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Tag: unaweep canyon

Paradox Valley Petroglyphs

Saturday, November 21, 2015

On Saturday morning Diane and I left home early to drive to Paradox Valley in search of some new rock art. Early on during our drive through Unaweep Canyon before the sun came up we saw quite a few large elk crossing the road and had to slow down to avoid hitting any. One almost ran right into the side of my Jeep as we were stopping to let a group cross the road, but luckily she stopped and turned at the last second. It was a pretty close call!

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Lower Bangs Canyon

Veteran’s Day | Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Since I had Veteran’s Day off from work but Diane still had to go to work and school, I contacted Marty over the weekend to see if he was up for some hiking. He was, so we planned to stay close to home and explore the lower reaches of Bangs Canyon just outside of Grand Junction this morning. After a night of rain and snow we knew it was going to be a wet hike. I met Marty at the trailhead just outside of Whitewater along East Creek at the mouth of Unaweep Canyon about an hour after sunrise.

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Divide Road on the Uncompahgre Plateau

Fall Colors 2015
Thursday, October 15, 2015

I decided to head up onto the Uncompahgre Plateau after work this evening to see if there were any fall colors left. I ended up taking Divide Road all the way to Uncompahgre Butte (9,679), which I quickly summited while I was there, before turning around and driving back home for the night. While most of the aspen trees had dropped their leaves, there were still a few small groves left that were holding on to their color for a little bit longer. It was a nice way to spend a few hours after work.

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Piñon Mesa Fall Colors

Fall Colors 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014

After work, Diane and I headed up to Piñon Mesa near Glade Park to see how the fall colors were coming along up there. I had actually only been up to this area once before, many years ago, so I wasn’t too familiar with the area. I have heard that it might be a good spot for fall colors close to home and have wanted to get up there in the fall for many years, so it was time to finally do it. While there was still quite a bit of green around, there were also nice patches of yellow aspen trees and even some reds and oranges, too.

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Along the Dolores River

Sunday, October 28, 2012

It was one of those days that I just needed to get out hiking and exploring by myself, so that’s what I set out to do. Last year around Christmas I had planned to hike along the Dolores River near Bedrock but got a severe headache on the drive there and had to turn around and head back home. I hadn’t made it back that way yet, so I thought it would be a good time to try again. After leaving home and driving through Unaweep Canyon to Gateway, I then followed the Dolores River to Paradox Valley and turned off at the dead-end road by the Bedrock store to the boat ramp. One day soon I want to float the Dolores River from the Big Gypsum Valley to Bedrock and wanted to check out the takeout. After leaving the boat ramp the road I was on got a bit rougher, but I managed to drive a little ways further until I reached and area that was completely washed out. I parked my Jeep there and continued along the river on foot. The hike was easy and for the most part since it followed an old road that hadn’t been driveable in quite some time. After a few miles I reached a few boulders with petroglyphs on them that I had hoped to find.

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