IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

Saturday, January 12, 2013

On Saturday we battled the frigid temperatures to visit the annual Ouray Ice Festival. We check it out last year for the first time and had a lot of fun, so we made sure to return again this year. We arrived early and spent most of the day watching the competition and the other ice climbers in the park. Even though the temperatures were colder than usual, we still had a great time. Attending the Ice Festival just might continue to become one of our annual traditions.

Snow on the mountains around Ouray.

Snow Covered by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Early Climber by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Climbing on rock in the competition.

On the Rock by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

Thursday – Sunday, January 3-6, 2013

We’ve had a very cold start to the year so I’ve been staying close to home more than I usually do. Since that’s the case, I’ve been spending my free time trying to make some more unique images of locations I’ve photographed before, plus I’ve been trying to find some new locations around the Grand Valley. Here’s a few photos from the past couple of days.

I drove up to the Independence Monument viewpoint after work on Thursday and stuck around after the sun had dropped below the horizon so I could catch the Earth Shadow above the Book Cliffs.

Island Earth Shadow by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Then I stayed a little longer for a photo of Independence Monument in the twilight with the lights of Grand Junction in the background.

Independence Monument Twilight by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

On Saturday morning I was up early to photograph the sunrise photo along the Colorado River in De Beque Canyon. As I was taking a few photos in the early dawn light a man with a dog approached me. At first, I assumed he was out for a walk along the river, but then he mentioned to me that he and some friends were hunting ducks nearby and would be shooting right over the area I was in. I decided it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to stick around, so I hiked back to my Jeep and got out of there so that I could find somewhere else to watch the sun come up.

Dawn in De Beque Canyon along the Colorado River.

Winter River by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

New Year’s Day | Tuesday, January 1, 2013

I ended up staying home for New Year’s Day this year and decided to get out for a hike at the Colorado National Monument in the evening. I always keep meaning to hike up Wedding Canyon, but for some reason or another it has never happened yet. I set out to finally hike that trail today, even if it was covered with snow. I didn’t bother bringing my DSLR with me on this hike, so I only took a few snapshots with my little S90 point and shoot camera.

After leaving the Monument Canyon trail, I followed the snow covered trail along the front side of The Island towards the mouth of Wedding Canyon.

Winter Hiking by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Trail through the snow.

Snow Trail by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Looking back as I start my way up Wedding Canyon.

Wedding Canyon Trail by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

Sunday, December 30, 2012

This is it! My final trip report from 2012. I sure hope 2013 is at least as good to me as 2012 was.

For my final trip of the year I had the urge to get out snowshoeing again, except I didn’t want to just head up onto the Grand Mesa again. I wanted to try somewhere new that still wasn’t too far away from home. I realized that I hadn’t made it to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park all year and I know they have some snowshoe trails near the Visitor’s Center, so I thought it would be a great place to check out.

I left my house bright and early and arrived at the park well before sunrise. Let me tell you, it was cold and windy! I hiked around until I found a view into the canyon I liked and waited for the sun to come up.

Black Canyon Dawn by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

The Gunnison River far below.

Gunnison River by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

When the sun broke free of the horizon, it lit up the rim of the canyon.

Black Canyon Sunrise by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

Saturday & Sunday, December 15-16, 2012

Each year Amanda and I take a trip to Arches National Park around Christmas time. It’s become kind of a tradition for us. This year we planned the trip two weekends before Christmas because of Amanda’s work schedule closer to the holiday. Some years we only go down for a day trip, but this year we got a hotel room in Moab and spent the full weekend.

On Saturday morning we left bring at early from Grand Junction so that we could make it to the park for sunrise. Unfortunately, the sky was very overcast this morning, so there wasn’t a sunrise. Instead, we decided to stop and hike the Park Avenue trail when we arrived. It’s been a few years since I hiked this short trail, but Amanda had not hiked it before. We started at the bottom and hiked to the top before returning the same way. It was pretty cold and windy out, plus we got rained on a few times, but we did have the trail to ourselves.

Looking back at The Organ from the slickrock wash this overcast morning.

Organ View by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

The Organ with Balanced Rock on the horizon.

Organ & Balance by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Next up we stopped at the Courthouse Wash bridge and hiked up to Ring Arch. Neither of us had been here before, so it was nice to visit a new arch this trip.

Ring Arch by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr