Outdoor Project

The Blue Lakes Trail is one of the premier hikes in the northern San Juans. This hike has everything! It is convenient to the town of Ridgway, the drive in is beautiful, the scenery is spectacular, and the trail is challenging yet not too difficult for hikers of moderate ability.

Southern Utah is amassed with unique slot canyon adventures, but its difficult to find ones with narrower passages than the Peek-a-boo and Spooky side canyons of the Dry Fork Coyote Gulch.  

The Hickman Natural Bridge Trail provides a great overview of what Capitol Reef National Park has to offer. Its convenient trailhead, short distance, and wealth of notable points of interest make it a must-do hike.

For 50 cents, pick up a trail guide at the start of the trail. It will help you make sense of what you're seeing along the way to the bridge. There are 17 numbered markers on the trail. 

The trail through Capitol Gorge travels back in time. The canyon's distinguishing features include a Pioneer Register, petroglyphs, and natural water tanks. Nature first carved into the sandstone and created the Tanks long before humans crossed this land. These waterpockets fill with water after rain storms and serve as much-needed pit stops for animals living in the area.

Located in the Cimmaron Ridge area southeast of Montrose, Colorado, Silver Jack Lake is a 325-acre reservoir that is very popular for hiking, camping, fishing, and boating (human-powered or electric motors only). Access is from Montrose in the north via Hwy 50 and dirt roads or from Ridgway to the west via Owl Creek Pass. This road follows an 1885 cattle drive path, and much of the film “True Grit” was shot in the area.

One of the best parts of Silver Jack Lake and the surrounding area is the lovely campground at the north end of the lake below the dam. Nestled among the spruce forests, aspen groves, and wildflower meadows of the Cimmaron Ridge area, this campground is a real gem.

The Bonneville Salt Flats is famous as a destination for modern-day auto racers to hit top speeds, but its usage by humans began long before the first motorized vehicle was ever invented. In the 1800s, crossing the salt flats was suggested as a "shortcut" for pioneers traveling to California. Ironically, the Donner-Reed party traveled so slowly through the flats in 1846 that they got trapped by the snow in the Sierra Nevada. Forty-eight of the 87 party members ultimately perished due to lack of food and hypothermia.

The Grand Wash is one of Capitol Reef's most scenic and most accessible hikes. The canyon's 500-foot tall sandstone walls tower over the tiny hikers below. Canyons like these are formed by rushing water that wears away at the rock. Capitol Reef receives only about 7 inches of rainfall per year; imagine the incredible erosive power of flash floods that churn through small cracks in the rock. Each successive flooding event creates deeper and larger cracks until entire canyons are formed.

Many residents and visitors in Central Oregon are aware of the McKenzie Pass Scenic Byway (OR Hwy 242) from having traveled the route by car. The roadway is both visually stunning and historically significant, tracing an 1860s wagon route. Fewer people are aware that each spring the road is partially plowed but remains closed to vehicles, allowing cyclists exclusive use for one of the most spectacular tour rides in all of Oregon.  

The Pipiwai Trail meanders through a thick tropical rainforest and along multiple creeks and waterfalls. The road to Kipahulu, where the trailhead is located, is a long and windy road with many single-lane sections. But if you enjoy unique locations for their unmatched beauty and multi-sensory immersion, this adventure is for you!