Friday – Sunday, April 19-21, 2019
I can’t believe that it’s almost the end of April already and this is only my first trip of the year to the canyons surrounding the Bears Ears! At the very least I typically spend Presidents Day weekend exploring this area, but this year we had planned a trip around a concert in Las Vegas over that holiday weekend instead. Then I ended up concentrating on exploring more of The Needles during a few of my other weekends this year and have neglected getting down to the Bears Ears. I finally wanted to change that this weekend, so a few weeks ago I contacted my friend Jerry to see if he was interested in joining me this weekend, and he was, so we met up Friday evening near Blanding to hike a couple of canyons together around the Bears Ears over the weekend. The weather was great and we visited a few nice sites. Enjoy these photos from our weekend!
A morning view from one of our campsites.
There was a lot of water in one of the canyons we hiked which we had to cross many times. On the way back we got tired of trying to find crossings where we wouldn’t get wet and just hiked through the water.
Turret House
Balanced Rock Granary
A very nice T-shaped doorway.
Looking through one small doorway to another.
A passageway into the back of the alcove between the ruins.
Canyon Spire
Thanks to all the water in the canyons we came across a couple waterfalls.
A very large pictograph panel.
Two Ruins
A very nice set of ruins located high above the floor of the canyon.
Rectangle Ruin
Light and shadow in a beautiful canyon.
Short Granary
Ruin & Pictographs
A view down to a couple kivas below that look pretty inaccessible for me.
These pockets sculpted into the mortar at the back of a ruin were really cool and not something I’ve seen before.
There was a nice square doorway in this ruin.
Morning At Camp
There was a little snow left at the upper end of this canyon.
Interesting carvings in the sandstone.
There was a pretty nice view from this granary.
Another smaller waterfall we came across in a side canyon.
This kiva is collapsing into the canyon below, but the ladder poles are still in place.
A scenic side canyon with a waterfall.
Broken Ruin
I liked the way this tree framed the nice doorway of this ruin.
Hiking through a beautiful canyon.
Just another chocolate waterfall.
The Watch Tower Complex
Round Room
Phenomenal pictures as always! So glad to see this art is still unharmed. Unfortunately my first thought these days is hope these locations are never shared on social media as they will be destroyed. What a horrible reality that after enjoying the beauty of these places in your images that is my very next thought, but it is true. Thanks for sharing in a controlled manner. Your secret is safe with me.