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Month: February 2017

Ute Canyon to White Rocks

Colorado National Monument Traverse IV
Saturday, February 25, 2017

This year I decided to plan our annual Colorado National Monument Traverse hike a little earlier than usual since our upcoming wedding and honeymoon are going to be taking over much of the month of March, and I wasn’t sure if we’d have time to fit it into our busy schedule later this spring. I also wanted to keep the hike a little shorter than usual since it would only be a day hike and we would be going to a concert in the evening.

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Bears Ears National Monument

President’s Day Weekend | Saturday – Monday, February 18-20, 2017

This holiday weekend was supposed to be our first camping trip of the year, but the wet weather forecast made me rethink those plans at the last minute. Throughout the prior week and up until Friday the forecast was calling for 90-100% chance of rain and snow on Cedar Mesa and the surrounding area for Saturday and Sunday. I was about to cancel the trip altogether and stay home, but I decided to check hotel rates in Blanding on Friday afternoon and found a King Suite at the Rodeway Inn for $36 a night. At that price I couldn’t pass it up and figured that even if the weather didn’t cooperate with us, at least we’d have a nice getaway for the long weekend that wouldn’t cost very much. I am glad we still went because we had an awesome time and the weather really didn’t interfere too much.

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A Swell Birthday Weekend

Saturday & Sunday, February 11-12, 2017

Since Saturday was my birthday, we decided to spend the weekend in the San Rafael Swell based out of Green River to celebrate. We ended up visiting a bunch of rock art sites that I hadn’t been to in a while and that Diane had never been to (much like our day trip to Moab a few weeks ago), but we also found a couple of new sites. I had hoped to visit more new sites on this trip, but the roads in those areas were still pretty muddy, so we stuck to the drier areas of the Swell along the San Rafael Reef. Of course, I made sure to have a birthday burger from Ray’s on Saturday evening! Here are plenty of photos from the weekend…

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Rough Canyon Petroglyphs

Sunday, February 5, 2017

After spending all day Saturday near Moab with Marty I stayed home for much of the day on Sunday, but Diane and I did head out in the afternoon for a local hike into Rough Canyon. We had hoped to start hiking down the canyon from the Bangs Canyon Trailhead and go at least a few miles before turning around and returning the same way, but after about a mile we reached a section of the trail that was sketchy because of ice and decided to turn around there. Then we thought about going to the Mica Mine instead, but the trail was full of loud and obnoxious people, so we decided just to call it a day and head back home instead. Remind me never to come back here on a weekend…now I remember why it’s been a long time since I last visited this area! At least we got to visit a small petroglyph panel in the canyon while we were there.

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Flat Pass Exploring

Moab Area Rock Art XXVIII | Saturday, February 4, 2017

On Saturday I was up early to meet Marty in Moab so we could spend the day exploring the area surrounding Flat Pass along Mill Creek and the Steelbender Trail. I was hoping to access a large petroglyph panel high on the wall of Mill Creek Canyon from above. I managed to time my drive to Moab perfectly so that I was driving through the Richardson Amphitheater near Castle Valley as the sun came up for the day. Of course, I stopped and took a few photos of the nice sunrise.

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