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Comb Ridge and the Borderlands of the Bears Ears

Borderlands of the Bears Ears Country IV | Saturday – Monday, January 17-19, 2026

While I was originally hoping to take Diane out to the Pahranagat Valley over this extended holiday weekend, we found ourselves needing to stay closer to home for the time being, but I still wanted to go somewhere where Diane would be able to join me. She has recently started Radiation Therapy and is still not allowed to do much hiking, but after a little bit of thought I figured we could return to Comb Ridge and the surrounding country to go on some shorter and easier hikes in the area. This would also give us the opportunity to return to the Bluff International Balloon Festival since we haven’t been back to the event since 2014, which was shortly after we first started dating and I believe it was also our very first weekend trip away together! These are some photos of what we saw this weekend.

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Above the Clouds on the Island in the Sky

Island in the Sky | Sunday, January 4, 2026

After finishing up my hike in Hunter Canyon early on Sunday morning and then driving back out of Kane Springs Canyon I was just about ready to head back home, but then I thought it might be interesting to drive up onto the Island in the Sky to see if I could get above the clouds that I had been hiking beneath all weekend, so that’s where I headed instead. When I first made it into Canyonlands National Park it seemed like the low clouds on the Colorado River side of the park had mostly subsided already, except closer to Moab where I had just been hiking, but thankfully there were still plenty to be found on the Green River side! These are a few photos I took along the way as I stopped at many of the overlooks this afternoon.

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Knocking Around Kane Springs Canyon

Moab Meanderings in the Fog | Saturday & Sunday, January 3-4, 2026

For the first weekend in 2026 I returned to Moab so I could spend a little time hiking and exploring around Kane Springs Canyon. Of course, similarly to last weekend I was stuck with overcast conditions again, except this time I was mostly in or under a layer of low clouds and fog. After leaving home early on Saturday morning it was a slower than usual drive to Moab since I had to drive through a thick layer of fog pretty much the entire way with the temperatures hovering around freezing. It was still foggy out when I reached the mouth of Kane Spring Canyon, so instead of going on my first hike right away I decided to continue up the canyon to Hurrah Pass to see if I could get above the fog for some photos at sunrise. This turned out to be a really good choice since I was able to get out of the fog for a little bit, until it finally enveloped the pass. Then I returned to the Amasa Back Trailhead and started hiking with hopes that the fog would burn off soon.

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Christmas in Arches 2025

Arches National Park | Wednesday & Thursday, December 24-25, 2025

Christmas is here again, which means that it’s time to return to Arches National Park for our annual Christmas tradition. Although Diane is still not supposed to do much hiking right now, she wanted to join me for some easier hikes in the park since she missed out on the past two years because of work, so we planned to spend the holiday hiking some of the easy and popular trails in the park that we usually pass right by. After getting out of work early on Christmas Eve, I stopped home to pick up Diane and we made our way over to Arches around noon. While we have enjoyed hiking in mild temperatures on Christmas a few times in the past, I don’t think we have ever experienced 60 degree temperatures (pushing close to 70 on Christmas Eve) like we did this year. It sure didn’t feel very much like Christmas this time!

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White Rim Trail: Mineral Bottom to Candlestick Camp

Island in the Sky | Friday – Sunday, December 5-7, 2025

Although it’s been over three years since the last time I visited the Island in the Sky District within Canyonlands National Park, it certainly has not been for a lack of trying. Over the past few years I have booked the Candlestick Camp on the White Rim at least two or three different times since it’s the only campsite along the White Rim Trail that I have not stayed at before, but each time the weather or ice on the switchbacks of the Mineral Bottom Road made me change those plans. Over the summer I decided to try again and booked the campsite for the first weekend in December with hopes that the weather would cooperate this time, and then I invited my friend Jackson along so he could get his first taste of the White Rim with his new 4Runner. As the weekend neared there was a winter storm system that impacted the areas around Grand Junction and Moab so we weren’t sure what the road situation was going to be like when we reached the top of the switchbacks above Mineral Bottom, but after leaving work on Friday and making our way out there we were happy to find that this area had not been impacted and the switchbacks were clear and dry- so down we went!