West Elk Wilderness, CO – a Cliff Creek, Castle Creek, and Lowline loop

Posted on July 30, 2021 by Michael R

Colorado’s West Elk Wilderness covers over 176K acres of the Gunnison National Forest north of Gunnison and west of Crested Butte. Outdoor Trail Maps LLC has a good map of the area. See also Trails Illustrated maps # 133 and 134 for less-accurate alternatives.

Some friends and I did a 5-day, 24-mile “lollipop” starting July 25 at the Cliff Creek trail head on County Road 12 aka Kebler Pass Road, headed south over Beckwith Pass into a counter-clockwise loop consisting of the remainder of the Cliff Creek trail, Castle Creek trail, and Lowline trail, then back north over Beckwith Pass to return to the trail head July 29.

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Upper Buffalo Wilderness – Compton, Wild Burro, and Beagle Point Falls

Posted on February 17, 2020 by Michael R

It was a great weekend for checking out some more waterfalls in the Upper Buffalo Wilderness, with a bit of rain a couple days before the trip and relatively good weather during.  The targets this time were Compton Double Falls (39′), Wild Burro Falls (21′), and Beagle Point Falls (76′) – all on or near Whitaker Creek.

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Upper Buffalo Wilderness – a Boen Gulf bushwhack

Posted on January 20, 2020 by Michael R

The Boen Gulf access point for the Upper Buffalo Wilderness is the primary way of accessing 4 nearby waterfalls – Magnolia, Woods Boys, Stahle, and Hadlock Cascade, though you can also get to Paradise Falls with a bit more walking.  I’ve day-hiked this area 2 or 3 times but this was first time backpacking there – a 2-nighter accompanied by RC and CC.  Rain the previous day had the creeks flowing well.

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Eagle Rock Loop, take 2

Posted on January 1, 2020 by Michael R

This was my second time doing the 27-mile Eagle Rock Loop and was accompanied by RC (who was also with me 6 years ago) and first-timer TC.  I was surprised at how little of this great scenery I remembered, and think I need to make a point of doing this hike every 2 or 3 years.

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Wind River Range – a Titcomb & Indian Basins loop

Posted on August 31, 2019 by Michael R

My 5th annual trip to the Wind River Range!  This time we started in the Elkhart Park area, near Pinedale, at the Pole Creek trail head.  The target area is almost entirely within the Bridger Wilderness of the Bridger-Teton National Forest.

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Platte River Wilderness, Snowy Range, WY

Posted on July 23, 2019 by Michael R

The Platte River Wilderness covers about 23K acres of the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest in southern Wyoming’s Snowy Range and was the site of a recent 3-day trip.  Our original plan was for an area about 20 miles north near Medicine Bow Peak but a week before the trip there was still too much snow at that elevation so an alternate plan was hastily assembled.

Platte River Wilderness

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Chaco Canyon

Posted on April 18, 2019 by Michael R

Chaco Culture National Historical Park encompasses an important collection of ancient Puebloan ruins in NW New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon and a visit here has long been on my to do list.  A big difference here as opposed to places like Canyon de Chelly is that you can see the ruins up close and generally even walk through them.  I took 350 photos here over a day and a half and only 100 over 3 days at the Grand Canyon so I guess that says something.

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Canyon de Chelly

Posted on April 16, 2019 by Michael R

Canyon de Chelly (pronounced də-SHAY) National Monument in NE Arizona wasn’t on my radar when I started the trip but some folks in Kanab convinced me to consider it, and I’m glad I did.  I was headed from the Grand Canyon to Farmington NM via US160, so it was not far out of the way.

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Grand Canyon

Posted on April 15, 2019 by Michael R

I couldn’t go through the area without a trip to the Grand Canyon, could I?  In fact, a week of backpacking from the north side of the canyon was the original reason for the whole trip but stuff happened so I found other things to see and do.

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Kanab Utah & Escalante National Monument

Posted on April 12, 2019 by Michael R

I spent about 3 days in the Kanab Utah area, which has lots of stuff to see and do, and is kinda the gateway to Escalante, Bryce, Zion, and more.  Kanab’s own Visitor Center and the BLM’s Grand Staircase/Escalante Visitor Center (on the east edge of town) have useful information.  In addition, most restaurants and motels have racks of brochures.

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