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Tag: wildflowers

Dark Canyon Trail to the Devils StairwayDark Canyon Trail to the Devils Stairway

Dark Canyon Trail to the Devils Stairway

Raggeds Wilderness | Friday & Saturday, June 23-24, 2023

With the desert trails starting to heat up, it’s now time for me to start chasing cooler temperatures in the mountains after having a great season on the local rivers this spring. While there is still a lot of snow up in the high country from our big winter, I decided to start out with some lower elevation hikes this weekend. Since Colorado Highway 133 had finally reopened up earlier in the week I planned to spend Saturday morning hiking through the Dark Canyon of Anthracite Creek into the heart of the Raggeds Wilderness. I left from work on Friday afternoon, made a quick stop for gas in Delta and then followed the North Fork of the Gunnison River until I reached the Kebler Pass Road just below the Paonia Reservoir.

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Triangle Mesa from Cactus ParkTriangle Mesa from Cactus Park

Triangle Mesa from Cactus Park

Dominguez Canyon Wilderness | Sunday, June 18, 2023

After spending Saturday floating through The Chute of Muddy Creek, I was originally planning to spend Sunday morning hiking in the Raggeds Wilderness of the Elk Mountains. However, once I realized that Colorado Highway 133 was still closed before Somerset and didn’t feel like driving the long way around, I cancelled those plans. Instead, I decided to stay closer to home and went for a morning hike to the summit of Triangle Mesa in the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness.

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Lower Fisher Creek in Cottonwood CanyonLower Fisher Creek in Cottonwood Canyon

Lower Fisher Creek in Cottonwood Canyon

Sunday, June 11, 2023

This morning I was looking for a shorter hike close to home and thought I would make my way back over to Gateway so I could hike along Fisher Creek into lower Cottonwood Canyon. Hiking into this canyon has been on my to-do list for way too long and my interest was rejuvenated yesterday as I floated past the mouth of Fisher Creek on the Dolores River, so I figured it was finally time to make it happen. I woke up early on Sunday morning and then drove west through Unaweep Canyon to Gateway for the second time this weekend.

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San Rafael River: Fuller Bottom to Lockhart BoxSan Rafael River: Fuller Bottom to Lockhart Box

San Rafael River: Fuller Bottom to Lockhart Box

Friday – Sunday, June 2-4, 2023

This weekend Jared and I met up in the San Rafael Swell so we could float the San Rafael River with our packrafts while there was still enough water left this year. Although our last packrafting trip together on the Dirty Devil River may not have gone as well as we had hoped, Jared was looking forward to getting his packraft on a river that actually had enough water this time and I was looking forward to a return visit into the Little Grand Canyon! I left from work on Friday afternoon and made my way over to the Swinging Bridge at the mouth of Buckhorn Wash, where we planned to meet up. I arrived a couple hours before Jared was going to, so I drove a little ways down the Mexican Mountain Road and found us a campsite just as it started to rain.

CONTINUE READINGSan Rafael River: Fuller Bottom to Lockhart Box
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Little Yampa Canyon: South Beach to Duffy MountainLittle Yampa Canyon: South Beach to Duffy Mountain

Little Yampa Canyon: South Beach to Duffy Mountain

Floating the Yampa River Through Duffy Mountain | Average CFS: 14,140
Saturday & Sunday, May 20-21, 2023

With the big snowpack in the mountains of Colorado this year I decided to take a little break from hiking and backpacking during the months of May and June so that I could try to get out onto the rivers as much as possible this season. This weekend Jackson and I were looking to get out on an overnight trip and were initially thinking about trying to catch some of the ephemeral desert rivers in Utah, but that wouldn’t logistically work out for us this weekend and we turned our attention back to the Yampa River in Colorado’s Great Northwest. After looking over maps of the area we settled on trying out a section of the Yampa that is just west of Craig and known as Little Yampa Canyon or Duffy Canyon. This 33 mile stretch of the Yampa River carves it’s way through Duffy Mountain and is all flat water. Since we were unfamiliar with this section of the river we were a little concerned that it’s easy nature might change at the high water levels it was currently seeing, but we decided to check it out anyway.

CONTINUE READINGLittle Yampa Canyon: South Beach to Duffy Mountain
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