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Category: Four-Wheeling

Thanksgiving in the Bisti BadlandsThanksgiving in the Bisti Badlands

Thanksgiving in the Bisti Badlands

Thanksgiving Day | Wednesday – Thursday, November 23-24, 2016

Typically, we like to spend the Thanksgiving holiday weekend exploring Cedar Mesa and the surrounding areas, but this year we decided to attend a concert on Wednesday evening and then spend the rest of the long weekend hiking and exploring northwestern New Mexico based out of Farmington. We left home early on Wednesday morning and drove over Red Mountain Pass (with an obligatory stop at Mouse’s in Ouray) on our way to New Mexico. After crossing the state line we made a slight detour to visit a nice arch before finishing the drive to Farmington.

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Searching for The Ancients on Veteran’s Day WeekendSearching for The Ancients on Veteran's Day Weekend

Searching for The Ancients on Veteran’s Day Weekend

Friday – Sunday, November 11-13, 2016

Typically, Diane and I like to spend the long Thanksgiving weekend exploring Cedar Mesa and other parts of southeastern Utah, but this year we have made alternate plans for the Thanksgiving weekened down in New Mexico, so that was not going to happen. We decided to make up for that annual trip by heading down that way over the Veteran’s Day weekend instead. We left home early on Friday morning and spent a few days searching for ruins and rock art in southeast Utah. The weather was great for hiking with temperatures in the 60’s during the day and clear blue skies.

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The Red Deer Site & Four Cairn Site

The Red Deer Site & Four Cairn Site

Friday – Sunday, October 14-16, 2016

A few weeks ago Alan contacted me and invited me on a backpacking trip to visit a few Grand Canyon Polychrome (Esplanade Style) rock art sites near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I have been wanting to find and visit more of these amazing locations since my first visit to the Shamans Gallery a few years back, so I took him up on the offer. Luckily, I didn’t have anything planned for this particular weekend that couldn’t easily be moved to another. While driving all the way down to the Arizona Strip from Grand Junction is longer than I prefer to go for just a weekend trip, I thought it was worth it to visit these great rock art sites and to meet up with some new friends. Enjoy a few photos from the weekend…

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Mount PealeMount Peale

Mount Peale

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Since Jared and I had cancelled our plans to hike to the summit of Mount Peale (12,721) at the end of the previous day, we didn’t bother waking up until the sun was up this morning. I asked him if he had any suggestions for hikes near Moab and after some thought he suggested that we give Mount Peale a chance since we were right near it. I was feeling better after a good night’s sleep so I figured it was worth a try, though I kind of had a feeling that we would probably bail partway up and not make it to the summit.

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North Fork of Mule CanyonNorth Fork of Mule Canyon

North Fork of Mule Canyon

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

I woke up on Tuesday morning to the coldest temperature on the trip so far (my Jeep said it was 34 degrees out). I woke up shortly before sunrise and decided to head down to Blanding for breakfast. I was planning on taking things pretty easy today and having more of a rest day, so I was in no hurry to get anywhere. While I was in town picking up some supplies I ran into my friend Rick, whom I hadn’t seen in a while and it was nice to catch up with him for a few minutes. When I was done in town I drove back up onto Cedar Mesa for an easy day hike in the North Fork of Mule Canyon. The South Fork of Mule Canyon is a pretty popular hike that I’ve done a few times before, but I had never been up into the North Fork. Even though the South Fork is usually pretty busy, I never hear of many people going to the North Fork so I had hoped it wouldn’t be near as busy. It turns out that it wasn’t, and I only ran into one small group of people during the hike. It was a leisurely hike with a few nice ruins to explore along the way.

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