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Tag: rio grande

South San Juan Sojourn: Conejos Peak & Summit PeakSouth San Juans: Conejos Peak & Summit Peak

South San Juan Sojourn: Conejos Peak & Summit Peak

South San Juan Wilderness | Thursday – Saturday, August 20-22, 2026

It’s been just over three years since my last visit to the South San Juan Mountains and I’ve been wanting to get back there for quite a while. Initially, I was going to attend the annual GIS Colorado Summer Meetup this week, which was supposed to be held at the Big Meadows Campground along the western edge of the Weminuche Wilderness, and then I was planning to spend the remainder of the weekend hiking in the South San Juans, but that event was recently cancelled. Since I had really been looking forward to returning to the South San Juans, I decided to carry on with my plans and started driving that way early on Thursday morning. I took the scenic route along the Silver Thread Scenic Byway through Lake City and Creede to South Fork and then followed the Lake Fork of the Rio Grande to the Big Meadows Reservoir and Shaw Lake so I could at least check them out, even though I wouldn’t be spending any time in that area now.

CONTINUE READINGSouth San Juan Sojourn: Conejos Peak & Summit Peak
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The Fourth: Cunningham Gulch & Stony PassThe Fourth: Cunningham Gulch & Stony Pass

The Fourth: Cunningham Gulch & Stony Pass

Independence Day | Thursday – Friday, July 3-4, 2025

This holiday weekend Jackson and I were planning to spend three days backpacking a segment of the Colorado Trail through the Weminuche Wilderness, but unfortunately I started to have some issues with the elevation on Thursday night while we were camped up in Cunningham Gulch and I had to drive down lower in the middle of the night to start feeling better and to try to get some sleep. With that in mind, I figured it probably wasn’t a good idea to head off into the high Wilderness of the Weminuche where a retreat to lower terrain would not be as quick and easy, so we cancelled those plans on Friday morning and decided to just go on a shorter hike along the Continental Divide and then spend the rest of the day testing both of our new vehicles by driving over Stony Pass. Between the recent vehicle troubles and not feeling well at elevation, my mountain season has not gotten off to a great start this year, but I am hoping that things will start getting better soon. Even though we didn’t get to go on our backpacking trip this weekend, we did experience some excellent foggy and cloudy conditions on Friday morning that were fun to photograph, so that was a positive! These are some photos from our truncated Independence Day weekend.

CONTINUE READINGThe Fourth: Cunningham Gulch & Stony Pass
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White Rock Canyon of the Rio Grande & Pecos NHPWhite Rock Canyon of the Rio Grande

White Rock Canyon of the Rio Grande & Pecos NHP

Lost in the Land of Enchantment | Sunday & Monday, November 10-11, 2024

After spending most of the weekend hiking around a snow-covered Bandelier National Monument, we left Tsankawi late on Sunday morning and headed over to White Rock Canyon so we could spend the rest of the day exploring the Red Dot Trail along the Rio Grande. Although I knew there were some petroglyphs in this area, I didn’t know where they were and how many we would be able to find, but we were pleasantly surprised to find quite a few along the way which kept us busy until shortly before sunset. Afterwards, we drove up to Los Alamos and had a nice dinner at the Pajarito Brewpub & Grill. Then on Monday morning we returned to Overlook Park in White Rock at sunrise and hiked a short way down the Blue Dot Trail before we left the Pajarito Plateau and started heading further south into New Mexico where we hoped it would be a bit warmer for the rest of the week. Here are a few photos from our time in White Rock Canyon.

CONTINUE READINGWhite Rock Canyon of the Rio Grande & Pecos NHP
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Bandelier National Monument and the Pajarito PlateauBandelier National Monument and the Pajarito Plateau

Bandelier National Monument and the Pajarito Plateau

Lost in the Land of Enchantment | Saturday – Sunday, November 9-10, 2024

We don’t seem to have very good luck when it comes to planning a trip to visit Bandelier National Monument. We have been trying to make it down to Bandelier for the past couple of years and have made plans to go there on at least three separate occasions, but each and every time something has prevented us from making the trip, including park closures due to flash flooding and a wildfire. This year I decided to plan a trip to Bandelier in early November thinking it would be a good time to avoid some of those previous issues, but apparently I was wrong since an early and unusually strong winter storm impacted Bandelier, along with the rest of eastern Colorado and New Mexico, on the day that we were supposed to arrive which closed the park yet again! Talk about bad luck!

CONTINUE READINGBandelier National Monument and the Pajarito Plateau
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South San Juan Mountains from Elwood PassSouth San Juan Mountains from Elwood Pass

South San Juan Mountains from Elwood Pass

Friday – Monday, July 28 – 31, 2023

After spending the last two days around the Animas River Valley between Coal Bank Pass and Durango, I decided to spend the next couple of days further south and east in a distant part of the San Juan Mountains that I don’t get around to visiting very often. I’ve definitely been long overdue for another visit to the South San Juan Mountains between Wolf Creek Pass and the New Mexico state line and figured that this would be a good opportunity to get back since it wasn’t too much further away. After the GIS Colorado Summer Meetup concluded late in the morning on Friday I packed up my Jeep and made my way over to Pagosa Springs to continue on with the next leg of the trip.

CONTINUE READINGSouth San Juan Mountains from Elwood Pass
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