Flume Canyon Trail Fruita, CO F1 Loop

Myself, Renae and the three dogs got to the trailhead and hit the trail around 6pm. Kyrie the scent smelling dog she is was off and running and we spent probably 15 min of the first 30 min calling for her and looking for her. I finally attached her leash to my waist belt for the next 3/4 mile. She wasn't terribly happy about that and nearly pulled me down a hill. We discovered that the previous hike on this trail we took a undocumented trail vs staying on F1. So that was pretty cool. While still attached to Kyrie she nearly stepped on a 3 foot man eating brown and tan snake (well maybe not three feet or man eater but a snake nontheless). Renae the ever ready to pick up snake women, asked "do you want me to get it". Hell no. So then we have to take pictures of the snake because we didn't get pictures of the scorpion. Anywho....I let Kyrie off leash and we decide she has a good enough nose that she will find us after wondering off which she did the entire trail. I really enjoyed this hike because of the ever changing scenery of desert brush, to cliffs and rock formations. There were many beautiful flowers in bloom, many of which we took pictures of. The last two miles or so of this hike was along cliffs (50 feet or so) along the river. We hiked this part as the sun was setting which made for beautiful scenery. We got back to the car shortly before 9 pm. Not to bad considering it was 5 miles and we stopped to find dogs, water dogs, and pee breaks. I would highly recommend this hike. It had some ups and downs, rock scrambling, and loose scree switchbacks. Overall very nice. Note that there was not much water available except for first 1/4 mile and probably 3 1/2 miles in for about 1/4 of a mile. Within several weeks there won't be any water in the creek bed.

Pollock Bench and Flume Canyon Trail Fruita, CO

Myself, Renae, and three dogs set off for Pollock Bench Trail in Fruita after completing an exhausting morning of having a garage sale. The trail head is fairly easy to find. We decided to hike the F1 trail as it looked (on the map) like it followed a creek nearly half the trip. With this trip being the first time having the packs on again since last August we decided to find an "ideal" camping location shortly after 1 and one quarter mile in. Let me tell you at this point "ideal" was a mostly hard surface in between cactus plants. Not to mention our creek side hike only lasted maybe 3/4 of a mile. So after pitching the tent we hiked back down with the dogs so they could get some water (we didn't bring any for them thinking there would still be water in the creek). We cooked dinner and watched the sun change the colors of the canyon walls as it set. Zeus of course slept in the tent, Kyrie and Bandit ran all night chasing who knows what (well actually I know what because she brought the remains to camp the next morning). Unbeknownst to me I am allergic to something in the desert and was up most the night incapable of breathing. Renae tried out the new Exped 7 down air pad. She said she loved it (will be getting one for me) however will need to continue on working on how to inflate the darn thing. Morning came and we tore down everything and packed up so we could eat at Starv'n Arvin's in Fruita. Just as I was ready to hoist my pack onto my back I see a little scorpion (didn't get a picture) nearly freaked out because my pack was laying on it and what if there were more in my pack. Renae trying to comfort me indicated "oh we have scorpions all over the place, it's the desert". Of course in hearing this I was extremely put at ease (not). So that was my first encounter with a scorpion. Overall this was a very nice hike with different scenery then what you typically see on the monument or mesa. Will be going back to hike the entire F1 loop tonight. Hopefully will get some pictures posted of this hike later this week.