Grand Junction Outdoors
A blog of all things outdoorsy in and around Grand Junction and Colorado's Western Slope.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Monday, August 15, 2011
Biking on the Grand Mesa
With temps hitting the high 90s again this past Saturday we decided it was time to head to the Mesa for a bike ride. Cooler temps outweighed the fear of mosquitos for once! In the past, we've biked both the West Bench trail and the newer Flowing Park trail and have found West Bench to be the more enjoyable of the two. A map and detailed description of the West Bench trail can be found here.
West Bench starts near the Jumbo Lake reservoir/Mesa Lakes area of the Mesa. It's fairly easy to get to - park down by the lake. Ride up the paved road past the little ranger station and across the bridge to your left. There is a sign there that says "West Bench ski trail." (It's a cross-country ski trail in the winter.) From here follow the singletrack trail for about 1/2 mile. Then you'll hit a gravel/paved road and see cabins. The most obvious cabin is a red one close to where you meet the road. The trail continues just to the left of this cabin - between it and another one. There is a post there, but no sign.
The fun begins with a loose rocky downhill and several lava rock obstacle courses. These can be entertaining and challenging!
Soon the trail opens up with beautiful meadows and a few bogs. Cruise along between rock sections, bogs, and smooth trail until you get to the first cut off to Powderhorn. If you start to get confused about the trail, just look for the tall blue-painted poles. The first cut-off to Powderhorn is around 3.6 miles in and is fairly obvious. Off on the right you'll see an old wooden building and a spur trail heading that direction. That will take you to the quad lift. Continue left through a barely-there section of trail. It will open up again shortly. 2 more bogs and several downed trees were there when we were and they pretty much kept us from going much further. You can make this into almost a 20 mile out and bike ride...our's was about 9 due to too many obstacles.
West Bench can be a great ride - but be prepared! Mosquitos can be out, bogs need to be traversed, and there may just be too many trees down for it to be a lot of fun once you get past the first Powderhorn cut-off. Still, it was a great day for an awesome bike ride; sitting by a quiet lake enjoying a beer afterwards didn't hurt either!
West Bench starts near the Jumbo Lake reservoir/Mesa Lakes area of the Mesa. It's fairly easy to get to - park down by the lake. Ride up the paved road past the little ranger station and across the bridge to your left. There is a sign there that says "West Bench ski trail." (It's a cross-country ski trail in the winter.) From here follow the singletrack trail for about 1/2 mile. Then you'll hit a gravel/paved road and see cabins. The most obvious cabin is a red one close to where you meet the road. The trail continues just to the left of this cabin - between it and another one. There is a post there, but no sign.
The fun begins with a loose rocky downhill and several lava rock obstacle courses. These can be entertaining and challenging!
Soon the trail opens up with beautiful meadows and a few bogs. Cruise along between rock sections, bogs, and smooth trail until you get to the first cut off to Powderhorn. If you start to get confused about the trail, just look for the tall blue-painted poles. The first cut-off to Powderhorn is around 3.6 miles in and is fairly obvious. Off on the right you'll see an old wooden building and a spur trail heading that direction. That will take you to the quad lift. Continue left through a barely-there section of trail. It will open up again shortly. 2 more bogs and several downed trees were there when we were and they pretty much kept us from going much further. You can make this into almost a 20 mile out and bike ride...our's was about 9 due to too many obstacles.
West Bench can be a great ride - but be prepared! Mosquitos can be out, bogs need to be traversed, and there may just be too many trees down for it to be a lot of fun once you get past the first Powderhorn cut-off. Still, it was a great day for an awesome bike ride; sitting by a quiet lake enjoying a beer afterwards didn't hurt either!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Crested Butte 2011
If you haven't been over to Crested Butte to hang out for a few days, my question to you is: WHY NOT? Crested Butte is only about a 3 1/2 hour drive from here - one which winds you around the Blue Mesa Reservoir and up past Gunnison and Almont. It's a lovely drive and Crested Butte is worth the trip.
Usually we camp on the road to the Taylor River Reservoir. We've discovered a gem of a campground called Rosy Lane, although we have to make reservations at it six months in advance! There are several others on the road though, including North Bank, Granite, and Lodgepole. From here we take the Jack's Cabin Cutoff to Crested Butte. It saves a little time on our often daily trips to/from town. This year we had 3 great days of mountain biking in Crested Butte before spending a little time in Gunnison at Hartman Rocks.
Usually we camp on the road to the Taylor River Reservoir. We've discovered a gem of a campground called Rosy Lane, although we have to make reservations at it six months in advance! There are several others on the road though, including North Bank, Granite, and Lodgepole. From here we take the Jack's Cabin Cutoff to Crested Butte. It saves a little time on our often daily trips to/from town. This year we had 3 great days of mountain biking in Crested Butte before spending a little time in Gunnison at Hartman Rocks.
View of our awesome Rosy Lane camp. |
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Road Trip!
If you'd like to see the entire album of photos, click here.
4 days before we were to leave on our annual backpacking trip through southern Colorado, we had a conversation about a friend of our's who had the opportunity to move to Bozeman, MT. "Bozeman seems great." Voodoo Biker said.
"Yeah, there's biking, hiking, 2 ski resorts...it's beautiful up there!" I said while banging around in the kitchen cooking dinner. "I wonder how long it takes to get to Bozeman?"
Voodoo Biker googled something and came up with 8 hours. Turns out it's about twice that, but that doesn't matter now. At the time we decided, "let's go!" Voodoo Biker got out the road atlas and started checking out blue highways between here and there. Here was our route, start to finish:
So what did we do? We drove. We looked around at the vast desert of Wyoming. We pointed out antelope. We stopped at random overlooks and historic sites. We stayed in Mom and Pop hotels. I recommend Carter Mountain in Cody, WY. We watched the 4th of July parade on July 3rd in downtown Cody. We ate steak and drank local beer. We drove up and over mountains where feet of snow still live and people still ski. We took pictures of glacial lakes. We spent time with acquaintances who soon became friends. We watched fireworks and drank martinis on Main Street in Bozeman. We stared in awe at bison roaming around Yellowstone and marveled at how few people ever set foot on a trail there. We camped and listened to rain falling at night. We drank cups and cups of warm coffee at camp and watched people wake and make their way through their morning routines. We drank beer by the shore of Yellowstone Lake. We sat on the shores of Jackson Lake staring at the Great Tetons and proclaimed that life couldn't get any better! We ran on "river time" where days mean nothing. We biked up and down hills and through meadows of wildflowers in Jackson, WY. We ate leftover pizza on the side of the road overlooking the Hoback River. We discovered the Fireman's Campground above the Flaming Gorge Reservoir and really emphatically proclaimed, "Life can't get any better!" We enjoyed each other's company. We enjoyed the trees, wind, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, mountains and wildlife all around us. We lived.
4 days before we were to leave on our annual backpacking trip through southern Colorado, we had a conversation about a friend of our's who had the opportunity to move to Bozeman, MT. "Bozeman seems great." Voodoo Biker said.
"Yeah, there's biking, hiking, 2 ski resorts...it's beautiful up there!" I said while banging around in the kitchen cooking dinner. "I wonder how long it takes to get to Bozeman?"
Voodoo Biker googled something and came up with 8 hours. Turns out it's about twice that, but that doesn't matter now. At the time we decided, "let's go!" Voodoo Biker got out the road atlas and started checking out blue highways between here and there. Here was our route, start to finish:
The first 2 days we drove (leaving Friday afternoon) from here to Craig, CO and then to Cody, WY the next day. |
We left Jackson and drove south over the Flaming Gorge Reservoir, through Vernal, UT and home. |
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Gardening on the balcony?
My dad and sister both have green thumbs. Green hands, in fact. They can grow anything, it seems, if they put their minds to it. Me? I'm one of those "Oh yeah, I'll grow something! Oh...well...I don't really feel like watering today...it'll be alright" types. After a visit home this year I came back with a renewed interest in maybe growing something on our balcony. My friend Carol just happened to bring in a bunch of seeds last week - packages of Heirloom tomatoes, different types of peppers, basil, cilantro...all sorts of things! I took a few lettuce, spinach, tomato, banana pepper, cilantro and basil seeds. I had planned, honestly, to wait until next year because I thought it was too late in the season to try to grow them now, but my sister said, "Just throw them in some soil and see what happens!" I call it "Gardening Kindergarten Style." I threw them in some soil in Dixie cups and watered. Lo and behold...
I am letting them hang out outside during the days now - and I might leave them out overnight soon. The basil has been out the whole time, which could account for its slow sprouting...I've poked holes in the bottoms of the Dixie cups so the soil can drain. This weekend I plan to get some bigger pots for the peppers and tomatoes, and some new potting soil. Mine is old and I think I need something with more nutrients in it. We'll see what becomes of these little guys!
I just noticed this today - pretty sure it's the basil, although cilantro seeds were planted in here too. |
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Georgia Outdoors
Last week I travelled to the deep South for a trip home to Georgia. I stepped off the plane and thought, "Man it feels wonderful here." It had just finished raining and the air was warm and a little less-humid than normal. The next morning as I was huffing it up a hill on the family's morning walk I thought, "Am I inside some sort of steam room?" The moisture and humidity just hung in the air. Still, it was beautiful. Georgia is so lush and green that, even when it's hot and humid, I can barely bring myself to go inside. Eventually though those damn horseflies drive me back in.
I promised my friend Carol that I'd take pictures of Dad's garden and would also get the answers to a few questions. So, first the pictures:
I do have pictures of the various rows of plants, but I thought these were prettier. Now for the questions: When do you begin planting? What do you start indoors and what do you start outdoors? As for outside planting, the year starts around the first of Febuary with seeds (planted indoors) for the early spring plants; (lettuce, arugula,mustard, brocclli, cabbage, chard,early tomatos for the upside down planters)... all these will stay in the greenhouse til around March 15. Around the first of March I plant red potatos and snow peas in the garden About mid March I plant my seeds (indoors) for the peppers and tomatos, they take 30-45 days until they are ready to transplant into the garden. Most of the seeds that I plant directly in the garden are planted in May, (squash, green beans, okra, cantelope, watermellon). Some of these I start in pots 2-3 weeks ahead of time to give them a head start, and to give a more uniform stand. Also I use succession planting , ex I will plant purple hull peas in the row where the lettuce is when it finishes up this week. The peas will make and be done in about 60 days (August 15) then I can plant a fall plant in that row around September 1...greens, collards, etc. I try to chose something different to follow a plant so that you don't have pests and disease from the previous plant waiting on the tender new plants.
Tell me about your composting methods.
I promised my friend Carol that I'd take pictures of Dad's garden and would also get the answers to a few questions. So, first the pictures:
The sign above Dad's garden says "Gitmo Garden." I think the security around it rivals Alcatraz! |
Cucumber blossoms |
Lettuces |
Squash vines |
Tomato blossoms |
Tomatoes |
Tell me about your composting methods.
On composting, to be very general, you need: 1. A carbon source, (dry leaves, dry grass clippings, sawdust, tree bark etc) 2. A nitrogen source (green leaves, green grass clippings, leftover salad, vegetable peelings), and 3. Microorganisims to digest the carbon and nitrogen. The easiest source of the microorganisms is plain ole garden soil, or compost. There are commercial compost starters that you can buy, but they are expensive and hard to find. Start the pile with about even amounts of carbon, nitrogen and soil. The bigger the better, but at least 3'X3'x3'. Water it well and keep it evenly moist. Turn it about once a week to areate it and speed the break-down process...this is where the multiple cell bins are nice, you just shovel the compost into the next cell of the bin. Once the pile is going, you can add kitchen waste as it accumulates...almost anything of vegetable origin, as long as it's not too greasy. Also; egg shells (calcium) are great, coffee grounds, tea bags, left-overs. Compost is ready when all the ingredients have decomposed so that they are un-recognizable (usually 6 weeks to 6 months depending on the weather. I send mine thru one additional step.. the worm bed I let the worms hang out in it for several months to really work it over.
Here are a few more pictures from my trip.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
When all else fails...go to Durango!
Spring fun and camping begin when we make our annual trip to Durango. This year we headed down Mother's Day weekend, leaving around 1 on Friday. It was a short trip - almost too short for the harrowing drive over Red Mountain Pass, but it was worth it. We biked the Telegraph Trail System - the southern end, and stayed at the Junction Creek Campground. The Telegraph trails are awesome - lots of nice rolling singletrack. No brutal climbs, nothing super technical... there is a trail head behind the Sonic in town, then about 2 miles further south on Hwy 3 is the Carbon Junction trailhead, then a mile or so further down, behind Wal-Mart on a frontage road (turn off 550 onto Dominguez - left) is Big Canyon Trail head, and finally, at the very end of this frontage road, is the Sale Barn trail head. That's where we started.
This is a very bad picture of one of the sign post maps on the trail. Our Saturday route is in orange and Sunday's route is in turquoise. Both were ridden counter-clockwise. |
View of the upper part of the Sale Barn trail |
View of the Big Canyon trail |
Me on the Cowboy trail Sunday |
Our campsite |
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