McInnis Canyons Rafting Trip - June 2025

 

Late June we had the opportunity to tag along on a Colorado River rafting trip with a couple other families in the McInnis Canyon area.  We started out of Fruita, CO and traveled all the way across the boarder into Utah.  It was a fun time in some beautiful country.  The weather was very warm, but nothing that water can't fix!   We stayed at two different campsites two different nights and went on a few hikes along the way.  

Petroglyphs

Sunset on the Colorado River

Lots of wildlife along the river

St. Vrain Mountain - June 2025

The sun burning the clouds off of the Longs Peak group

 First hike of 2025 might be the closest 12,000 ft. peak to our house, St. Vrain Mountain.  This was a great warm up with just about 9 miles and 3000 gain.  I was pleasantly surprised by the awesome views on this hike.  It puts you at a perfect vantage for Longs, Wild Basin, and the northern Indian Peaks Wilderness.  This will definitely be one I recommend to visitors in the future. I went with Black and White on the images for this one:

Tim ascending toward St. Vrain's summit

Mt. Alice

Beaver Reservoir I believe

Audubon and Paiute from the summit

Backpacking Lower Sand Creek Lake

 Zach and I had been planning a backpacking trip for September to the Wind Rivers.  Due to a miscommunication on how much time I was able to take off, we ended up changing the location to Music Pass area in the Sangre De Cristos.  We thought this would be a good uncrowded spot for Labor Day weekend.  This turned out to be an accurate assessment.  We were the only ones camped at the lake as far as we could tell.  On our way through Westcliffe, I was able to get a good panoramic shot of the whole range from a good vantage for a peak labels poster I've been wanting to make for a while:

Sangre de Cristo Range with Peak Labels - Prints available

close up

Descending from Music Pass

Tijeras Peak

Sunrise at Lower Sand Creek Lake

I really, really wanted to climb Milwaukee Peak that morning, but Cami didn't want me doing a class 3 climb solo.  That's because she loves me I guess.  Instead we had a nice oatmeal breakfast and enjoyed our leisurely stroll back to the trailhead.  We saw a huge herd of elk on our drive out.  I don't know why I always thought that elk don't jump fences.  I was proven wrong that day: