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Cleveland Gulch: Cinnamon Pass to Schafer Basin

Mountains of Minerals | Thursday – Friday, July 2-3, 2026

This week I had Friday off from work for the Independence Day holiday and planned to spend it in the San Juan Triangle hiking around Cleveland Gulch from Cinnamon Pass to the ridge above Schafer Basin. Although there are quite a few large wildfires burning in Colorado, Utah and Arizona right now, this particular area was being spared from most of the smoke and seemed like a good place to go. I left from work on Thursday afternoon and initially thought I was going to have to drive the long way around to Lake City since Highway 550 had been closed earlier in the week due to the Gold Mountain Fire near Ouray, but luckily it had just been reopened on Wednesday afternoon. When I stopped to top off my gas tank in Montrose I double-checked COtrip one last time to make sure that Highway 550 was actually still open, and it was, so I carried on driving towards Ouray. Of course it figures, by the time I made it past Ridgway the road had been closed again! Thankfully, this time traffic was just being rerouted on County Road 23 instead of having to go the long way around, so it only slowed me down a little.

Leon Peak: Returning to Mesa County’s Highest Point

Summer Solstice on the Grand Mesa | Sunday, June 21, 2026

After going on a nice overnight backpacking trip into the Flat Tops Wilderness with Jackson, I returned home on Saturday afternoon to spend some time with our new kitties. Then on Sunday morning Diane and I drove up onto the Grand Mesa so we could hike to the summit of Leon Peak, which at 11,236 feet is the highest point in Mesa County, since she had never been up there before and I was interested in returning again since the last time I was there was about twelve years ago. The area was very busy when we arrived at the trailhead by the Weir and Johnson Campground, but it seemed like everyone else was there to fish and spend time by the water because we saw no one else along the route after leaving the lakes behind.

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.

Mountains of Minerals: Denver Pass to Grouse Gulch

San Juan Triangle | Sunday & Monday, August 31 – September 1, 2025

After staying home to attend a concert on Saturday evening, I was up early on Sunday morning and headed down to the San Juan Mountains so I could spend the remainder of the holiday weekend hiking and camping in the San Juan Triangle, which is one of my favorite areas to explore in the mountains. After making it over Red Mountain Pass to Silverton, I followed the Animas River to Animas Forks and then continued up the North Fork to Denver Lake. I parked nearby and then started my first hike of the day up the old mining track to Denver Pass. Although I have already hiked most of the peaks in this area and driven all the open roads, I had neglected to hike up to this pass before and was looking forward to finally checking it out!

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A Smoky Drive Through Grand Teton National Park

Saturday, August 23, 2025

After leaving Yellowstone National Park through it’s South Entrance on Saturday morning it was time to start our drive back home, but since we would be driving through Grand Teton National Park for the first time we decided to spend a few hours in the park stopping at overlooks and viewpoints along the way and even going on a couple of short hikes. Unfortunately, there was still a lot of smoke in the air from wildfires and the hazy light during our late morning and early afternoon visit was pretty terrible, so these are just some snapshots I took during our brief visit to the park. Maybe it’s because we drove through on a Saturday, but I was a bit shocked at how busy this park was! I was expecting Yellowstone to be packed with people, and aside from the popular geyser basins it wasn’t as bad as I envisioned, but Grand Teton was what I was expecting Yellowstone to be like with vehicles lining both side of the roads and overfilled parking lots and trailheads.