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Into the Black Canyon via the Chukar TrailChukar Trail

Into the Black Canyon via the Chukar Trail

Saturday, May 20, 2017

This weekend Diane and I stayed closer to home since I was hoping to raft part of the lower Gunnison River on Sunday. I guess this plan worked out well since the battery in my Jeep died on Friday and I had to wait until Saturday morning at 9:00am to pickup a new one and then install it. Because of that delay we left home later in the morning and decided to go on a short hike into the Gunnison Gorge on the Chukar Trail. The Chukar Trail is one of four main trails on the west side of the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area that you can take down to the Gunnison River. It’s also the easiest of the four, coming in at 1.1 miles in length (one way) and descending 560 feet. The only other trail I have hiked down before was the Ute Trail a couple of years ago, which is the longest and has the most elevation loss. The delay in the morning actually worked in our favor since we needed to wait a little while for the roads to dry out from the late-season winter storm that had just moved through the area the past couple of days.

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Dinosaur Stomping GroundDinosaur Stomping Ground

Dinosaur Stomping Ground

Sunday, January 15, 2017

I guess I’m not having much luck in Utah this year since both day trips I’ve been on so far have been shrouded in fog. When I checked the weather forecast for this weekend, it seemed that Sunday was going to be the nicer of two days, so I planned to stay home on Saturday and then go hiking on Sunday. It actually turned out that Saturday was the better of the two days since Sunday was foggy and cooler with some light rain and snow. It was pretty much opposite of what was predicted. We left home later than usual on Sunday morning since the fog and chance of rain was supposed to dissipate by 11:00am. However, the fog and low clouds were still around at the end of our hike later in the afternoon.

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Pollock CanyonPollock Canyon

Pollock Canyon

New Year’s Eve | Saturday, December 31, 2016

Diane and I headed out to the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area early this morning for our final hike of 2016. We started our hike from the Rattlesnake Canyon Trailhead near Fruita and hiked up to the top of the Pollock Bench before dropping down a steep trail into Upper Pollock Canyon so we could visit Liberty Bell Arch (Pollock Arch). After checking out the arch from a few different vantage points we decided to continue down Pollock Canyon instead of returning the way had come to create a ten mile loop. While I had hiked all of this route on different trips before, it was all new for Diane.

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Christmas in Arches 2016Christmas in Arches 2016

Christmas in Arches 2016

Christmas Day | Sunday, December 25, 2016

Since it’s become our annual tradition, Diane and I would again spend Christmas Day hiking in Arches National Park. (Previous trip reports from 2015 and 2014.) Overnight it had rained pretty hard in Moab and the forecast was also calling for snow. When we left the hotel before sunrise there was still no snow and the ground. However, as we drove into the park it did start to snow pretty hard and would continue to do so until we reached Landscape Arch in Devil’s Garden. It was very windy and cold out during this hike, and even though the sun would come out later in the morning and the temperature would rise a little, the wind kept blowing making it feel much colder out than it really was.

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