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Thanksgiving Weekend Below the Bears Ears

Cedar Mesa Chronicles: Chapter 8 | Thursday – Saturday, November 24-26, 2022

This year during the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend Diane was able to get away from her clinical rotations for a little while and join me on our annual trip into the Bears Ears region. Our friend Jared was also able to meet us down there, so we all went out hiking in the canyons together. Although I had originally planned to spend all four days in the area, our cat Tellico (Rico) is having some health issues and we didn’t want to leave her home for that long, so we decided to cut the trip short by a day and come home on Saturday afternoon instead. The weather was great for hiking and we had a nice time exploring new parts of canyons we had been in before, plus we were able to revisit some other favorite places. Here are a couple photos from the weekend!

A nice granary with a sunstar.

Granary Sunstar

Dancing Ducks Panel

Dancing Ducks Panel

The Portal

The Portal

Overhang Sunstar

Overhang Sunstar

This was probably my favorite find of the weekend since I’ve been looking for this petroglyph for over a decade! To me, it looks like he’s holding a frothy mug of beer up, but some others seem to see a piece of toast.

Cheers Panel

Red Rocks Ruin

Red Rocks Ruin

The entrance to a popular ruin we revisited.

Entrance

Interior wall design.

Wall Design

A well-known pictograph at the popular ruin.

Pictographs

Round Room

Round Room

Big Atlatl Panel

Big Atlatl Panel

Diane and Jared following me along a ledge.

Along The Ledge

Cedar Mesa Hoodoo View

Hoodoo View

Beautiful reflected light on this room at the end.

End Room

Exploring canyons of Cedar Mesa.

Canyon Exploring

White Rooms

White Rooms

Head Like A Hole

Head Like A Hole

Bins

Bins

Cheers!

Cheers!

Kiva Remains

Kiva Remains

Disappearing Pictograph

Disappearing Pictograph

We spotted these ruins from the rim of the canyon and climbed down to the alcove for a closer look.

Sunny Alcove Ruins

It appears that this doorway was sealed up at some point.

Sealed Up

Here are some interesting white pictographs we found.

White Pictographs

The final ruin we visited on Thanksgiving as the light in the canyon was fading.

Last Ruin

Exploring a sharp bend in the canyon.

Canyon Bend

Hat Rock

Hat Rock

Here’s an unusual structure that was built inside an arch in the sandstone.

Unusual Structure

These white pictographs were located high above. We tried to climb up for a closer look, but didn’t find an easy way nearby.

High White Pictographs

Lovely light on this granary.

Granary

We revisited one of my favorite petroglyph panels in the area.

Sun Panel

Three rooms next to a kiva that we visited at the end of the day.

Three Rooms

Large potsherds that Diane spotted under a boulder.

Potsherds

Early morning light at the Bighorn Ruins.

Morning Rooms

Table of the Sun

Table of the Sun

Since we were driving right past it, I stopped to visit the Arch of the Sun for a second time in two weeks.

Arch of the Sun II

>> Thanksgiving Weekend Below the Bears Ears Photo Gallery

5 Comments

  1. Tom McCoppin
    Tom McCoppin November 28, 2022

    Randy…thank you for sharing…I so enjoy all of your posts! I hope you, and all you love, have a Blessed holiday season! Tom McCoppin, McQueeney, Texas

  2. Dan Norris
    Dan Norris November 28, 2022

    I have been to all but one of these sites, but it has been many years since and most of my images from that time are on film negatives or slides. Thanks for sharing your visits.

  3. Debra
    Debra November 29, 2022

    Wow! I’m in awe of the detail of the petroglyph panels in the area. Such a pleasure to see the ruins and the beautiful scenery. I’ve been in the area before but definitely need to go back. Thanks for sharing.

  4. SteveR
    SteveR December 2, 2022

    Nice images of a few familiar places, that take me back to our October trip to the mesa. Always something new to explore there!

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