rewind: devil's canyon

H's folks went back home on Wednesday.  Since they were flying out of Grand Junction, H and I decided to break up the drive (approximately two hours each way from Moab) with a local hike.  It just started to rain as we hugged goodbye at the airport but we were committed at that point: we weren't going to be in the area anytime again soon so we were hiking no matter the weather.

Looking up into Devil's Canyon

We had brought Milton and were doing the dog-friendly Devil's Canyon loop in the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area (in Fruita).  It had stopped raining when we arrived at the parking area but was still overcast.  After some quick organization, we started hiking at 10:15 a.m.

It started raining at 10:25 a.m.

This trail, the D3 loop, was absolutely gorgeous, even in the steady, soaking rain; it must be spectacular under sunny skies.  Cliffs, gorges, tons of green, lots of flowers and fragrant juniper trees.  We heard birdsong everywhere (until the rain drowned it out) and Milton scared up a rabbit.

The rain washed my hat clean; you could have wrung me out

I imagine that these trails are crazy-popular in good weather but we almost had the place to ourselves; we saw two girls on our way in and then a Denver school group of about fifteen 10-11 year old kids on our way out.  We felt badly for those kids because of the weather but their spirits seemed remarkably high, given the conditions.  Most of them wanted to pet Milton too.

So pretty, so green, so rain-soaked

After a steady but not particularly steep climb the whole way out, we got to the old cabin at the turnaround at about 11:35 a.m. and shortly thereafter, it stopped raining for all of twenty minutes.  All of the photos in this post were taken during those twenty minutes. 

Wet dog

Then it started to rain again, harder and with a cold head wind as we headed downhill.  We hadn't brought our ponchos so we were already completely soaked through but now I started to feel a little chilled.  We got back to the truck just before 1 p.m.  It was still raining.  Luckily, there was an open-side pavilion where the trail information was so we huddled under that to change into dry clothes.  Milton was soaked, shivering and filthy and as we toweled him off, he looked at us as if to say, "This is what you foolish people like to do?"  Believe or not, yes, it is!

View out the canyon mouth towards Fruita

We even managed a quick beer and then all piled back into the truck for the drive back to Moab.  I don't think we turned the heat down from HIGH until we got back to town.  I don't know when we'll get back to Fruita but when we do, and if the sun is out - or at least it's not actively raining - I would love to go back and explore that area further.

Hike stats:  6.93 miles; 2:22 / 2.9 mph moving; 2/42 / 2.6 mph overall; 1,030 feet of elevation