Snake Gulch

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 7.4+ miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 5536 - 5773 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 4 hrs.
Trailhead: Snake Gulch
Fee: none
Attractions: rock art, some ruins

Snake Gulch is located in the Kanab Creek Wilderness Area of the Kaibab National Forest south of Fredonia, Arizona. Numerous red, white and yellow pictographs decorate the cliffs on both sides of the long gulch. From end to end the Snake Gulch trail stretches out for 21.5 miles. This post only follows it from the east trailhead for 3.7 miles yet in that short distance it passes about 20 rock art sites and a few small ruins.

Capitol Ditch

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 6.4 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
Elevation: 9,480 - 10,014 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 3 hrs. 30 mins.
Trailhead: Capitol Creek
Fee: none
Attractions: Forest hike

The Capitol Ditch trail is located in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness Area of the White River National Forest near Aspen, Colorado. Beginning at the Capitol Creek trailhead the trail follows the route taken by a once used irrigation ditch for a little over 1 mile before branching off and climbing along the shoulder of the mountains on the west side of the Capitol Creek drainage. Near the 3.2 mile point the trail merges with the Capitol Creek trail and comes to an end. The Capitol Ditch trail is a popular alternative route for backpackers, climbers and day hikers that are headed to Capitol Lake and to climb Capitol Peak (14,131 ft.).

Fryingpan Lakes

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 8-9.5 miles
Difficulty: Strenuous
Elevation: 9,972 - 11,040 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 6 hrs. 30 mins.
Trailhead: Fryingpan Lakes
Fee: none
Attractions: Scenic lakes, backpacking

The Fryingpan Lakes trail is located in the Hunter-Fryingpan Wilderness Area of the White River National Forest east of Basalt, Colorado. The trail travels up a scenic valley to the lakes that form the head waters of the Fryingpan River. On the east side of the valley is a long ridge of the Continental Divide that leads up to Mount Massive (14,421 ft.). In fact, the entire valley is enclosed on 3 sides by ridges that are all over 13,000 feet in elevation. Backpackers typically set up base camp at the first lake with is just under 4 miles from the trailhead and explore further up the valley from there.

Petroglyph Trail

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 4.4 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 2851 - 3215 feet
Cellphone: 1-4 bars
Time: 2 hrs.
Trailhead: Nawghaw Poa Road
Fee: none
Attractions: petroglyphs

The Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area protects a part of Nevada's Mohave Desert just south of Las Vegas, Nevada. A handful of hiking, equestrian and mountain bike trails have been established withing the Sloan Canyon NCA. This post covers the Petroglyph trail, aka Trail 100, which travels up a scenic canyon that leads into the North McCullough Wilderness Area where hundreds of petroglyphs can be found upon boulders and the canyon walls.

Mee Canyon

Rating: 
Round Trip Distance: 6.2 miles
Difficulty: Strenuous
Elevation: 5368 - 6713 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 6 hrs.
Trailhead: Mee Canyon
Fee: none
Attractions: Scenic canyon adventure

The Mee Canyon trail is located in the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness Area near Grand Junction, Colorado. The trail begins on the west side of Black Ridge where it descends for about 1.8 miles to where it drops into a side branch of Mee Canyon. At the drop in point the trail passes through a small arch and down a ladder. Multiple scrambles come up as the trail works its way over one bench after another as it gets deeper into the head of the canyon. At one point hikers must crawl through a small opening at the point of a cliff followed later by a walk along a narrow ledge. The usual destination is to a massive cavern that is roughly 300 feet deep by 200 feet wide and 80 feet high.