Grand Mesa: Crag Crest Trail

 This is a great loop hike up on Grand Mesa. Views most of the hike North, East, South. There are many lakes that you pass. There is a 1-2 mile stretch of ridge walking. Some of it reminded me of the knifes edge in Maine. Lots of large rock and drop offs on both sides.  We went on the high trail going out and the lower coming back. There were a number of birds, what I think were Jays, near the trail. The drive to and from the trailhead is spectacular in itself. We saw a dozen big horn sheep at one point and the lower part of the drive is in a spectacular canyon.

11 miles, 1600 elevation gain. The highest point is about 11,200 feet. 

Rough Canyon

 This hike is at the Bangs Canyon Trailhead. You can go to the Mica Mine one way and Rough Canyon the other. Rough Canyon has some drop offs and places you need to pay attention to in the first mile. Then there is a mile or so of rock jumble where you need to do some route finding. The first mile is trail and then it is ... well rough as the name implies. At the end is a waterfall that is only active after a rain. Today there were pools but no running water. Most of this hike is in a deep canyon with high rock walls on both sides. Lots of shade. It reminded me of Zion some. The main difference would be that at Zion there are hundreds of people getting off busses that arrive every 5 minutes. Here I saw two people total on the five mile hike and it was a Saturday!