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Month: December 2017

McCarty TrailMcCarty Trail

McCarty Trail

New Year’s Eve | Sunday, December 31, 2017

Well this is it! My last hike and trip report for 2017. It was another great year for getting out and exploring and I’m already making plans to make 2018 even better! For my last hike of the year I decided to stay closer to home and go for a hike into the Dominguez – Escalante National Conservation Area. Last summer while we were going for a drive through Escalante Canyon Diane spotted a trailhead sign along the road for the McCarty Trail which I had not noticed or heard of before, so I added it to my list to come back and hike another time. Today seemed like a good day to finally check it out.

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Green River Launch ComplexGreen River Launch Complex

Green River Launch Complex

Saturday, December 30, 2017

I’ve known about the existence of the Utah Launch Complex, also known as the Green River Launch Complex and Green River Missile Base in Green River for a long time, but I’ve never made the effort to go and check it out before. I always figured I’d have time to do that later and kept putting it off every time I was nearby. Earlier this year while visiting White Sands National Monument on our honeymoon, the thought entered the back of my mind that I should really take the time to get over to Green River and check out the old base sooner rather than later. So when I saw that Kurt from Expedition Utah was arranging a little trip to visit the site on Saturday, I knew it was time to finally go and check it out!

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Christmas in Arches 2017Christmas in Arches 2017

Christmas in Arches 2017

Christmas Day | Monday, December 25, 2017

On Christmas morning Diane and I got up early, had some breakfast, loaded up the Jeep and then headed into Arches National Park for our annual Christmas tradition of hiking to Landscape Arch to make sure it’s still standing for another year. If you are interested, you can see our previous trips here: [2016] [2015] [2014]. During our drive through the park to the Devil’s Garden Trailhead we caught a pretty nice sunrise from a few overlooks along the way.

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Christmas Moab WeekendChristmas Moab Weekend

Christmas Moab Weekend

Moab Area Rock Art XXXII | Saturday & Sunday, December 23-24, 2017

Since we were planning on spending our Christmas in Arches National Park like we do every year, we headed over to Moab on Saturday morning so we could spend the entire holiday weekend in the area. Earlier in the week when I was finalizing our rough plans for the trip I was expecting that there would still be none to minimal snow on the ground for our trip because even though there was a winter storm predicted toward the end of the week, I really didn’t think it would affect the area too much. Boy, was I wrong! Well, actually I was right about the Grand Junction area since we didn’t get any snow that stuck around, however, the storm seemed to be centered right over the area surrounding Moab and dumped about 6-10 inches there! We tried to continue on with our original plans at first, but we ended up having to cancel or change some of the hikes since they would have been too dangerous with all the snow and ice on the ground, even with our microspikes. In the end I acted as a tour guide for Diane as we revisited many easily accessible rock art sites that I hadn’t been to in a while.

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Tenmile! Canyon of MysteryTenmile! Canyon of Mystery

Tenmile! Canyon of Mystery

Moab Area Rock Art XXXI | Sunday, December 17, 2017

After spending Saturday in the Book Cliffs with Diane, I headed over to Tenmile Canyon on Sunday morning, which is a little ways southwest of Crescent Junction near the Green River, to do a little exploring on my own. There might be some of you out there that recognize the title of this trip report is very similar in name to a guidebook written by the late Jack Bickers (Tenmile! Nearby Canyon of Mystery) in 1991. Well, that book has been collecting dust on my shelf for almost ten years now, and ever since I got it I’ve wanted to visit and explore Tenmile Canyon. Of course, when I originally bought the book my main intention was to drive the trail in the canyon to the Green River with my Jeep, but these days I’d rather be hiking. I’ve tried planning trips to Tenmile Canyon before, but something has always prevented me from making it out there, whether it was weather or a last minute change of plans to go somewhere else. I finally decided to make this trip a priority and headed out there to do a little hiking. Better late than never, I guess!

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