- Saturday, I drove from home to North Platte, NE. I left a little later than I guess I've done in the past, although I didn't remember that. In any case, I got in later than I would have liked, even after I skipped dinner and ate a gas station hot dog in lieu of.
- Sunday I had plenty of time to drive to the Curecanti National Recreation Area. HOWEVER, there was a lot more snow than I anticipated still in this region (I had been in a hurry before leaving and didn't do the checks that I should have.) Although the roads were open, and I was able therefore to drive around and see some stuff, I couldn't very well camp there like I'd planned, because the campground was gated and covered in a couple of feet of snow still. I had fun seeing a few stops, but I couldn't do any walking, and my only Dillon Pinnacles views were from the road. I ended up making a travelocity reservation in downtown Grand Junction for $45 or something for a hotel, so I was in town earlier than expected Monday morning.
- Monday I ended up doing what I thought was going to be Tuesday's itinerary (and then on Tuesday, I kinda did what I had planned for Monday.) So, I went up Wedding Canyon to Independence Monument, and then followed Upper Monument Canyon to about the Coke Ovens where I turned around and went back to the Monument. Then I took Lower Monument Canyon out to create a kind of small loop at the end of the hike back to the car. About an 11 mile or so day with... 700-800 feet or so of elevation gain? (I should put the route in Caltopo and see what it gives me for gross elevation gain and miles, actually. I'm kinda curious.)
- Tuesday I drove the Rimrock Drive with lots of stops, including the Window hike, the Canyon Rim Hike, some time in the visitors center, some switchbacks down to Coke Ovens viewpoint and several other viewpoints (although most of these can hardly qualify as hikes) and then did an exploration of the Grand Junction entrance area, including hiking to and back from Devil's Kitchen and then Echo Canyon. Later in the evening, I hiked the Fruita Paleo Area for another mile or two. I estimate that I hiked about nine miles or so. Maybe a little more.
- Rain came in on Wednesday and ended up hovering over the Monument and Black Ridge Wilderness area all day, so I spent the day elsewhere. I don't know how much rain they actually got, but the campsite was still wet in the evening. Meanwhile, I went up the road about 15-16 miles or so to Rabbit Valley, did the "Trail through Time" hike and Rabbit Ears Mesa. Highly recommend both; the first for the easy access to exposed dinosaur skeletal remains and the second for the tremendous views and solitude. Another 9 miles or so total, plus 800 or so feet of elevation gain. Maybe more in gross.
- After the rain and lots of elevation gain, I was kinda tired and ready to be done on Thursday. I juked my plan of stopping by Moab and hiking Fisher Towers (which ended up being a big mistake; unknown to me a local friend and two of his older boys were actually climbing one of the towers that day; I would have run into him!) I also ditched my plans to hike Little Wild Horse and Bell Canyons; reports of rain all through the area made me leery of slot canyons, and I was kinda ready to just be done. Did a bit of a long drive through some of the roads I'd never been on though and saw parts of southern Utah that I wasn't familiar with, including a dramatic crossing of Capital Reef. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of crossing the reef! Got to the Provo area in time to eat a latish lunch at Brick Oven Pizza with my family. Went and saw my brother and his wife and kids in the evening.
- Friday was family stuff in Provo and Salt Lake. Saturday morning too (went and saw my sister-in-law's first General Conference performance as an official member of the choir), which meant that the drive home had to be compressed and rushed and we couldn't stop for anything. Sunday late we got home.
Anyway, here's some pictures. Later I'll make another post with the video I took, although fair warning—I talked too much and the videos are too long with me blabbing on about stuff while I'm out in the wilderness. Or "wilderness" as the case may be; Grand Junction has lots of fun outdoorsy stuff to see and do, but unspoiled remote wilderness is not really ever exactly what it felt like.
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