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Christmas in Arches 2015Christmas in Arches 2015

Christmas in Arches 2015

Christmas Day | Friday, December 25, 2015

The early morning drive from Grand Junction to Arches National Park on Christmas morning was a bit slow since it had started to snow overnight and would continue to do so throughout the day. I wasn’t feeling 100% after coming down with a cold earlier in the week, so we decided to head straight to the Devil’s Garden for our annual Christmas hike to Landscape Arch to make sure that it is still standing after another year. I’ve hiked this trail in the winter for the past 8 years but this time it was the slipperiest I have ever seen it! After slipping and falling twice on the sheet of ice that was hidden beneath the fresh powder we put on our microspikes which made the rest of the hike much easier. After our visit to Landscape Arch we decided to visit Crystal Arch nearby which neither of us had been to before. It was nice to get off the main trail and have this arch all to ourselves. While we were visiting Crystal Arch started to snow pretty hard creating whiteout conditions for our hike back to the trailhead.

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Cobra Arch & The Paria RiverCobra Arch

Cobra Arch & The Paria River

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

After taking a long loop hike through Coyote Buttes North on Monday we decided to try and make today an easier day. I had never been to Cobra Arch before and thought it might make for a nice easy hike to an interesting arch. We made it to the Middle Trail trailhead on the West Clark Bench shortly after sunrise and were soon descending The Dive on our cross-country hike to Cobra Arch.

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Coyote Buttes North TourCoyote Buttes North Tour

Coyote Buttes North Tour

Monday, December 29, 2014

On Monday morning we got an early start and drove back to the Wire Pass trailhead so we could spend the day in Coyote Buttes North and visit the Wave. While I have been here plenty of times over the past couple of years and had no intentions of returning this year, Diane had never been here before and really wanted to visit the Wave. I managed to get a pair of permits for today and that’s the main reason we planned this end of the year trip to Page. The last few times I have been to Coyote Buttes North I barely stopped by the Wave and instead explored other areas that are less visited, but this time we hiked straight to the Wave and waited until it was in good light. While waiting for the sun to crest over Top Rock and light up the Wave I explored more of the area above and took a few photos under Top Rock Arch. While the temperature outside wasn’t too cold this morning, it was pretty windy all day and that kept us pretty chilled, especially when we were in the shade.

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Big Dominguez CanyonBig Dominguez Canyon

Big Dominguez Canyon

Sunday, December 22, 2013

It has been a little while since I’d gone hiking with Marty, so we made plans to do a local hike on Sunday morning. It has been about a year since I last hiked up Big Dominguez Canyon, so I thought it would be a good time to return. I always seem to hike this trail around Christmas each year…maybe it will become a tradition? Marty had never been up this canyon and was looking forward to checking it out. The temperature was pretty cold when we started our hike from Bridgeport around 9:00am, but as the sun got higher in the sky we started shedding layers and it turned out to be a nice day for a hike.

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