work for a couple of hours so I could try to catch a few fall colors this season with my camera. Unfortunately, the colors didn’t seem to be as good as they usually are with plenty of stripped trees and unhealthy looking leaves, but I managed to find a couple nice areas and used my long lens to help isolate the best colors. There was even a little snow still sticking around on the top of the mesa from the winter storm that came through over the weekend. I pretty much stuck to the highway and stayed around until sunset before heading back home. Here are a few photos from the evening…

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