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Tag: snow

The Decalibron

Tuesday & Wednesday, July 29-30, 2014

The Decalibron is a name given to a route in the Mosquito Range that allows you to summit four of Colorado’s 58 named 14ers in one 7-mile loop; Mount Democrat (14,148 feet), Mount Cameron (14,238 feet), Mount Lincoln (14,286 feet) and Mount Bross (14,172 feet). Some people do not count Mount Cameron as an official 14er because it is not ranked (the saddle between Cameron and Lincoln does not drop below the 300 feet required), but I have decided that I am going to try and complete the list of named 14ers and am going to count it (why short myself some Colorado high points?). Since my goal for the year is to summit five 14ers, I figured that this hike would be a good way to reach that goal after hiking Huron Peak a few weeks ago. Since this route is very popular and closer to the Front Range (Denver area), it can be very busy on the weekends. I decided to avoid the crowds by taking a day off from work in the middle of the week to attempt this hike.

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Silverton & Ouray

Saturday, June 14, 2014

The desert has been heating up recently and I’ve been looking to start getting up into the mountains soon. The first reports of roads opening up in the San Juan Mountains have been coming in, so I decided to head up towards Silverton and Ouray to see just how fast the snow was melting this year so I could start planning some mountain hiking trips. Much of Colorado’s high country got a lot of snow this year, so trails and roads are opening up later than they typically would. There is still a lot of snow up in the mountains, but it appears to be melting fast.

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Fruita Dugway

Sunday, April 13, 2014

My original plan for the day was to hike the Fruita Dugway trail first thing in the morning.  I woke up early and was out the door well before the sun came up with hopes of catching a nice sunrise from the trail.  I knew that rain was in the forecast for the day but I thought it might hold off for a few more hours after checking the forecast and weather maps before leaving my house.  I was wrong.  As I neared the trailhead just outside of Fruita the skies opened up and a very heavy rain began to fall, which was accompanied by strong winds and a little lightning.  I would not be hiking anywhere local this morning, so I turned around and drove back home.

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Sand Cove & Yellow Rock

Friday – Sunday, January 31 – February 2, 2014

I had another permit to Coyote Buttes North this Saturday, so I decided to spend the weekend down around the Paria. The weather looked like it was going to be pretty nice so I was looking forward to getting in my first camping trip of the year. I only worked a half-day on Friday and then started driving through a snowstorm as I headed south through Utah. I finally got out of the snow shortly after passing through Monticello. I stopped for a quick dinner in Page and then hurried to make it up to the Paria Canyon Overlook in time for sunset. Unfortunately, I didn’t leave myself enough time and made it to the overlook just after the sun had set. I was a little disappointed at first, but soon realized that the canyon looked pretty good in the early twilight. I had originally planned on camping up at the overlook for the night, but it was much windier and colder up here than I had anticipated, so I decided to drive back down to the Stateline Campground for the night. That way I would also be much closer to the Wire Pass trailhead for an early start in the morning.

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West Bench Snowshoeing

Saturday, January 25, 2014

On Saturday I headed up onto the Grand Mesa with Diane and Jackson to get in a little snowshoeing on the West Bench Trail. The temperature this afternoon was in the 40’s, so hiking was very pleasant in a lightweight jacket. The Mesa doesn’t appear to have received any fresh snow recently, so the trail was well-packed the entire time. It was a nice way to spend a few hours on a Saturday afternoon. Here are a few photos I took on our little hike.

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