IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

This past Labor Day Weekend Amanda had to unfortunately work on Sunday and Monday, so I was on my own. I figured that I would head back to The Henry Mountains to complete some of the trails that were blocked by snow on our last trip, plus do a little hiking to the top of Mount Ellen. You can find the previous trip report here.

After some breakfast on Sunday morning I made my way to Hanksville, where I topped off of my gas tank and headed south towards The Henry Mountains.

I did a little exploring on some side roads before actually reaching the mountains.

Following the Sawmill Basin Road around Bull Mountain

…and then up to Wickiup Pass at 9,200 feet.

Nice views of the desert stretching out beyond the mountains

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This morning/afternoon Amanda and I headed up to the Grand Mesa to hike part of the Crag Crest Trail. We ended up hiking about 3.5 miles in and then returning the same way for a total of 7 miles. Here’s a few photos from the hike.

Part of the Crag Crest

Amanda took this photo of me

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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

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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

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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

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