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Tag: rattlesnake canyon

Mack RidgeMack Ridge

Mack Ridge

Sunday, February 28, 2016

After spending Saturday at Arches National Park I decided to stay close to home on Sunday and just go on a short local hike in the morning. I was originally thinking about hiking in the Book Cliffs, but thought it still might be a bit too muddy there with the recent melting snow so instead I headed west to Mack to hike something in the Kokopelli Trail System. While I have ridden the Rustler’s Loop and Horsethief Bench trails on my mountain bike before, I have neglected hiking the other trails that are out there, especially the ones closer to Mack.

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Quick Rattlesnake Arches HikeQuick Rattlesnake Arches Hike

Quick Rattlesnake Arches Hike

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Diane and I ended up having a rare lazy weekend at home, but we managed to get outside for a short hike on Sunday afternoon. Diane had never been to the Rattlesnake Canyon Arches before and since the upper Black Ridge Road had just opened for the season we decided to visit them. We started from the upper trailhead and followed it down to the main Rattlesnake Canyon Trail until we reached the arches. After reaching Cedar Tree Arch (the end of the trail), we climbed through the arch to the rim of the canyon to shorten the hike back to my Jeep. While I have hiked this trail a few times before, I had never felt comfortable climbing through the arch when I was alone. We were easily able to climb through the arch this time with each other’s help and didn’t have to retrace our steps back to the trailhead. With clear blue skies and harsh light I didn’t really take many photos this time, but I do have a couple snapshots that I will share.

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Ruby – Horsethief CanyonsRuby - Horsethief Canyons

Ruby – Horsethief Canyons

Friday – Sunday, August 24-26, 2012

After work on Friday I met Jackson at the Westwater exit on I-70, after the slower than usual drive through two construction zones, so that we could drop his car off at the Westwater takeout along the Colorado River. Our plan this weekend was to float through the Ruby – Horsethief Canyons section of the Colorado River from Loma to Westwater. This was going to be my very first overnight river trip and I had been looking forward to it for a while. Thanks to all my new backpacking gear bought earlier this year, packing the inflatable kayak was much easier, even though I decided to bring along a bigger tent this trip. This section of the Colorado is about 25 miles in length and is pretty mild, but it flows through some beautiful sandstone canyons. Once Jackson’s car was parked in the Westwater parking lot we took my Jeep back to the Loma boat ramp and got our inflatable kayaks ready for the trip. As I suspected, we had the launch site to ourselves on a Friday evening at about 5:30pm.

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Rattlesnake Canyon ArchesRattlesnake Canyon Arches

Rattlesnake Canyon Arches

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

It’s been awhile since I’ve hiked to the arches in Rattlesnake Canyon and I have wanted to return again so that I could try and get some better photos of them. I figured that sunset would probably be the best time to go, and that I should have plenty of time to reach them after work before the sun went down. Last week I had originally planned on hiking to them after work on two separate occasions, but as I left work on those days the sky was completely overcast which wouldn’t have made for any good photos, so I cancelled the hike. Finally on Tuesday the conditions were looking good, so I grabbed a quick dinner and drove to the upper trailhead after work. I actually arrived in about an hour, which was quicker than I thought it would take. I got on my pack and started hiking into the canyon. There was no one else around and I would not see anyone else all evening…I had the place to myself. It’s great to be able to get to places like this not far from home to enjoy some solitude in the middle of the week.

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