Escalante Rim - Dry Mesa - East Creek

I headed out this morning without any real plans....I just knew that I wanted to do some exploring. I ended up spending some more time on the Uncompahgre Plateau since I wanted to stick close to home. Guess I'm getting to know that area pretty well by now.

I started out on Delta and made my way to Escalante Canyon on the Escalante Rim trail. From there I took the Dry Mesa trail up onto the Uncompahgre. When I reached Divide Road my plans were to explore some spur trails off of the main road, but it seems there has been a lot of rain up on the plateau lately because all of the trails were very muddy and slick. I decided to skip the exploring until it dries out up there again (maybe in the fall). On my way back home I explored a few short spurs along Highway 141 that went off towards East Creek.

Some photos from the day...

Grand Mesa in the background on the Escalante Rim trail


Overlook of Dry Creek Escalante Fork




Headed down to Escalante Canyon


Made it to the Dry Mesa trail


There are some Ute petroglyphs along the trail, unfortunately they are severely vandalized....I was able to find a few of them in the mess, though...




Headed up onto Dry Mesa

Climbing higher onto the plateau


Columbines




Rain in the distance and the La Sals




Point of Interest

East Creek area






Clouds on the hood




Before heading home I stopped to find a geocache