Playing with options (Kodel's, Devil's and Pollock Canyons area)

Well, gjhikes suggests that getting to Monument Rocks north of Grand Junction in the Little Book Cliffs area is difficult if not impossible without a high clearance vehicle.  However, according to the Trails Illustrated map I got, there's a paved road that goes right to it.  Looks like I'll need to make a call a little later today (after Mountain Time Zone areas open) to find out what the real status is.  In any case, I want to have some modular plans that I can pick and choose from depending on what I feel, rather than the static itinerary that I posted yesterday.  Let's see what I can come up with.

First, I've got several potential modules in the Pollack and Kodel Canyon area, really close to my campsite, but outside of the National Monument on BLM land:

• The Devil's Canyon (D3) hike, which I almost certainly will want to do.  It's not really long enough to be a whole day.  Maybe I can even do it half a day and have time to do something else, although it's long enough that the second half will have to be something relatively short.
• Rattlesnake Arches is another one that's a little long, but not long enough to really be a whole day.  Although if I'm going faster than I think and feeling good (because after all, it'll probably be cool still, and I won't have a backpack on) maybe I can do both of these together.
• More likely, I'll combine it Devil's Canyon with some of the Kodel's trails, since they connect and are all in the same general area.  These trails are usually kind of short, although they sometimes require hiking one trail to reach another.  The nice thing about it is now flexible and modular the whole affair really is though.  The simple expedient of parking at the Kodel's Canyon instead of Devil's Canyon trail head forces me to pick one of the many routes through the Kodel's area to get to Devil's Canyon, which I kind of like.
• Another desirable hike in the area, although fairly long, would be to see Pollock Arch in Pollock Canyon. Although I don't know that it's more distant from the Pollock Bench trailhead than the Rattlesnake Arches are, and although there are less arches for your effort, you get a rare free-standing arch, like Utah's famous Delicate Arch for your work.

I really kind of see three main destinations here in this area: Devil's Canyon (via Kodel's for more scenic variety, and it actually only adds modestly to the distance), Pollock Canyon and it's Arch, and the Rattlesnake Arches.  I wonder if I can work them into two days or so?  I fairly long loop, although a fun one, and if all I have to carry are water, snacks, a jacket and a headlight in case I'm not back before it starts getting dark, would be from Pollock Bench up to Pollock Arch (maybe through Flume Creek Canyon, since the distance looks to be about the same), around through Pollock Canyon, out to the Rattlesnakes, and back again.  I'll whip up a Caltopo to get the mileage and elevation and see if it looks reasonable to do as a longer day hike or not.

Here it is, with some stats:

• Kodel's to Devil's loop: 9.3 miles, 1,553 total elevation gain, most of it in Devil's Canyon itself.
• The Flume-Pollock-Rattlesnake loop is truly epic.  Almost 18 miles with quite a bit of elevation gain.  It looks like it's not doable as a day hike, at least not unless I was quite a bit younger or quite a bit thinner and can go faster and longer than I'm likely to want to go. 
• On the other hand, cutting the Rattlesnake area off, painful as that may be, does make it achievable.  Or doing only Rattlesnake without the Pollock Canyon exploration, maybe—although that's still a pretty long day for someone my age, with my knees and my weight.