IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

Saturday, January 8, 2011

My first official trip report of 2011. Amanda had to work in Avon today, so I headed up on the Grand Mesa to get in my first snowshoe trip of the season. There was an inversion in the Grand Valley today, so it was nice to get up above the haze and into warmer temperatures, too! When I set out I wasn’t sure which trail I was going to hit, but when I got up there I decided to head out on the West Bench Trail for a few miles and then head back. I ended up snowshoeing about 4.3 miles, which isn’t bad for my first trip of the season. It definitely was a good workout! The conditions on the Mesa were great and it was a beautiful day. Here’s a few photos from my hike…

Strapping on my snowshoes for the first time this winter

Gauge of how deep the snow is

Passing by the first reservoir

Ice on the branches

Aspens and Snow

Seeing what kind of sunburst I could get out of my S90….this was as good as it gets when stopped all the way down to f8

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Sunday, December 26, 2010

Amanda had to work on Sunday, so I was on my own to find something to do. As I have been doing lately, I decided to head back to Moab in search of some more rock art. On my drive to Moab down the Colorado River Road, I was treated to an excellent sunrise. I just had to pull over and get a photo.

My big goal for the day was to find the Moab Maiden (aka Moab Princess) petroglyph, so that was my first destination. Thanks to some information from a new friend, I was able to quickly locate her.

Soon after I arrived, the sunlight started creeping down the boulder.

After searching the area for more rock art and coming up empty, I decided to head over to Kane Creek Canyon and search the walls for some more petroglyphs. I quickly spotted some high up on the canyon wall and scrambled up to them.

The Family

A Lone Anthropomorph

Small interesting figure

After photographing the petroglyphs I initially spotted, I decided to walk along the canyon walls in search of more rock art. Luckily, I was not disappointed.

I came across this large panel

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I started this tradition last year with my 2009 Favorite Photos, so I am going to continue with my favorite photos from this year. Just like last year, I explored a lot of new places and revisited some old ones. It was a lot of fun, and I’m already day-dreaming about my 2011 adventures! Sit back and enjoy my favorite photos of 2010!

Since I took so many photos this year and I want to give a nice full overview of the year, I have a bunch of photos I would like to post. I am going to split this post up into three parts so that I don’t overload you all at once. You can click on each photo and it will bring you to that photo’s flickr page which has a little description of the image as well as bigger sizes.

Click here to see Part 1
Click here to see Part 2

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I started this tradition last year with my 2009 Favorite Photos, so I am going to continue with my favorite photos from this year. Just like last year, I explored a lot of new places and revisited some old ones. It was a lot of fun, and I’m already day-dreaming about my 2011 adventures! Sit back and enjoy my favorite photos of 2010!

Since I took so many photos this year and I want to give a nice full overview of the year, I have a bunch of photos I would like to post. I am going to split this post up into three parts so that I don’t overload you all at once. You can click on each photo and it will bring you to that photo’s flickr page which has a little description of the image as well as bigger sizes.

Click here to see Part 1

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Saturday, December 25, 2010 | Christmas Day

Christmas was here again, and that meant it was time for our annual Christmas trip to Arches National Park. As usual, we started out with a hike to Landscape Arch to make sure it was still standing…..it was.

Then we wandered over to Pine Tree Arch for a few photos.

The view through Pine Tree Arch

A quick stop by Tunnel Arch on the way back to the Jeep

On our way to the Windows Section of the park, we hiked up to Skyline Arch.

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