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Tag: powderhorn

Carved from Calf Creek Plateau: Powderhorn Lakes

An Introduction to the Powderhorn Wilderness & Cannibal Point
Saturday & Sunday, August 14-15, 2021

On Friday Diane finished another semester of school and finally had a full week off before she starts back up again. We had made plans to spend a couple of days in the Wind Rivers later in the week, but since she hasn’t been able to get out hiking much lately we thought it would be a good idea to get out on a quick overnight backpacking trip this weekend. As I looked over my maps of the San Juan Mountains for an easier overnight trip that wouldn’t be too far away from home, I thought it would be interesting to finally check out the Powderhorn Wilderness near Lake City with a hike up to the Powderhorn Lakes. The Powderhorn Wilderness is jointly managed by the BLM and the Gunnison National Forest and contains two huge plateaus over 12,000ft that make up the largest relatively flat expanse of alpine tundra in the lower 48 states, and I hoped to hike to the highpoint of the Calf Creek Plateau while we were up there. I also figured this area wouldn’t be very busy since it’s not a popular spot with the kind of high rugged peaks that seem to attract people.

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Snowshoeing the West Bench Trail

Saturday, January 8, 2011

My first official trip report of 2011. Amanda had to work in Avon, so I headed up on the Grand Mesa to get in my first snowshoe trip of the season. There was an inversion in the Grand Valley, so it was nice to get up above the haze and into some warmer temperatures, too! When I started driving up onto the Grand Mesa I wasn’t sure which trail I was going to explore, but when I got up there I decided to head out on the West Bench Trail for a few miles. I ended up snowshoeing about 4.3 miles which isn’t too bad for my first trip of the season. It was definitely a good workout! The conditions on the Mesa were great and it was a beautiful day.

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