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Fringes of the Raggeds: Yule Pass to Daisy Pass

Raggeds Wilderness | Friday – Sunday, September 5-7, 2025

This weekend I returned to the Elk Mountains near Crested Butte so I could hike up to two passes in the Ruby Range that have been on my to-do list for far too long, both of which are found along the fringes of the Raggeds Wilderness above the Slate River Valley. Even though I didn’t have the best experience trying to find a campsite near Crested Butte back in July, there are still a lot of places in the area that I want to hike and explore so I decided to give it another shot after Labor Day weekend, which seemed to work out much better this time. As usual, I left from work on Friday afternoon, stopped for a quick dinner in Delta and then took the Kebler Pass Road over into Crested Butte and followed the Slate River up to the Paradise Divide where I found a campsite for the night. It started to rain on and off while I was driving over Kebler Pass which would keep up throughout the rest of the evening. Once I was settled in at camp I spent the remainder of the evening wandering around Paradise Divide when it wasn’t raining.

Rocky Sea Pass: Hayden Pass to Brinkley Lake

The Western End of the Highline Trail in the High Uintas Wilderness
Friday & Saturday, August 8-9, 2025

After driving up to Salt Lake City on Thursday morning to see a concert, I spent the night in town and then drove up into the Uinta Mountains on Friday morning to meet up with Jared so we could go on backpacking trip along the western end of the Highline Trail from Hayden Pass to Dead Horse Lake. After meeting up with Jared at the Highline Trailhead on Hayden Pass we continued following the Mirror Lake Highway north to the North Slope Road so we could leave a vehicle where we planned to end our hike at the West Fork Blacks Fork Trailhead. Just after turning right onto the North Slope Road we were stopped by a caravan of at least twenty fire vehicles that had turned right in front of us and were headed east. There was a Summit County Sheriff’s vehicle parked near the intersection, so we stopped to ask what was going on. That’s when we learned about the Beulah Fire which had started the previous evening and blew up to 1,400 acres overnight, which also closed the road to the trailhead that we were trying to get to, so our plans were going to have to change. We didn’t have any backup plans, so we decided to return to Hayden Pass and follow the Highline Trail over Rocky Sea Pass and then return the same way.

Desolation Canyon & Gray Canyon of the Green River

Splitting the Tavaputs Plateau in Two: Sand Wash to Swaseys Beach
Sunday – Saturday, May 11-17, 2025 | Average CFS: 6,665

After getting permits for Yampa Canyon and the Canyon of Lodore over the past two years, Jackson’s and my main goal for this year was to try and get a Spring Low-Use Season permit for the Green River through Desolation Canyon and Gray Canyon as we continue to work our way through more sections of the Colorado River and Green River across the Colorado Plateau. Although Jackson and I have still have never actually won a permit in any of the lotteries we have entered over the years we have been lucky enough to grab permits and cancellations during the general releases after the fact, and this time I managed to get us a permit for Desolation Canyon back in mid-March. Once we had the permit we quickly got started on the planning process since the launch date was only about two months away, but we quickly found out that many of our usual river friends were unable to make the trip this spring. Luckily, our friends Bob and Lisa were able to go and they had a few other friends that they were able to invite on the trip with us, two of whom were very familiar with Desolation Canyon and were a great addition to the trip! In the end I enjoyed rafting with everyone who was on this trip and would invite every single one of them back in a heartbeat!

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A Taste of Autumn in the West Elks

Fall Colors 2018 | Friday & Saturday, September 28-29, 2018

Aside from a quick unplanned evening on the Grand Mesa almost two weeks ago, my schedule at the end of September and early October didn’t really leave me much time for a proper Fall Colors weekend photography trip since I had a must-attend concert in Salt Lake City on Sunday evening and a river trip through Labyrinth Canyon the weekend before. Even with all the preparations for an upcoming week-long adventure into Utah I did manage to get out for a quick overnight trip to the West Elk Mountains after work on Friday. I just hoped that there was some color around for me to photograph during this narrow window of time in the mountains!

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Tag: rock creek

Fringes of the Raggeds: Yule Pass to Daisy Pass

Rocky Sea Pass: Hayden Pass to Brinkley Lake

Desolation Canyon & Gray Canyon of the Green River

A Taste of Autumn in the West Elks