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Beneath Secret Mountain: The Palatki & Honanki Ruins

Arizona Winter Loop | Saturday, February 4, 2023

After spending the last seven days in Arizona it was unfortunately time to start heading home. But first, we would be spending this morning visiting a couple ruins and rock art sites in the Red Rock Wilderness near Sedona. This would be our very first time in the Sedona area, and even though we knew it would be a little more popular and crowded than we would like we were a little interested to see what this area was all about. Before we had left home on this trip I had booked the earliest tour at the Palatki Heritage Site for Saturday morning, and even though the site was closed at the time due to muddy roads, I hoped that it would be open by the time we got there, and thankfully it was! Since the tour did not start until 9:30am, we were able to sleep in a little later than usual before leaving our hotel in Camp Verde and making our way to the base of Secret Mountain.

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Tucson Mountains: King Canyon to Wasson Peak

Return to Saguaro National Park & Petroglyphs of the Tucson Area
Arizona Winter Loop | Wednesday – Thursday, February 1-2, 2023

After leaving the Sky Islands late on Wednesday afternoon we headed northwest into the Sonoran Desert near Tucson so we could spend the next day hiking in the Tucson Mountain District of Saguaro National Park, which we had not been back to since our Honeymoon Adventure in 2017. During that previous visit we really only had time to tour the park roads and go on a short hike to the petroglyphs of Signal Hill, so I was looking forward to hiking a little deeper into the park this time. After grabbing dinner in Tucson, we drove around the southern end of the Tucson Mountains in the late evening as we made our way over to the Gilbert Ray Campground in the Tucson Mountain Park. We arrived just in time to get our tent setup before it got dark out.

The Sky Islands of the Chihuahuan Desert

Chiricahua National Monument to the Pedregosa Mountains and Dragoon Mountains
Arizona Winter Loop | Monday – Wednesday, January 30 – February 1, 2023

After a brief stopover in Petrified Forest National Park we continued south through Arizona on our way to the Sky Islands of the Chihuahuan Desert in the southeast corner of the state. A Sky Island is a mountain range that is separated from other mountain ranges by distance and by surrounding lowlands of a dramatically different environment. The result is a habitat island- such as a forest surrounded by desert. After leaving Holbrook we would cross the canyon of the Salt River and then follow the Gila Valley until we reached Safford and eventually Willcox later in the evening. Since I knew we would be arriving late I had booked a hotel room in town to stay at before we continued on to Chiricahua National Monument first thing in the morning.

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Drifting Around Indian Creek Country II

Friday – Sunday, January 6-8, 2023

This weekend I headed down into Indian Creek Country so I could explore more of this amazing part of the canyonlands region while also getting in my first pair of Bag Nights for 2023. Of course, I also hoped to find some new rock art and ruins along the way, too. I really enjoy coming to this part of the northern Bears Ears region during this time of the year since the weather is usually pretty mild and the crowds are non-existent. I left after work on Friday afternoon, grabbed a quick dinner in Moab and made it down into Indian Creek just in time to catch the colors of sunset, so I pulled over for a few photos along the way. I arrived at my campsite in the low light of dusk while the Wolf Moon was rising behind the clouds, listened to an audiobook for a while and then went to sleep early. Here are some photos from the weekend.

Christmas in Arches 2022

Moab Winter Weekend | Moab Area Rock Art XXXIV
Saturday & Sunday, December 24-25, 2022

Christmas is here once again, which means that it was time for Diane and I to continue our annual tradition of spending Christmas Day in Arches National Park. This would be my fifteenth year visiting Arches around the yuletide holiday and Diane has been joining me for the past nine of those years on Christmas Day. Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, Diane and I headed down to Moab on Saturday morning and we did a little exploring around the area before spending the night in town. Then we got up early on Sunday morning and drove to the Devils Garden Trailhead so we could hike out to Landscape Arch at sunrise before we spent the rest of the day in other parts of the park.

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Category: Touring

Beneath Secret Mountain: The Palatki & Honanki Ruins

Tucson Mountains: King Canyon to Wasson Peak

The Sky Islands of the Chihuahuan Desert

Drifting Around Indian Creek Country II

Christmas in Arches 2022