San Juan to Black Canyon to Boulder

My good friend Sebastian met me in Moab for a little camping adventure. We drove an hour out of Moab to a road that led straight to a canyon. The road then continued down into the canyon. At the bottom we drove to a junction where the canyon met up with the Green River. There we found a beautiful campsite. Huge firepits surrounded by massive cottonwood trees. We spent the day walking along the canyon floor, skipping rocks, exploring boulders and telling kayakers to fall into the water when they told us they were hot. All in all an awesome adventure.

The next day Sebastian left and I found myself in an all-too-familiar situation where I need to decide what the hell to do. The plan was to stay in Utah for another week. Before you know it I'm driving across the border into Colorado. I realize I'm sick of driving on I-70 and need to see more of Colorado. A couple hikers recommended the San Juan Mountain Range so I made my way there. I found a nice 12 mile loop called the Sneffels Highline Loop just above Telluride. The colors of the aspens were stupendous! It crossed streams, ridgelines, basins and waterfalls. At night it dropped to 20 degrees, but the days were perfect. 

There was another hike in the San Juan range that I wanted to do, but it would have taken 5 hours to get to it (these huge mountains make travel long and arduous). Instead, I peeked Google Maps and realized the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park was only 1.5 hours away (to be honest, I didn't even know it was a national park). 

So I headed there, camped outside the park and spent a full day exploring all the nooks and crannies this place had to offer. Even more Fall colors from the aspens, scrub oak and other deciduous life glowed splendidly in the morning light. The fish were jumping out of the river catching whatever insects laid on the river surface. The canyon walls were so unique. Super steep and narrow. Beautiful patterns formed between the dark gneiss and schist with the stronger and lighter pegmatite quartz. 5 stars.

The Painted Wall. Awesome designs all over.

Now I'm in Boulder trying to see as many people as possible. I just grabbed a drink with former manager and coworkers Rob and Jamie. Haven't seen them since I worked for United over 2 years ago. It was great catching up.

More to come!