San Rafael Swell, Rocky Mountain NP & the Gore Canyon

[Greg]

This week was too cool, I took off with the dog Daisy & we headed out to the San Rafael Swell on wednesday to do some exploring & hiking. I headed south towards Goblin Valley, but before getting there detoured to Little Wild Horse canyon. Hickey made a trip down to the canyon awhile ago and it sounded like a great place to checkout. There's a loop about 6 miles long that consists of narrow slot canyons. On the way out to the canyon, the road crossed a handful of washes. The road was totally washed out in places, it was amazing the damage that the recent rain has caused. Here's some pics of the way to Little Wild Horse canyon-

After walking about a half-mile up the wash, the trail begins to get tight-

It was pretty cold, probably in the 40's & I didn't want to get wet. At this point, the ground had about 8" of water in the bottom... time to start straddling the canyon walls! Daisy was being a trooper, for the most part...

You probably can't tell, but I'm about 10 feel off the ground here. -

More...

 

[Greg]

The water here was deepr than the last few holes & with the canyon walls getting tighter, Daisy wasn't diggin' it. She tried 3 times, then sat down on the other side & wouldn't budge. I tried coaxing her for about 20 min before giving up & heading back down the canyon, :-\ -


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZUJ09agLrU

After getting back to the truck, we headed into the Swell for some exploring that the dog could handle. We drove towards Swaseys Cabin, then eventually got back on I-70 and headed home. I'm planning another trip to Little Wild Horse, next time the dog is staying at home.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Hahaha, great video


So did you take Hwy24 down and then take the Goblin Valley Road to Little Wild Horse?

See many Suwaites? (they were doing their campout west of you)

 

[Greg]

Hahaha, great video


So did you take Hwy24 down and then take the Goblin Valley Road to Little Wild Horse?

See many Suwaites? (they were doing their campout west of you)

The dogs a coward... :-\

Yep, that's the way I went. I didn't see any SUWA people, there were plenty of ATV's & campers though.

 

[Greg]

On friday evening Catherine & I packed up her 4Runner & headed out to the Rocky Mountain National Park. It's about a 3.5 hour drive from Grand Junction and the park is west of Denver. We spend all day saturday exploring, hiking some of the trails & watching the hundreds of elk. We crossed the Continental Divide & went to check out Estes Park. We were ready to head back over the Divide in the afternoon, but the National Parks rangers shut down Trail Ridge Road, (the road that goes over the top of the park) due to a bad snow storm that moved in. Our hotel was on the west side of the park and we were stuck on the east side. We had to take a 3 hour detour to get back to our hotel!! Even the detour was sketchy, we went over the Berthoud Pass & there was a few inches of snow there.

Here's some pic & video from the day-

The elk were everywhere! Including across from the gas station & in the MIDDLE of the intersections!-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3_5I4JEX9I

 

[Greg]

On sunday morning we checked out the park again, hoping to find a moose but we weren't successful. We left the park & drove out to the Gore Canyon, outside of Kremmling, CO. I have been working up in this area quite a bit & have had time to find the good fishing holes. The place where we fished is very remote & difficult to get to... but the fishing is incredible. Browns, Rainbows & some Brook Trout makeup the catch. The only way thru the canyon is on the railroad tracks on in the river.

The river thru the Gore Canyon is a hardcore kayakers dream come true. There are some Class 5 obstacles, I've watched people coming down & they're plain crazy. (Ask me about the time we helped rescue the kayaker who had drowned & was revived.)

Here's the fishin' hole-

We were there for about 2.5 hrs & between the 2 of us we caught about 18-20 fish. We kept 3 of them for dinner. Yummy!

 

[Greg]

More from the Gore Canyon, this place is sooo cool, pics don't do it justice. I'm amazed by this place, it's so remote & beautiful. I've seen the same Black Bear in this are 2 times now . -

And the view from the other side (West side), looking down into the canyon.

The catch of the day was a beautiful German Brown Trout, 3.5 pounds & 21" long!

 

[scoutabout]

Sweet trips! So did Catherine catch all the keepers?

 

[Greg]

Sweet trips! So did Catherine catch all the keepers?

Uhhh... yeah. She was blaming her fishing pole for not working well, picked up my pole & started reeling them in! At the last hole we stopped at, I caught one and she caught 3.

 

[Shawn]

You have some nice adventures Greg. I took my German Shorthair through the narrows once, he looked alot like your Dasiy.

Nice Photos!

 

[JoeT]

Greg: Come on Daisy, come over here.

Daisy: You can kiss my furry wet rump if you think I'm going any farther!

Greg: DAISY GET OVER HERE NOW!

Daisy: Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll slip and fall.

GREG: Friggin ^%^*&**^ wimpy dog! Guess it's time to head back.

Daisy: Oh great, looks like Mr. Adventerous is coming back. About time...

 

[spencurai]

I went for a drive around the drilling rig I am sitting on right now...you can see the top of the derrick on the mesa back at the top right of the picture...I am smack dab inbetween moab and vernal as the crow doth fly!

 

[Greg]

You have some nice adventures Greg. I took my German Shorthair through the narrows once, he looked alot like your Dasiy.

Nice Photos!

Thanks, we really enjoy getting out & about around here, seems like you can go a few hours any direction & find some amazing places.

German Shorthairs are incredible dogs, the ones I've seen have lots of personality & endless energy. Catherine wants one bad.

I went for a drive around the drilling rig I am sitting on right now...you can see the top of the derrick on the mesa back at the top right of the picture...I am smack dab inbetween moab and vernal as the crow doth fly!

Nice, have to love working in the remote outdoors!

 

[Greg]

Greg: Come on Daisy, come over here.

Daisy: You can kiss my furry wet rump if you think I'm going any farther!

Greg: DAISY GET OVER HERE NOW!

Daisy: Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll slip and fall.

GREG: Friggin ^%^*&**^ wimpy dog! Guess it's time to head back.

Daisy: Oh great, looks like Mr. Adventerous is coming back. About time...

That about sums it up... she's usually pretty willing to explore, but apparently clausterphobic.

 

[MOODY]

Wow, awesome pics!

 

[shortstraw8]

Yeah nice pics. Good looking pup to I couldn't tell from pics but was she one the the lucky weimaraner pups that kept the blue eyes or did they change? And my buddies Heeler wouldn't go all the way either but he was only 10 months old.

 

[Greg]

Wow, awesome pics!

Yeah nice pics. Good looking pup to I couldn't tell from pics but was she one the the lucky weimaraner pups that kept the blue eyes or did they change? And my buddies Heeler wouldn't go all the way either but he was only 10 months old.

Thanks! Her eyes are more grey/yellow then the are blue.

 

[MOODY]

Can't believe that Temple Mtn. (is that right) road by the slot canyon. Helps one to understand how those things are formed, all the water and such.

 

[BroncoMama]

Looks like you had a great weekend! We definitely missed you guys, but you definitely stayed drier than we were.

 

[Herzog]

you definitely stayed drier than we were.

No kidding!