IntrepidXJ's Adventure Weblog

Happy Halloween from myXJ.net

Four Arches Canyon (Moab, UT)

Four Arches Canyon is a short trail that takes off from the Gemini Bridges Road about a mile west past the Gemini Bridges turnoff. While the intersection is signed and points towards the canyon, it does not appear to be very well travelled.

The trail starts out by dipping down into a slickrock wash and then through Crips Hole. You will pass some private property before entering the canyon. Once the canyon starts to get narrow around you is where the arches will be located. There will be two arches on your right and two others on your left, for a total of four. The ones on your left are difficult to find, as they are hidden pretty well in the canyon walls. Much of the trail is easy until you reach the end of the canyon where the trail gets pretty washed out.

This is a very nice trail to explore and to go arch hunting. It would make for a great day when combined with Bull Canyon and the Gemini Bridges so you can explore the entire drainage system.

Please feel free to leave your comments and post your pictures from Four Arches Canyon below.

Four Arches Canyon KML Track
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Open file above in Google Earth.

There is a little game over on NAXJA where we are given a monthly topic and take pictures based on that topic. This months topic is ‘Dirty’ I figured I’d give it a try with my new camera.

Here’s some pictures I took yesterday:

Here’s two HDR photos I made as well

Brown Mountain (Ouray, CO)

Brown Mountain trail is a short spur trail that takes off from Ironton Park along Highway US 550. It actually takes off from the end of the Corkscrew Gulch trail and heads up the side of Brown Mountain. This trail first passes by the Gray Copper Gulch hiking trail and continues up to the Silver Mountain Mine. When you reach the mine, there are a number of structures still standing and some mining equipment that was left behind.

Continuing up past the Silver Mountain Mine the trail switchbacks up the mountain where you are greeted with great views down onto Red Mountain #1. Eventually the trail reaches the Lost Day Mine where it dead ends. After you finish exploring, you have to head back down the way you came. This is a great short trail that is great when you combine it with with Corkscrew Gulch.

Please feel free to leave your comments and post your pictures from Brown Mountain below.

Brown Mountain KML Track
(Right click and ‘Save Target As’)

Open file above in Google Earth.

I was playing around with Photomatix last night and created my first HDR (High Dynamic Range) image. It was taken in my backyard after work yesterday.

Now I just need to pay for the software to get rid of the watermark….

Bandora Mine / South Mineral Creek (Silverton, CO)

The South Mineral Creek road is a popular camping area near Silverton. There are a number of semi-developed campsites along this road that are free to stay at, and a number of primitive areas that are great for camping along here as well. This is actually where Amanda and I like to camp when spending some time exploring the San Juan’s.

This road leaves from Highway US 550 and is a wide gravel road that follows South Mineral Creek for a few miles. Once you reach the USFS Mineral Creek Campground (this campground is a fee area) it might at first appear that the road ends here. However, the road does continue straight, and it gets narrower and a little rougher after this point. After emerging out of the forest and following a shelf road along the mountainside for a little ways you eventually will reach the Bandora Mine, located above the trail. The trail then drops down into a large meadow known as South Park that is also a popular area to camp. The trail continues on through the meadow and crosses a few water crossings, but eventually dead ends at some other campsites.

This is an easy trail with some great scenery and excellent camping opportunities relatively close to Silverton.

Please feel free to leave your comments and post your pictures from Bandora Mine / South Mineral Creek below.

Bandora Mine / South Mineral Creek KML Track
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Open file above in Google Earth.

After work I decided to play with my new camera in the backyard. Here’s a few of the photos I took. I tried some longer exposures at night over the city.

Click on each photo for a larger version.

Animas Forks Road (Silverton, CO)

Animas Forks Road is an easy road between Silverton and the ghost town of Animas Forks. While it is not a difficult road and usually has a high amount of traffic in the summer months, this route is one that everyone who visits the area needs to check out.

Starting out from Silverton, the road follows the Animas River as it passes through Bakers Park and passes a number of old mines and ghost towns. Some of these mines and towns include the Mayflower Mill, Howardsville, Sunnyside Mill, Middleton and the Eureka townsite. Not only is there great mining history to be explored along this route, but there are a number of gulches that contain trails that take off from the Animas Forks Road and also lead to old mines as well. Minnie Gulch, Maggie Gulch, Picayune Gulch, Cinnamon Pass and California Gulch are a few of the many side trails that take off from Animas Forks Road.

Of course, when you reach the end of the trail you enter the ghost town of Animas Forks. This is a well preserved ghost town with a number of structures still standing that you can explore. One of the most famous structures is the Duncan residence, which is the one that has the bay window on the front. I highly recommend spending some time exploring the history along this great road.

Please feel free to leave your comments and post your pictures from Animas Forks Road below.

Animas Forks Road KML Track
(Right click and ‘Save Target As’)

Open file above in Google Earth.

Amanda took some pictures of me yesterday at the Colorado National Monument and since my parents are always asking me to post pictures of myself, I figured I’d post them up.

Enjoy…

To get aquainted with my new Canon Rebel XSi, Amanda and I headed over to the Colorado National Monument so that I could take some photos. Here’s some of the photos I took today.

Obvioulsy I’m still learning how to use my DSLR, so these pictures probably aren’t the greatest, but I’m having fun learning. Also, I’ve been learning how to properly post-process the RAW image files, so they may seem a little too processed, too