IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

Last Wednesday I headed out on my Colorado Adventure. While I didn’t make a set itinerary for the trip this year, there were a few areas that I wanted to explore further, and I tried to connect them into a big loop. From Grand Junction I headed south to Montrose and continued on US 50 towards Gunnison. After a quick side-trip on Blue Mesa and then topping off my gas tank in Gunnison I continued on to CO 114 and my first destination; The Cochetopa Hills. I had driven through this area quickly a few years ago when I took Los Pinos Pass over into the San Juans, and I was itching to get back and explore some more.

Pretty soon I had spotted a side road named Camp Kettle Gulch Road. I figured that it was a good time to get off the pavement and get the real trip started. I was greeted by some nice scenery.

Hardened lava along the road

I didn’t consult a map before heading down this road, so I wasn’t sure if I would be turning back around or finding another way out, but as luck would have it, this road ended up connecting to the Table Top Road and bringing me back to the highway right near the start of Los Pinos Pass…..and right where I wanted to be!

While making my way towards Los Pinos Pass, I passed a sign that I don’t remember from my last trip down this road.

I love checking out historic routes, so I just had to follow this section of the Saguache – San Juan Toll Road constructed by Otto Mears and Enos T. Hotchkiss in 1874.

Much of it was in the trees.

Then I ran into a traffic jam. They were slow to get out of my way….

Two-tracking out of the trees

Continue reading

August 21-22, 2010

Since Amanda had to work this weekend and I didn’t want to travel too far from home, I headed out to explore the La Sal Mountains as part of my Laccolith Tour this year. I have been to the La Sals a number of times before, so I have driven most of the main trails, so my goal this trip was to explore some new ones. From my house I headed up Unaweep Canyon to Gateway and then took John Brown Canyon up into the foothills of the La Sals.

Before getting started on my first trail, I stopped along the Castleton-Gateway Road and found some dinosaur footprints that I knew were in the area.

The best print

One filled with some dirt with the other one in the background

Overlook near the dino prints

My next destination was to check out the trail on Fisher Mesa. This one had been on my to-do list for a while…..

Along the trail I stopped and made a short hike to a geocache that was hidden near an old cabin on the rim of Fisher Mesa

Great view from the old cabin

Continue reading

One of my many goals this year was to reach my 100th geocache. So while we were out yesterday evening hiding our first geocache (more info on that later; it was a different goal of mine for this year), Amanda and I searched for our 100th together…and succeeded. Here’s a few photos from our evening.

Winter Camp Ridge

La Boca Arch

The 100th cache we found….

View from the cache

We also found our 101st cache near the Parco Mines.

Bright and early Friday morning I decided to check out another canyon in the Colorado National Monument. This time I would be hiking from the top of Ute Canyon at the Rim Rock Drive trailhead all the way down to the bottom. The total hike was about 6 miles. Here’s a few photos I took along the way.

Sunshine staring to fill the canyon. I had an early start.

Looking back up the canyon

Continue reading

Amanda’s mom and sister spent the last two weeks with us here in Grand Junction. While they were here we spent some time showing them around not only here, but also in Moab, Silverton and Ouray….to name a few places. Here’s some random photos I took while we were out and about….

Hell’s Revenge near Moab

Hole N” The Rock

Continue reading