No Thoroughfare Canyon

Sunday morning we went for a hike in the Monument at No Thoroughfare Canyon.

About 2 miles in you come to this 100' waterfall.

Prickly Pear

Heading back.

The clouds came rolling in on our way out.

More Snowshoeing the Mesa

Our skiing plans for the weekend were thwarted by "warm" temperatures and low snowfall delayed the opening of our local slopes so we loaded up the snowshoes and hit the Mesa. We stopped about 5 miles past said resort and got out on our way.

Low snowfall is a relative term. There was about 2 feet of soft powder on the ground and some coming down as well. This week we got an add-on to our snowshoes to add some surface area and making it easier to walk on powder

Lunch! Does this picture look familiar?

The last picture we got before the camera died. This is actually a campground but is closed and not maintained in the winter. The best thing about shoeing is you can really go just about anywhere and just walk. Big fans.

Snowshoe Sunday - Wicked Pro

Sunday we went snowshoeing again up on the Mesa, and it was rad! We packed a lunch and a bottle of champagne and headed on up where it was 30 and extremely sunny.

Kelly making fresh tracks in the snow.
Hiking along. It was much easier going since the snow had melted just a little and so our snowshoes actually did what they were supposed to do and stayed on the snow, not in it.

Thats me! Its not really as far as it looks. Scale and depth are really hard to judge when everything is coated in snow. So 'we're gonna hike over there' turns into 'oh thats not very far at all' or 'Lets just stop here'.

Lunch. Ramen mixed with beef and veggy soup and washed down with cheap champagne. Delicious!!!

We set up the MSR Hubba Hubba with just the footprint and the rainfly, and it was more wonderful than a unicorn under a rainbow, or close anyway.

Im a reindeer!! Merry almost Christmas.

The sun started going down so we started to head on back.

I make this picture...

Heading back down to town. (That totally looks like the CRV but isnt, thanks random person driving down at the same time we were)

Snowshoe Saturday - Amateur

Saturday we rented some snowshoes from Mesa State's Outdoor Program and headed up onto the mesa. The sunny 50 degree temps in GJ didnt really prepare us for the snowy 15 degrees up there, fortunately we packed warm. Since this was our first time snowshoeing, ever, we decided to take it easy... nope. It turns out its really hard to snowshoe at 10k+ feet in 2 feet of fresh powder. Despite sinking in with about every step we managed to hike around for a couple hours. For future reference, tray and make someone else make the fresh tracks and follow them, its way easier.

Along the way we saw these guys out ice fishing, seemed like a pretty good party. And you dont need to bring a cooler.

Big snowflake.

Heading back to the car on some packed snow where you can walk like a normal person.

Snowshoeing=awesome

Sunday Road Trip

This morning we packed up and headed out to the mesa to go hike Crags Crest. It turns out we should have brought snowshoes because there was about 2 feet of snow on the ground.

So we got out and wandered around for a little bit.

Waaaay off in the distance to the East you can see the Rocky Mountains.

We ended up driving all the way over the mesa and ended up in Delta and had lunch a Hoolies, a nice little townie sports bar. We watched the Bronco's lose again and headed back to GJ.

Before we went home, we swung by the monument to do squeeze in a hike since it was warm out. It turns out you may get creeped on if you use the bathroom outside the Serpent's Trailhead.

Pointing out the geology of the area ( REDLANDS FAULT!!!! GET EXCITED!!!)

Schweet frozen waterfall and icicle. It was 54 degrees out but I guess this thing hid from the sun in its little crevice. Super Awesome.