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Mountains of Minerals: Rocky Gulch & Maggie GulchMountains of Minerals: Rocky Gulch & Maggie Gulch

Mountains of Minerals: Rocky Gulch & Maggie Gulch

San Juan Triangle | Friday – Sunday, July 14-16, 2023

To escape the rising temperatures in the lower valleys this weekend, I decided to head up into the San Juan Mountains near Silverton so I could spend some time exploring and hiking in Rocky Gulch and Maggie Gulch which are both situated along the Continental Divide. I left from work on Friday afternoon and made my way south over Red Mountain Pass to Silverton and then headed up Cunningham Gulch and Rocky Gulch where I followed the steep Jeep road all the way up to over 13,000 feet. From the overlook at the end of the road I stopped to eat dinner and enjoyed the expansive alpine views.

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Moab Meanderings: Moab Area Rock Art XXXXMoab Meanderings: Moab Area Rock Art XXXX

Moab Meanderings: Moab Area Rock Art XXXX

Saturday, February 11, 2023

After spending last week around southern Arizona, I was looking to stay a little closer to home this weekend and figured a day trip to Moab in search of rock art was in order on Saturday. There is a very nice petroglyph panel that I’ve been looking for on and off for about twelve years now, so I thought it was time to finally continue the search for that one again since I thought I might have a good idea where it was this time. I left home early on Saturday morning, arrived in Moab shortly after sunrise, and began my search…

CONTINUE READINGMoab Meanderings: Moab Area Rock Art XXXX
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Million Dollar Highway Fall ColorsMillion Dollar Highway Fall Colors

Million Dollar Highway Fall Colors

Fall Colors 2022 | Friday – Saturday, September 30 – October 1, 2022

Normally, I would have left from work on Friday afternoon and headed west into Utah to spend the entire week exploring new canyons of the Colorado Plateau, but this year there was a concert on Sunday evening that delayed the start of my trip by a couple days, so I thought I would try to get up into the high country near Silverton one last time until next summer. Unfortunately, the weather would have other plans for me this weekend and I would end up just taking some photos of the fall colors along the Million Dollar Highway on Saturday morning instead.

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West Elk Wilderness: Cut Short on the Mill-Castle TrailWest Elk Wilderness: Cut Short on the Mill-Castle Trail

West Elk Wilderness: Cut Short on the Mill-Castle Trail

Saturday, August 13, 2022

This weekend Diane was able to get away from her clinical rotations for a bit so she could go on an overnight backpacking trip with me into the West Elk Wilderness. We planned to take it easy by hiking up the Mill-Castle Trail along Mill Creek and thought that maybe we could make it up to the top of Storm Pass for an overlook of The Castles before returning the same way back to the trailhead. Unfortunately, this time we didn’t made it much further beyond the nice waterfall in Mill Creek and ended up turning this backpacking trip into a day hike. This was an amazingly scenic canyon and we both really enjoyed the shorter hike, so we will definitely need to return here again in the future!

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Fremont Indian State Park in Clear Creek CanyonFremont Indian State Park in Clear Creek Canyon

Fremont Indian State Park in Clear Creek Canyon

Friday – Sunday, February 11-13, 2022

It’s been over ten years since I last visited Fremont Indian State Park (not counting speeding through on I-70 a couple times each year) and Diane had never stopped there before, so I thought we were overdue for a visit and decided to spend my birthday weekend there this year. It’s funny since the last time I spent a weekend at the park was also over my birthday weekend! Established in 1987, Fremont Indian State Park encompasses 1,200 acres of land within Clear Creek Canyon at the juncture of the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin and is nestled between the Tushar Mountains to the south and the Pahvant Range to the north. While planning the trip late last year I noticed that the park now has two cabins that are available to reserve in the Sam Stowe Campground, so I booked one of them so we could spend the weekend in a little more comfort than usual. We were looking forward to checking it out as we explored the rock art in the park for the weekend!

CONTINUE READINGFremont Indian State Park in Clear Creek Canyon
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