IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

I went up to the Colorado National Monument this evening to try and capture the sunset as the monsoonal storms were breaking up. This is what I saw…

Saturday, July 7, 2012

This weekend we left home on Saturday morning and headed back up into the San Juan Mountains. I had received reports that the wildflowers were in full swing a few weeks early because of our dismal snowpack and dry spring, and I wanted to try and get some photos of them. I have never really set out to specifically photograph wildflowers before, so this would be a learning experience for me. In the end I came home with some decent wildflower photos and I learned a lot in the process. Hopefully next year I can do a little better!

As a side note, I’ve also been trying to identify the wildflowers that I’ve been seeing and learning a little bit about them. If for some reason I have misidentified a flower in one of my photos, please let me know in the comments. I would appreciate it.

After reaching Ouray and turning up the Camp Bird Road we drove up to our first destination in Governor Basin. We made a few stops along the way to photograph some wildflowers when we saw them. The sky was already overcast all morning and would pretty much stay that way all day…which was good photo for taking photos of the wildflowers.

Into Governor Basin by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Here’s an all white Columbine that Amanda spotted in Governor Basin.

White Columbine by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

We passed the Virginius Mine on the way up, and the sign was surrounded by little flowers.

Virginius Mine Sign by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

As I was hiking back from Bullion King Lake in Porphyry Basin on Saturday, I was treated to this view of a rainbow in front of Red Mountain #3.

Amanda and I headed up into the San Juan Mountains yesterday to try and photograph some wildflowers. They have appeared a few weeks earlier this year because of the dismal snowpack and dry spring. There was no shortage of precipitation yesterday, which is good. Here’s a photo I took along Porphyry Creek.

Grizzly Creek to South Canyon
Independence Day | Wednesday, July 4, 2012

This past weekend when Jackson and I were hiking up Uncompahgre Peak he suggested that we take our boats to Glenwood Canyon for the 4th of July, and I thought that sounded like an excellent idea…so we did. We decided to put in at Grizzly Creek and take out at South Canyon for this day trip. I’ve been on this stretch of the Colorado River before, but never in my own boat, so I was looking forward to trying it out. Even with the low water levels this year, the river was still moving at a good pace through this section and there were still some Class II+ rapids and plenty of large boulders to avoid along the way. It was a lot of fun and definitely good practice for me.

Here’s a few snapshots from the day. Since I don’t have a waterproof camera all of the photos were taken while we were on calmer water, so I don’t have any action photos in the Class II+ rapids we went through.

We were surprised and happy to find that almost no one was at Grizzly Creek when we arrived. We had no problems finding parking and getting our boats inflated and setup.

Prep by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

On Monday I picked up a small cooler for my boat that I thought I’d show off 🙂 I was pleasantly surprised to find that it fit perfectly between the inflated tubes and easily attached to the d-rings below. It couldn’t have worked out better!

Cooler by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Ready to get on the river.

Putting In by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr