Dominguez Canyons Wilderness, Colorado ~ May 2-4, 2009

Location... The Dominguez Canyon Wilderness lies Southwest of Grand Junction, in Western Colorado. It encompasses 66, 280 acres between the Uncompagre Plateau and the Gunnison River. The sandstone canyons and pinyon-juniper covered mesas of the wilderness provide abundant opportunities for hiking and photography - waterfalls, flora, fauna and ancient rock art. Both Big and Little Dominguez Creeks flow with water year-round. The trails in Big Dominguez are more established and well travelled, while Little Dominguez offers more solitude and opportunities for exploration.

Route... We had planned a 3-day loop route starting up Little Dominguez Canyon, through Poison Canyon, over and around Star Mesa, and dropping back down into Big Dominguez Canyon. After the first day in Little Dominguez, we decided to just back-track and take the short detour up Big Dominguez to the large waterfall which was our primary photographic goal anyway. I'm still unsure if Poison Canyon can be navigated to the top of the mesa, but I'd sure like to return someday to find out - maybe on a day hike with a lighter pack.

We left the Bridgeport Trailhead around 8:00am under heavy overcast skies. We were fairly deep into Little Dominguez before we encountered rain. Rather than hike in the rain, we took shelter under a large boulder and ate some lunch. Soon the rain abated and we made our way to Lightning Basin and set camp around 2:00pm. This gave us time to explore upper Lightning Canyon and climb to the West side of No Man's Mesa for sunset. The next day we explored further up Little Dominguez for a couple hours before packing up camp and back-tracking down Little Dominguez. Once back at the confluence we hiked up Big Dominguez and established camp just up canyon from the area around the waterfall which is designated as a no camping zone. We photographed the large waterfall that afternoon and evening during alternating hot sun and clouds with brief rain showers. The hike out the next morning was liesurly under mostly cloudy skies, again.

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