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Red Mountain Fall Colors

Fall Colors 2013
Saturday, September 28, 2013

Getting out on the last weekend of September to check out the fall colors in Colorado is kind of a tradition of mine, and this year would be no different, even if the colors are a little behind this year. On Saturday, Kelly and I headed up to the San Juan Mountains between Ouray and Silverton for a day trip just to see how the colors were. We found the best color between Ouray and Red Mountain Pass with the best display around Ironton Park and Crystal Lake. Lucky for us, a recent storm had capped the surrounding mountains with fresh snow, too! We spent the morning hiking around Crystal Lake and taking plenty of photos.

Stormy San Juan Mountains

Saturday & Sunday, July 27-28, 2013

On Saturday morning I met up with a few friends from the Salt Lake City area that were on their way through town. They would be spending the following week in the San Juan Mountains and I was joining them for the weekend. We had breakfast in Grand Junction together and then made the drive south to Silverton. As soon as we reached Ouray it started to rain, and would continue to rain for much of the weekend until I was on my way home again Sunday evening. When we reached their rental house in Silverton they took some time to unpack and relax, but I headed up to Stony Pass for a little while just before sunset to see if there were any wildflowers still around.

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Chasing Fall Colors

Fall Colors 2012
Saturday & Sunday, September 15-16, 2012

On Saturday morning Amanda and I got in the Jeep and drove south to the San Juan Mountains again. This weekend I was hoping to find some early fall color and had heard a few reports that there were already some nice colors around Red Mountain Pass and Silverton. Those reports would turn out to be pretty accurate!

Clear Lake & Ice Lake Basin

Friday – Sunday, August 10-12, 2012

I had really wanted to go backpacking in the San Juan Mountains this weekend, but was unable to find anyone that was able to go with me. Since this would only be my third backpacking trip (first time in the mountains), I was a little hesitant to go by myself, but a few days before the weekend had finally arrived I decided that I would take a solo trip up to Ice Lake Basin. I figured that it was a popular area and that I probably wouldn’t be the only one camping up there anyway.

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Beating the Heat in the San Juan Mountains

Saturday & Sunday, June 23-24, 2012

After spending a few hours in the morning at the Shavano Valley Petroglyph Park near Montrose, we continued driving into the San Juan Mountains to get out of the heat for the weekend. Shortly after crossing over Red Mountain Pass we turned down the road along the South Fork of Mineral Creek and found a campsite for the weekend. After setting up our camp we drove through Silverton and made our way up Cunningham Gulch to the trailhead for the Highland Mary Lakes. As soon as we passed through Silverton the valley started filling up with smoke, and by the time we reached the Cunningham Trailhead the smoke had become pretty thick and there was even a little ash falling from the sky. We would later learn this smoke was from a wildfire that had started near Mancos.