Colorado National Monument & Rattlesnake Arches

Cedar Tree Arch in Rattlesnake Canyon, CO

Oroville, CA - Wow, another long gap between posts.  Talk about getting behind.  As usual, I have great excuses.  This time it was a two week trip around the Northwest, a week at Burning Man, and currently, the work I'm doing for my brother in Oroville, CA.  However, Suwei and I are both hoping for a quiet fall.  Maybe I'll catch up then.  Just Maybe.

Today my rough framers are not working, so I thought I'd take the time to do a quick post.  These photos are from a trip Suwei and I took last April.

On April 16th we drove out to Fruita, CO for a weekend of mountain biking.  Fruita is located in Colorado just at the Utah border and offers a ton of Moab style riding at little closer to home.  We camped up near the Book Cliffs and set out to do a short ride in the morning.  It didn't take us long, however, to realize that we'd have to make a change in plan.

Just a few weeks earlier we learned that Suwei was pregnant.  We also learned that she should not let her hear-rate rise about 104 beats per minute.  Then we learned that although the hills near the book cliffs are not all that massive, they were enough to get us panting.  That knowledge combined with a flat tire was enough to send Suwei back to camp.  I finished up a very short loop and we decided to head up to the Colorado National Monument instead.

Colorado National Monument

The next day, feeling a little guilty about our laziness, we set off to do a 14 mile hike out to Rattlesnake Canyon and back. Rattlesnake Canyon in located in the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness and supposedly has the highest concentration of natural arches outside of Arches National Park. To be honest, it's not really a close second as there are only 9 arches in Rattlesnake Canyon, compared to the over 2000 found in Arches National Park. But it was still pretty cool and quite remote.

The 7 miles in the morning were a lot easier then the 7 miles back out in the heat of the afternoon, but it was well worth the hike. You can make this a short 2 mile hike if the 4x4 road to the Rattlesnake Arches Trailhead is open.

Arches of Rattlesnake Canyon, CO

Trail Map

Bridge Arch, Rattlesnake Canyon, CO

Well, that's it for this post, hope to get lots more photos up soon. There are more snaps from this trip in the slideshow, just click on the link below.

Colorado National Monument & Rattlesnake Arches, CO