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Category: Exploring

Jeep Arch (Gold Bar Arch)

Christmas Weekend in Moab | Monday, December 26, 2016

On Monday morning we checked out of our hotel in Moab and followed the Colorado River on the Potash Road until we reached the trailhead for Culvert Canyon (Dragonfly Canyon, Cameltoe Canyon) just before the mouth of Gold Bar Canyon. Our destination this morning was a short hike with some elevation gain up to Jeep Arch (Gold Bar Arch). I vaguely recalled seeing this arch about eight years ago when I took my Jeep Cherokee on the Golden Spike Trail, and I was looking forward to getting a closer look today.

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Christmas in Arches 2016

Christmas Day | Sunday, December 25, 2016

Since it’s become our annual tradition, Diane and I would again spend Christmas Day hiking in Arches National Park. (Previous trip reports from 2015 and 2014.) Overnight it had rained pretty hard in Moab and the forecast was also calling for snow. When we left the hotel before sunrise there was still no snow and the ground. However, as we drove into the park it did start to snow pretty hard and would continue to do so until we reached Landscape Arch in Devil’s Garden. It was very windy and cold out during this hike, and even though the sun would come out later in the morning and the temperature would rise a little, the wind kept blowing making it feel much colder out than it really was.

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Nine Mile Canyon Revisited

Friday & Saturday, December 9-10, 2016

After attending a concert in Salt Lake City on Thursday night it was time to start heading back home on Friday morning. However, I planned to spend Friday afternoon and all day Saturday in Nine Mile Canyon before finishing the drive back to Grand Junction. I had hoped to revisit some sites lower in the canyon that I had not been to in many years plus find a few sites along the road that I had missed or not found during previous visits. I was also planning on photographing The Great Hunt Panel at sunset on Friday evening. For being December, the weather was not too cold and there was very little snow in the canyon. Friday afternoon was the nicer of the two days with temperatures in the upper 40’s and the sun was out, while Saturday was a little bit cooler with overcast skies and a cold wind that had picked up. Enjoy plenty of photos of the rock art below!

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Crow Canyon Petroglyphs

Sunday, November 27, 2016

After spending the last four days based out of Farmington, New Mexico for the long Thanksgiving Weekend, it was finally time to head back home and get ready to go back to work on Monday morning. But before we left the area, we would spend a few hours hiking in Crow Canyon (Cañon Cuervo) and exploring the extraordinary petroglyphs found there. According to the BLM, Crow Canyon contains the most extensive and well-known collection of 16th – 18th century Navajo petroglyphs in the southwest.

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Canyon de Chelly National Monument

Saturday, November 26, 2016

I’ve wanted to visit Canyon de Chelly National Monument for many years but it never seems to work out for me. In the past I have taken multiple trips where I’ve passed near Canyon de Chelly and hoped to have had time to stop for a visit, but things never worked out and I still haven’t made it there. Even though it was a bit of a drive from Farmington, I decided it was finally time to make it over there on this trip, even if it was only to visit the overlooks from the rim and hike down to the White House Ruins this time (the only trail down into the canyon you can hike without paying for a guide). I will have to return for another visit to spend some time in the canyons with a guide.

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